Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
CNN
May 3, 2008
CNN Newsroom, 4:00 PM
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD: Finally this hour, R&R in Central America. Rest and relaxation means different things to different people. Here is what it meant to some U.S. troops in Honduras who had just finished a tour of duty in Iraq. Our Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr has this story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Air Force Chaplain Jeremy Bastion leads U.S. troops into the hills of Honduras. After crossing a river, we hiked deep into the countryside. These troops have donated $900 of their own money to buy food for the people here. They are backpacking to remote villages to distribute more than 200 bags of food to people who desperately need it. Before the morning is over, many of these troops fresh from Iraq say this journey to help others helps them heal from months of combat.
LT. COL. GREGORY JICHA, U.S. ARMY: We have a lot of guys who come straight from the war zone here and it takes them a while to adjust.
STARR: Lieutenant Colonel Gregory Jicha, an Iraq veteran himself, says it is great to see the children smile.
JICHA: You can see the children and you realize they are not that much different than us. They are not different than the kids we have back home.
STARR: The need for help is enormous. Crops have failed in this area just as the price of rice, flour and beans has skyrocketed. While shopping a day earlier, the chaplain had to make a grim decision. Beans were too expensive.
CAPT. JEREMY BASTION, U.S. AIR FORCE: We had to pass up buying beans. We have to buy something that is smaller so we can distribute to more of the people.
STARR: This is a pure volunteer effort, not part of the official U.S. military mission in Central America. This is enthusiasm the Pentagon just can't order up. The children get stickers, toys and candy. This Honduran mother says food prices make it hard for her to feed her four children. For Major Mike Angell, another war veteran, this is part of his journey back from the front lines.
MAJOR MIKE ANGELL, U.S. ARMY: It's kind of a walk for everybody to see what can be as far as relations go between the countries. After 12 months, 15 months, 18 months in Iraq, you really start feeling like no matter where you go somebody is trying to do something to you personally.
STARR: Here, the American troops get to do something personal for these people in these hills. Barbara Starr, CNN, Honduras. (END VIDEOTAPE)
May 3, 2008
CNN Newsroom, 4:00 PM
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD: Finally this hour, R&R in Central America. Rest and relaxation means different things to different people. Here is what it meant to some U.S. troops in Honduras who had just finished a tour of duty in Iraq. Our Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr has this story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Air Force Chaplain Jeremy Bastion leads U.S. troops into the hills of Honduras. After crossing a river, we hiked deep into the countryside. These troops have donated $900 of their own money to buy food for the people here. They are backpacking to remote villages to distribute more than 200 bags of food to people who desperately need it. Before the morning is over, many of these troops fresh from Iraq say this journey to help others helps them heal from months of combat.
LT. COL. GREGORY JICHA, U.S. ARMY: We have a lot of guys who come straight from the war zone here and it takes them a while to adjust.
STARR: Lieutenant Colonel Gregory Jicha, an Iraq veteran himself, says it is great to see the children smile.
JICHA: You can see the children and you realize they are not that much different than us. They are not different than the kids we have back home.
STARR: The need for help is enormous. Crops have failed in this area just as the price of rice, flour and beans has skyrocketed. While shopping a day earlier, the chaplain had to make a grim decision. Beans were too expensive.
CAPT. JEREMY BASTION, U.S. AIR FORCE: We had to pass up buying beans. We have to buy something that is smaller so we can distribute to more of the people.
STARR: This is a pure volunteer effort, not part of the official U.S. military mission in Central America. This is enthusiasm the Pentagon just can't order up. The children get stickers, toys and candy. This Honduran mother says food prices make it hard for her to feed her four children. For Major Mike Angell, another war veteran, this is part of his journey back from the front lines.
MAJOR MIKE ANGELL, U.S. ARMY: It's kind of a walk for everybody to see what can be as far as relations go between the countries. After 12 months, 15 months, 18 months in Iraq, you really start feeling like no matter where you go somebody is trying to do something to you personally.
STARR: Here, the American troops get to do something personal for these people in these hills. Barbara Starr, CNN, Honduras. (END VIDEOTAPE)