Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Sunday Morning
A Soldier's Life During the Holidays
Aired December 22, 2002 - 08:46 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.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: A soldier's life is endless days of tedium, training and waiting interrupted by life and death combat. It's a lonely and Spartan job, especially during the holidays.
Our Walter Rodgers joins some homesick troops in the Kuwaiti desert.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MEN: Rudolph the red nosed reindeer, had a very shiny nose....
WALTER RODGERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A duet sings from deep inside the bowels of a main battle tank in the days before Christmas.
UNIDENTIFIED MEN: And if you ever saw it, you would even say it glows.
RODGERS: These soldiers will not be home for the holidays. They are making sacrifices in the Kuwaiti desert that most Americans never consider.
SGT. ROBERT GIBSON, U.S. ARMY: The hardest part is not being there with them and watching my kids go to school.
SGT. PAUL KELLMAN, U.S. ARMY: I worry about my family back in the West. Yes. My wife's due in March, so.
RODGERS: The isolation is numbing. There is the feeling that while waiting for war, they have lost touch with the world.
SPECIALIST JOEL GARZA, U.S. ARMY: That's one thing I wish, I wish there was more like newspapers, you know?
RODGERS: Soldiers loathe waiting, waiting in line to eat, to shower, waiting to be told what next. Waiting is exhausting. The Army is nothing if not grinding routine, repetition, and practice. And more practice.
There are fleeting moments of excitement, racing across the desert at 50 miles an hour in a tank. But sacrifice remains omnipresent. Recall the tank is the softest bed many of these soldiers have seen in months. LT. DAVID CHEN, U.S. ARMY: I myself sleep up on top of the turret next to my hatch by the radios in case any radio traffic comes across for me. My loader does the same thing next, that's his hatch right up there.
RODGERS: Some beat boredom adopting pets.
SGT. CHARLES WEAVER, U.S. ARMY: I had a snake. I had snakes. I had tarantulas. I had dogs, cats, rabbits, guinea pigs. You name it, I've had it, sir.
RODGERS: Others adopt their weapons.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We all have names for our machine guns. I call my 50 caliber little bit because it only takes a little bit to hit that target.
RODGERS: Want to make a soldier happy? Hand him a cell phone on his wife's birthday.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A CNN reporter is letting me use his cell phone to call you just out of the blue. This is awesome. I'm sitting in the middle of a frigging field.
RODGERS: There are no amenities and scant privacy here.
SPECIALIST BRANDY JOHNSON, U.S. ARMY: It's just like, you know, trying to sleep and when you have to do personal hygiene, you know, there's not enough space.
RODGERS (on camera): And there are hardships here that do not show well on television -- the heat, the cold, the loneliness, for example. Or questions from children like why won't daddy be home for Christmas. Or the worst, that letter from home threatening I'm going to leave you if you don't get out of the Army.
(voice-over): Soldiers receive those letters fairly frequently, according to the chaplains.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is that the best thing we can do is just be where we're at, accept that we're going to be here. We're not going to be home for Christmas.
RODGERS: Knowing that, these soldiers have other things on their minds this holiday season.
GIBSON: This, we're just ready to race to Baghdad at all times.
RODGERS: But, after Baghdad and further sacrifices, these soldiers will be even more ready to race home.
Walter Rodgers, CNN, with U.S. forces in northwestern Kuwait.
(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 22, 2002 - 08:46 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: A soldier's life is endless days of tedium, training and waiting interrupted by life and death combat. It's a lonely and Spartan job, especially during the holidays.
Our Walter Rodgers joins some homesick troops in the Kuwaiti desert.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MEN: Rudolph the red nosed reindeer, had a very shiny nose....
WALTER RODGERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A duet sings from deep inside the bowels of a main battle tank in the days before Christmas.
UNIDENTIFIED MEN: And if you ever saw it, you would even say it glows.
RODGERS: These soldiers will not be home for the holidays. They are making sacrifices in the Kuwaiti desert that most Americans never consider.
SGT. ROBERT GIBSON, U.S. ARMY: The hardest part is not being there with them and watching my kids go to school.
SGT. PAUL KELLMAN, U.S. ARMY: I worry about my family back in the West. Yes. My wife's due in March, so.
RODGERS: The isolation is numbing. There is the feeling that while waiting for war, they have lost touch with the world.
SPECIALIST JOEL GARZA, U.S. ARMY: That's one thing I wish, I wish there was more like newspapers, you know?
RODGERS: Soldiers loathe waiting, waiting in line to eat, to shower, waiting to be told what next. Waiting is exhausting. The Army is nothing if not grinding routine, repetition, and practice. And more practice.
There are fleeting moments of excitement, racing across the desert at 50 miles an hour in a tank. But sacrifice remains omnipresent. Recall the tank is the softest bed many of these soldiers have seen in months. LT. DAVID CHEN, U.S. ARMY: I myself sleep up on top of the turret next to my hatch by the radios in case any radio traffic comes across for me. My loader does the same thing next, that's his hatch right up there.
RODGERS: Some beat boredom adopting pets.
SGT. CHARLES WEAVER, U.S. ARMY: I had a snake. I had snakes. I had tarantulas. I had dogs, cats, rabbits, guinea pigs. You name it, I've had it, sir.
RODGERS: Others adopt their weapons.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We all have names for our machine guns. I call my 50 caliber little bit because it only takes a little bit to hit that target.
RODGERS: Want to make a soldier happy? Hand him a cell phone on his wife's birthday.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A CNN reporter is letting me use his cell phone to call you just out of the blue. This is awesome. I'm sitting in the middle of a frigging field.
RODGERS: There are no amenities and scant privacy here.
SPECIALIST BRANDY JOHNSON, U.S. ARMY: It's just like, you know, trying to sleep and when you have to do personal hygiene, you know, there's not enough space.
RODGERS (on camera): And there are hardships here that do not show well on television -- the heat, the cold, the loneliness, for example. Or questions from children like why won't daddy be home for Christmas. Or the worst, that letter from home threatening I'm going to leave you if you don't get out of the Army.
(voice-over): Soldiers receive those letters fairly frequently, according to the chaplains.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is that the best thing we can do is just be where we're at, accept that we're going to be here. We're not going to be home for Christmas.
RODGERS: Knowing that, these soldiers have other things on their minds this holiday season.
GIBSON: This, we're just ready to race to Baghdad at all times.
RODGERS: But, after Baghdad and further sacrifices, these soldiers will be even more ready to race home.
Walter Rodgers, CNN, with U.S. forces in northwestern Kuwait.
(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
