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American Morning
Celebrating Thanksgiving at Bagram
Aired November 28, 2002 - 08:34 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.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: In the meantime, though, the Americans are thanking everybody for...
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Thanksgiving.
HEMMER: ... today so.
COSTELLO: I know. I know it's hard to smile with all that news happening this morning, but we have to smile because it is Thanksgiving Day and we do have a lot to be thankful for. Even our troops in Afghanistan are giving thanks today.
Diana Muriel is standing by there now.
And have they had their turkey dinner yet -- Diana?
DIANA MURIEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Carol, most of them have had their turkey dinner. There was a huge serving which went on for about four hours during the course of the middle of the day which most people on the base, that's around 7,000 military personnel and support personnel, they enjoyed their Thanksgiving feast then. There are about 5,800 troops here on Bagram Air Base, supported, of course, by engineering department and all sorts of other support staff.
And very much in the Thanksgiving spirit, there was a queue which was outside this tent for about an hour people waited in line to get in to have their turkey and all of the trimmings that went with it. There's been the most enormous feast laid on by the relatively small kitchen staff, just six cooks working behind the scenes to feed around 3,000 people who will be eating the Thanksgiving feast during the course of today.
Now I should tell you, Carol, in the last few minutes, in the last 10 minutes, a Special Forces officer has arrived here on the base. This is the officer that was attacked by a sniper yesterday outside Gardez, about three miles south of Gardez. That's a town about three hour's drive south of the Bagram Air Base here in Afghanistan. He received a gunshot wound to the thigh, his left thigh. It exited, we understand, but he had to be operated on at Solarno (ph) and now has just arrived here at Bagram.
He was medevaced here. He was on a stretcher. He was conscious, but he was attached to an I.V. drip and he will be taken -- be taken care of by the medical staff here at Bagram perhaps for the next few days. So he has arrived here. No more details about him being released. But, of course, security concerns very uppermost in people's minds here in Bagram, particularly as news of this tragedy in Kenya is starting to ripple through the camp. Of course Special Forces are based here and they go out on mission around the country and they know only too well what al Qaeda is capable of.
Back to you.
COSTELLO: That's certainly so. And that soldier you were talking about, non-life-threatening injuries, our best to him.
Thank you, Diana Muriel.
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 November 28, 2002 - 08:34 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: In the meantime, though, the Americans are thanking everybody for...
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Thanksgiving.
HEMMER: ... today so.
COSTELLO: I know. I know it's hard to smile with all that news happening this morning, but we have to smile because it is Thanksgiving Day and we do have a lot to be thankful for. Even our troops in Afghanistan are giving thanks today.
Diana Muriel is standing by there now.
And have they had their turkey dinner yet -- Diana?
DIANA MURIEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Carol, most of them have had their turkey dinner. There was a huge serving which went on for about four hours during the course of the middle of the day which most people on the base, that's around 7,000 military personnel and support personnel, they enjoyed their Thanksgiving feast then. There are about 5,800 troops here on Bagram Air Base, supported, of course, by engineering department and all sorts of other support staff.
And very much in the Thanksgiving spirit, there was a queue which was outside this tent for about an hour people waited in line to get in to have their turkey and all of the trimmings that went with it. There's been the most enormous feast laid on by the relatively small kitchen staff, just six cooks working behind the scenes to feed around 3,000 people who will be eating the Thanksgiving feast during the course of today.
Now I should tell you, Carol, in the last few minutes, in the last 10 minutes, a Special Forces officer has arrived here on the base. This is the officer that was attacked by a sniper yesterday outside Gardez, about three miles south of Gardez. That's a town about three hour's drive south of the Bagram Air Base here in Afghanistan. He received a gunshot wound to the thigh, his left thigh. It exited, we understand, but he had to be operated on at Solarno (ph) and now has just arrived here at Bagram.
He was medevaced here. He was on a stretcher. He was conscious, but he was attached to an I.V. drip and he will be taken -- be taken care of by the medical staff here at Bagram perhaps for the next few days. So he has arrived here. No more details about him being released. But, of course, security concerns very uppermost in people's minds here in Bagram, particularly as news of this tragedy in Kenya is starting to ripple through the camp. Of course Special Forces are based here and they go out on mission around the country and they know only too well what al Qaeda is capable of.
Back to you.
COSTELLO: That's certainly so. And that soldier you were talking about, non-life-threatening injuries, our best to him.
Thank you, Diana Muriel.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
