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American Morning
Bagram Christmas
Aired December 25, 2002 - 09:49 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.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN ANCHOR: Well, today on Christmas Day, about 8,000 American troops are deployed across Afghanistan. Forces at Bagram Air Base are trying to make things as festive as possible, even though they're so far from home this Christmas Day.
And our own Karl Penhaul is also far from home, and spending the holidays with troops in Bagram. Karl Penhaul, how are you doing out there?
KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, merry Christmas to you all back there. Well, certainly Santa's had plenty of helpers here at Bagram Air Base today.
As you can see in, perhaps, some of the pictures we're showing you now, some of the soldiers swapped their camouflage fatigues today for lovely one-piece red Santa suits, some of them offset those with little reindeer horns.
And then they were very elegantly draped with M-16 assault rifles. Now, talking of assault rifles, we've got a very special guest here today, property officer Todd Champagne (ph). He, in fact, is in charge of keeping check on all the weapons here on Bagram Air Base. How are you doing, Todd? How has today been? What kind of a Christmas have you had?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, it started out to be a quiet day. Had a good meal at the dinning facility, and sent off a bunch of e-mails to families and friends. Been a good day, quiet.
PENHAUL: Now, what about presents, Todd? Has Santa been visiting you? Left you something under the Christmas tree?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He has. Unfortunately my wife won't tell me what they are. She's going to make me wait until I get home. So I got a surprise coming.
PENHAUL: Now, who have you got back at home? Would you like to say hello to some of the folks back at home?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, I sure would. I would like to say hi to my wife Cindy (ph) and my son Christopher (ph) in North Carolina, my brother Dave (ph) in Maryland and his family, and my sister Michelle (ph) and my mom, Peggy, up in Michigan. I love and miss you all.
PENHAUL: And what about the weather here, Todd? Warm enough for you? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's cooled off. As a matter of fact, while we're standing out here, I think I saw some snowflakes falling. So we could be in for some snow here.
PENHAUL: Now, today we didn't actually get a white Christmas, did we? But there has been some snow around.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. We woke up yesterday to probably about an inch of snow, but it melted away and turned to mud.
PENHAUL: And what's in store for the rest of the day then, Todd? Any Christmas parties?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No. We're about partied out here. Just quiet night, probably check my e-mail one last time, and catch a little TV.
PENHAUL: Well, thanks very much, Todd. Back to you in New York.
GUPTA: Karl Penhaul, thank you very much, and please wish a merry Christmas to all our men and women out there at Bagram Air Base from both of us.
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 25, 2002 - 09:49 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN ANCHOR: Well, today on Christmas Day, about 8,000 American troops are deployed across Afghanistan. Forces at Bagram Air Base are trying to make things as festive as possible, even though they're so far from home this Christmas Day.
And our own Karl Penhaul is also far from home, and spending the holidays with troops in Bagram. Karl Penhaul, how are you doing out there?
KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, merry Christmas to you all back there. Well, certainly Santa's had plenty of helpers here at Bagram Air Base today.
As you can see in, perhaps, some of the pictures we're showing you now, some of the soldiers swapped their camouflage fatigues today for lovely one-piece red Santa suits, some of them offset those with little reindeer horns.
And then they were very elegantly draped with M-16 assault rifles. Now, talking of assault rifles, we've got a very special guest here today, property officer Todd Champagne (ph). He, in fact, is in charge of keeping check on all the weapons here on Bagram Air Base. How are you doing, Todd? How has today been? What kind of a Christmas have you had?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, it started out to be a quiet day. Had a good meal at the dinning facility, and sent off a bunch of e-mails to families and friends. Been a good day, quiet.
PENHAUL: Now, what about presents, Todd? Has Santa been visiting you? Left you something under the Christmas tree?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He has. Unfortunately my wife won't tell me what they are. She's going to make me wait until I get home. So I got a surprise coming.
PENHAUL: Now, who have you got back at home? Would you like to say hello to some of the folks back at home?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, I sure would. I would like to say hi to my wife Cindy (ph) and my son Christopher (ph) in North Carolina, my brother Dave (ph) in Maryland and his family, and my sister Michelle (ph) and my mom, Peggy, up in Michigan. I love and miss you all.
PENHAUL: And what about the weather here, Todd? Warm enough for you? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's cooled off. As a matter of fact, while we're standing out here, I think I saw some snowflakes falling. So we could be in for some snow here.
PENHAUL: Now, today we didn't actually get a white Christmas, did we? But there has been some snow around.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. We woke up yesterday to probably about an inch of snow, but it melted away and turned to mud.
PENHAUL: And what's in store for the rest of the day then, Todd? Any Christmas parties?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No. We're about partied out here. Just quiet night, probably check my e-mail one last time, and catch a little TV.
PENHAUL: Well, thanks very much, Todd. Back to you in New York.
GUPTA: Karl Penhaul, thank you very much, and please wish a merry Christmas to all our men and women out there at Bagram Air Base from both of us.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
