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Some Comfort Crew Return to Maryland
Aired April 30, 2003 - 13:52 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.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: America's military force has slowly returned from the war in Iraq. Families are welcoming back the first wave of personnel from the U.S. Navy's hospital ship, the Comfort.
CNN's Kathleen Koch joining us from the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland with more on the happy homecoming -- hello, Kathleen.
KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Miles. Well, it has been an extraordinarily exciting and emotionally exhausting day here. As you can see, most folks have left. But it was earlier today, a few hours ago, that buses, some 12 buses, came rolling in here. They were packed with 430 doctors, nurses, medical corpsmen, all who have served in the Arabian Sea, aboard the hospital ship, the 1,000-bed, 10-deck hospital ship the USNS Comfort. They have been -- they left March 5. They were serving on the ship where they treated some 600 wounded, both U.S. service members, coalition service members, and also some Iraqis. There were a good number of people on the ship, though, who left even earlier, back around January 6. That was when the Comfort steamed out of the port of Baltimore. We managed to catch up with one of them, and the ship's cook. He was meeting for the very first time live on CNN his twin baby sons, born while he was gone. Their names Elijah (ph) and Xavier (ph). And David Cargo (ph) told us just how tough it was for him to not be there, to miss the birth of his twin sons.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was tough, it really was. It was tough at first, but I guess there's a job that has to be done. So to ensure that both my sons can walk and be free, and everything be OK with them, then I guess it's OK.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KOCH: Now, basically, the folks who came here are getting a little bit of a break, getting some 96 hours of liberty, and then after that, it will be back to work here at the hospital. Obviously, a lot of normal patients that they've got to treat, getting back to their regular jobs, and then they still also have some 21 service members who were injured in the Iraq war who they still have to care for here -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: Boy, no rest for the weary. You think they'd get a little more leave than that. All right, Kathleen Koch in Bethesda. Thanks very 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 April 30, 2003 - 13:52 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: America's military force has slowly returned from the war in Iraq. Families are welcoming back the first wave of personnel from the U.S. Navy's hospital ship, the Comfort.
CNN's Kathleen Koch joining us from the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland with more on the happy homecoming -- hello, Kathleen.
KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Miles. Well, it has been an extraordinarily exciting and emotionally exhausting day here. As you can see, most folks have left. But it was earlier today, a few hours ago, that buses, some 12 buses, came rolling in here. They were packed with 430 doctors, nurses, medical corpsmen, all who have served in the Arabian Sea, aboard the hospital ship, the 1,000-bed, 10-deck hospital ship the USNS Comfort. They have been -- they left March 5. They were serving on the ship where they treated some 600 wounded, both U.S. service members, coalition service members, and also some Iraqis. There were a good number of people on the ship, though, who left even earlier, back around January 6. That was when the Comfort steamed out of the port of Baltimore. We managed to catch up with one of them, and the ship's cook. He was meeting for the very first time live on CNN his twin baby sons, born while he was gone. Their names Elijah (ph) and Xavier (ph). And David Cargo (ph) told us just how tough it was for him to not be there, to miss the birth of his twin sons.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was tough, it really was. It was tough at first, but I guess there's a job that has to be done. So to ensure that both my sons can walk and be free, and everything be OK with them, then I guess it's OK.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KOCH: Now, basically, the folks who came here are getting a little bit of a break, getting some 96 hours of liberty, and then after that, it will be back to work here at the hospital. Obviously, a lot of normal patients that they've got to treat, getting back to their regular jobs, and then they still also have some 21 service members who were injured in the Iraq war who they still have to care for here -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: Boy, no rest for the weary. You think they'd get a little more leave than that. All right, Kathleen Koch in Bethesda. Thanks very 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
