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Troops Deal with Holiday Mail
Aired December 24, 2002 - 13:08 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.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Latest developments in the showdown with Iraq. Christmas Eve is a work day for the U.N. weapons inspectors. They checked at least seven sites today, and one team headed south towards the city of Basra. In Baghdad, a scientist who worked on Iraq's nuclear program says he was interviewed for an hour by weapons inspectors, and in Turkey, a close U.S. ally, the prime minister met last night with his cabinet to discuss Iraq, and a top army general from Israel is also there, meeting with his Turkish counterpart.
Now, some 50,000 U.S. troops, soldiers, sailors and Marines are now deployed in the Persian Gulf region. That number is expected to double shortly after the new year. The Americans in the area are preparing for a possible war, but they're also observing Christmas as best as they can.
Alessio Vinci is at Camp Commando in Kuwait, talking to soldiers all day -- hi, Alessio. All right. Alessio, can you hear us OK?
ALESSIO VINCI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes -- I am -- we got it, we got it. I can hear you now. Talk to me.
PHILLIPS: Alessio has it. Go for it, Alessio. Introduce us to these men and women.
VINCI: Hello, Kyra to you. Well, we're inside one of the tents here at Camp Commando somewhere in the Kuwaiti desert, and I cannot be more specific because of security concerns.
It is raining outside, and therefore we decided to do this show today from inside this tent because these gentlemen here, these two Marines, are dealing with the mail of the Marines and soldiers who are here stationed at Camp Commando somewhere here in the Kuwaiti desert.
And, of course, today is Christmas Eve, and is a very special day. I just saw the dozens and dozens of boxes, thousands of mail. How busy have you been today?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We've been pretty busy this Christmas year. A lot of packages coming through. We delivered more than a ton of mail just from the beginning of this Christmas year, and we still have lots to come.
VINCI: Right. Now, of course, there is a lot of Marines and soldiers coming to you and asking you for their packages. What do you tell them when nothing has arrived yet? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When nothing has arrived, we try to keep it simple, It is on its way, and there is nothing we can do too much about it, sir, until it gets here, and when it does, we will let them know as soon as it happens, sir.
VINCI: Now, what is the strangest thing that you have received here at Camp Commando?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We received a fan that was taken, and we didn't know what it was, so we had to go run and see who it was going to, and have them open it on the spot, and it turn...
VINCI: A package arrived here, and the fan was working actually, and you thought it was something serious, obviously. What do you do?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have to take extreme measures, do what we were taught, set the package outside, and alert the addressee, and have him come open it, and find out what it was.
VINCI: And, of course, you facilitated the mail for this camp -- again, you said a ton of mail. That's a huge amount. How much can you distribute every day?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Every day we go through about -- we go through a lot of mail a day, about 1,000, some odd tons a day. We do a lot, sir.
VINCI: OK. All right. Well, Kyra, here inside this tent of this post office in Camp Commando, in the Kuwaiti desert, as you can see, it is Christmas Eve as well, and for the Marines and some of the soldiers based here, it is Christmas Eve for them.
They've had a long day here, they began their day, actually, doing a formation run, but the rest of the day they had Christmas caroling. We are told tomorrow they're going to have turkey, they are going to have lunch at the base. So even if they're far away from home, thousands of miles, this is also Christmas for them -- back to you, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Well, they deserve that celebration. Alessio Vinci, thank you so much.
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 December 24, 2002 - 13:08 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Latest developments in the showdown with Iraq. Christmas Eve is a work day for the U.N. weapons inspectors. They checked at least seven sites today, and one team headed south towards the city of Basra. In Baghdad, a scientist who worked on Iraq's nuclear program says he was interviewed for an hour by weapons inspectors, and in Turkey, a close U.S. ally, the prime minister met last night with his cabinet to discuss Iraq, and a top army general from Israel is also there, meeting with his Turkish counterpart.
Now, some 50,000 U.S. troops, soldiers, sailors and Marines are now deployed in the Persian Gulf region. That number is expected to double shortly after the new year. The Americans in the area are preparing for a possible war, but they're also observing Christmas as best as they can.
Alessio Vinci is at Camp Commando in Kuwait, talking to soldiers all day -- hi, Alessio. All right. Alessio, can you hear us OK?
ALESSIO VINCI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes -- I am -- we got it, we got it. I can hear you now. Talk to me.
PHILLIPS: Alessio has it. Go for it, Alessio. Introduce us to these men and women.
VINCI: Hello, Kyra to you. Well, we're inside one of the tents here at Camp Commando somewhere in the Kuwaiti desert, and I cannot be more specific because of security concerns.
It is raining outside, and therefore we decided to do this show today from inside this tent because these gentlemen here, these two Marines, are dealing with the mail of the Marines and soldiers who are here stationed at Camp Commando somewhere here in the Kuwaiti desert.
And, of course, today is Christmas Eve, and is a very special day. I just saw the dozens and dozens of boxes, thousands of mail. How busy have you been today?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We've been pretty busy this Christmas year. A lot of packages coming through. We delivered more than a ton of mail just from the beginning of this Christmas year, and we still have lots to come.
VINCI: Right. Now, of course, there is a lot of Marines and soldiers coming to you and asking you for their packages. What do you tell them when nothing has arrived yet? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When nothing has arrived, we try to keep it simple, It is on its way, and there is nothing we can do too much about it, sir, until it gets here, and when it does, we will let them know as soon as it happens, sir.
VINCI: Now, what is the strangest thing that you have received here at Camp Commando?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We received a fan that was taken, and we didn't know what it was, so we had to go run and see who it was going to, and have them open it on the spot, and it turn...
VINCI: A package arrived here, and the fan was working actually, and you thought it was something serious, obviously. What do you do?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have to take extreme measures, do what we were taught, set the package outside, and alert the addressee, and have him come open it, and find out what it was.
VINCI: And, of course, you facilitated the mail for this camp -- again, you said a ton of mail. That's a huge amount. How much can you distribute every day?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Every day we go through about -- we go through a lot of mail a day, about 1,000, some odd tons a day. We do a lot, sir.
VINCI: OK. All right. Well, Kyra, here inside this tent of this post office in Camp Commando, in the Kuwaiti desert, as you can see, it is Christmas Eve as well, and for the Marines and some of the soldiers based here, it is Christmas Eve for them.
They've had a long day here, they began their day, actually, doing a formation run, but the rest of the day they had Christmas caroling. We are told tomorrow they're going to have turkey, they are going to have lunch at the base. So even if they're far away from home, thousands of miles, this is also Christmas for them -- back to you, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Well, they deserve that celebration. Alessio Vinci, thank you so much.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
