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CNN Live Today
Ship to Shore
Aired April 30, 2003 - 10:33 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: The first wave of personnel from the Naval Hospital ship Comfort are due to arrive home today in Bethesda, Maryland.
And our Kathleen Koch is standing by there at the National Naval Medical Center.
Hello, Kathleen.
KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Leon.
We are waiting here for the first buss to come rolling in, and they are due here in about a half an hour. These are doctors, nurses, medical corpsmen, folks who shipped out. It was early March they headed toward the gulf on the U.S. Comfort, the 1,000 bed Navy ship. While there they there, they treated quite a number of patients, treated 600 all total, some U.S. service members, some of them Iraqis. There are still about 100 on board. The Pentagon has decided some 430 medical personnel are really more needed back here, and the families are very happy to hear that.
With us we have a couple of wives whose husbands are medical corpsmen and they're due back, Gwen Glass and Alana Chowaniec.
Gwen, how's it feeling today? Pretty exciting?
GWEN GLASS, HUSBAND ABOARD USNS COMFORT: I'm very excited. Can't wait to see him.
KOCH: Now, Alana, you have been through these separations before. You guys have been married five years?
CHOWANIEC: Right, but never at a time of war.
KOCH: How tough was it, though, sending your husband as way, and again, being a newlywed, married a year and a half?
GLASS: It was very difficult, especially the first two weeks. Didn't sleep too much, worried a lot, had the news on all the time. So I'm very anxious for his arrival.
KOCH: Alana, did you hear any stories from your husband about the conditions on the ship, about the wounded they treated?
ALANA CHOWANIEC, HUSBAND ABOARD USNS COMFORT: Not so much. I don't think they were permitted to talk about it so much. But I'm sure as things calm down and so forth, they'll be able to talk about it more.
KOCH: The conditions can be difficult, especially in the operating theater, when the ship is rocking and bouncing, husbands talk about that at all?
GLASS: My husband already grew his sea legs before, so he was just fine with it.
KOCH: All right. Ladies, I know they'll be here soon. You're going to very anxious. Thanks for joining us, Gwen and Alana.
And when the gentlemen get back, when all of the service members get back, they are going to be getting a 96-hour leave, everyone excited about that, but then they're getting right back to work, because they still have injured here from the Iraq war. They have treated about 158 throughout the course of the war. They have 21 still admitted.
Back to you, Leon.
HARRIS: All right, thanks, Kathleen. We sure appreciate that. Have a good day out there. We'll see you in just a bit, no doubt.
Kathleen Koch in Bethesda.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired April 30, 2003 - 10:33 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: The first wave of personnel from the Naval Hospital ship Comfort are due to arrive home today in Bethesda, Maryland.
And our Kathleen Koch is standing by there at the National Naval Medical Center.
Hello, Kathleen.
KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Leon.
We are waiting here for the first buss to come rolling in, and they are due here in about a half an hour. These are doctors, nurses, medical corpsmen, folks who shipped out. It was early March they headed toward the gulf on the U.S. Comfort, the 1,000 bed Navy ship. While there they there, they treated quite a number of patients, treated 600 all total, some U.S. service members, some of them Iraqis. There are still about 100 on board. The Pentagon has decided some 430 medical personnel are really more needed back here, and the families are very happy to hear that.
With us we have a couple of wives whose husbands are medical corpsmen and they're due back, Gwen Glass and Alana Chowaniec.
Gwen, how's it feeling today? Pretty exciting?
GWEN GLASS, HUSBAND ABOARD USNS COMFORT: I'm very excited. Can't wait to see him.
KOCH: Now, Alana, you have been through these separations before. You guys have been married five years?
CHOWANIEC: Right, but never at a time of war.
KOCH: How tough was it, though, sending your husband as way, and again, being a newlywed, married a year and a half?
GLASS: It was very difficult, especially the first two weeks. Didn't sleep too much, worried a lot, had the news on all the time. So I'm very anxious for his arrival.
KOCH: Alana, did you hear any stories from your husband about the conditions on the ship, about the wounded they treated?
ALANA CHOWANIEC, HUSBAND ABOARD USNS COMFORT: Not so much. I don't think they were permitted to talk about it so much. But I'm sure as things calm down and so forth, they'll be able to talk about it more.
KOCH: The conditions can be difficult, especially in the operating theater, when the ship is rocking and bouncing, husbands talk about that at all?
GLASS: My husband already grew his sea legs before, so he was just fine with it.
KOCH: All right. Ladies, I know they'll be here soon. You're going to very anxious. Thanks for joining us, Gwen and Alana.
And when the gentlemen get back, when all of the service members get back, they are going to be getting a 96-hour leave, everyone excited about that, but then they're getting right back to work, because they still have injured here from the Iraq war. They have treated about 158 throughout the course of the war. They have 21 still admitted.
Back to you, Leon.
HARRIS: All right, thanks, Kathleen. We sure appreciate that. Have a good day out there. We'll see you in just a bit, no doubt.
Kathleen Koch in Bethesda.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
