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Iraqi Field of Dreams

Aired December 11, 2003 - 15:09   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: Thousands of U.S. troops remain deployed in Iraq. And when they have some downtime, at least one military dad wants to make sure they're able to enjoy it.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Rachel Pfanner of our affiliate WTOL in Toledo, Ohio, has more on a special mission to stock a faraway field of dreams.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RACHEL PFANNER, WTOL REPORTER (voice-over): It all started with an article in "Sports Illustrated."

DAN BORER, MILITARY FATHER: The 101st Airborne, those guys were playing baseball with a tennis ball that was wrapped in toilet paper, which was then wrapped in duct tape. And they were using tent stakes for bats.

PFANNER: Dan Borer immediately thought of his 21-year-old son, Paul. Paul played baseball in the state high school tournament. Two weeks later, he was in boot camp. He now serves in the 4th Infantry Division, blowing up bombs along roadways in Tikrit, Saddam Hussein hometown.

D. BORER; My son called later that week. I asked him how they were set for baseball equipment. And he said they were using a pick axe handle for a bat.

PFANNER: To help out, Dan started asking co-workers and neighbors to donate sporting goods. He called it Operation Baseball. The Detroit Tigers even pitched in.

D. BORER; These are practice balls from the Detroit Tigers. We received over 80 of them. I asked them, well, do you have batting helmets. And he said sure and he brought me 13.

PFANNER: Pretty soon, people were donating other items, like food, toiletries and school supplies. Dan's daughter Marie started helping out. She collected eight boxes from New Riegel High School.

MARIE BORER, SISTER OF SOLDIER: But I was really surprised of how much stuff we collected. Neither myself or my adviser expected to collect that much stuff. And it was awesome.

PFANNER: Dan says troops need to play sports to work off stress.

D. BORER: There's tremendous stress being in a war zone. It gives them a feeling of home, that they have a connection to back here.

PFANNER: Rachel Pfanner, Toledo 11, the News Channel.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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 11, 2003 - 15:09   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Thousands of U.S. troops remain deployed in Iraq. And when they have some downtime, at least one military dad wants to make sure they're able to enjoy it.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Rachel Pfanner of our affiliate WTOL in Toledo, Ohio, has more on a special mission to stock a faraway field of dreams.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RACHEL PFANNER, WTOL REPORTER (voice-over): It all started with an article in "Sports Illustrated."

DAN BORER, MILITARY FATHER: The 101st Airborne, those guys were playing baseball with a tennis ball that was wrapped in toilet paper, which was then wrapped in duct tape. And they were using tent stakes for bats.

PFANNER: Dan Borer immediately thought of his 21-year-old son, Paul. Paul played baseball in the state high school tournament. Two weeks later, he was in boot camp. He now serves in the 4th Infantry Division, blowing up bombs along roadways in Tikrit, Saddam Hussein hometown.

D. BORER; My son called later that week. I asked him how they were set for baseball equipment. And he said they were using a pick axe handle for a bat.

PFANNER: To help out, Dan started asking co-workers and neighbors to donate sporting goods. He called it Operation Baseball. The Detroit Tigers even pitched in.

D. BORER; These are practice balls from the Detroit Tigers. We received over 80 of them. I asked them, well, do you have batting helmets. And he said sure and he brought me 13.

PFANNER: Pretty soon, people were donating other items, like food, toiletries and school supplies. Dan's daughter Marie started helping out. She collected eight boxes from New Riegel High School.

MARIE BORER, SISTER OF SOLDIER: But I was really surprised of how much stuff we collected. Neither myself or my adviser expected to collect that much stuff. And it was awesome.

PFANNER: Dan says troops need to play sports to work off stress.

D. BORER: There's tremendous stress being in a war zone. It gives them a feeling of home, that they have a connection to back here.

PFANNER: Rachel Pfanner, Toledo 11, the News Channel.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com