As I Saw It by Marvin Scott

Author:Marvin Scott
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Beaufort Books
Published: 2017-04-06T04:00:00+00:00

22

BRINGING CHRISTMAS TO OUR TROOPS

Dave Kimmel and I bring Christmas cheer to troops at Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan 2013.

It began with the delivery of a father’s hug to a son at war, and evolved into the massive embrace of hundreds of homesick soldiers far from home at Christmastime. And it was the proudest achievement of my entire career.

At the height of the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, I proposed to my editors at WPIX TV that we spend the Christmas holiday with servicemen and -women from New York, to let them know they hadn’t been forgotten back home. Since 2004, we have made four holiday visits to Iraq and one to Afghanistan. Each time my colleagues, cameraman Dave Kimmel and reporter Jill Nicolini, and I have brought the soldiers taped greetings from local elected officials and celebrities, along with some of New York’s world-famous local delicacies—bagels, hotdogs and cheesecake—which we were able to get DHL Express to fly directly into the base. Best of all, we arranged for a number of emotional reunions, which enabled the soldiers to talk directly with their families live via satellite during WPIX’s morning and evening newscasts.

The experience began with the startled-to-joy expression on the face of Private First Class James Adelis Jr. when I located him at a base 40 miles north of Baghdad and delivered a hug from his father, who was instrumental in handling the logistics for our visit.

“This is from your dad,” I said, embracing him. “I promised to bring it all the way to Iraq.”

The location of Camp Anaconda in Balad, just north of Baghdad, was geographically Iraq; but the surroundings were more like those of a small city in the heartland of America, with a first-run movie theater, a Pizza Hut and a Burger King. With a population of 22,000 servicemen and -women, Camp Anaconda was the largest logistical support base in the country. The troops lived in so-called hooches, improvised housing units consisting of pre-fab trailers, some of which had satellite TV dishes and running water. The sound of hairdryers, competing with the rattle of armored vehicles, lured me into a small building, where I was surprised to discover a beauty salon on the lonely desert outpost. It was a bit incongruous to see M-16s and pieces of body armor resting alongside the manicure tables. Yet for the 4,000 women at this base, a little pampering was the best way to combat battle fatigue.

Still, daily life on the military outpost could be very challenging. Discomfort was the norm. The fine, oil-tainted sand blowing around consistently coated our throats and clothing, and left layers of grit on the vehicles. Any rainfall would turn the ground into thick mounds of clay that caked in the soles of our boots. The brilliance of the morning sun rising over the Tigris River seemed to contrast with the ominous clouds of violence that lurked just outside the razor wire of the compound.

My nerves were rattled the first time the sirens wailed. It was a “red alert,” warning us of an incoming mortar attack.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.