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Olympic Pride in a Dangerous Place
Saturday, February 9, 2002
By Jim Maceda
NBC News

NBC’s Jim Maceda is on assignment in Afghanistan.

101st Airborne soldiers, from left, Spc. Shawn Duke, Lafayette, La.; Christian Dancescu, Beaverton, Ore., and PFC Christiana Helle Pleasantview, Tenn., cheer the Olympic opening ceremony in Kandahar on Friday.
Photo Credit: Joe Raedle -- Getty Images.

Satellite TV transports U.S. forces to start of patriots’ Games

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan -- NBC
It was freezing cold in the ’teens, with no heat in the tent. Hours before dawn, there was only blackness beyond the windows of the U.S. military’s Morale, Welfare and Recreation Center. Inside, huddled on muddied cots and makeshift benches, some 50 Americans, Canadians and Norwegians, part of the international coalition at Kandahar airport, watched the Opening Ceremony of the Winter Olympic Games, live via satellite. Perhaps more than a sports event, this was an electronic ticket home.

A week before, in the same tent, other soldiers had partied all night, loud if alcohol-less, through Super Bowl XXXVI. But this was different. At times almost solemn, this party had more the feel of a church service, with long stretches of soft, quiet communion. And songs like “God Bless America” and the National Anthem, sung like hymns. Unlike Super Bowl night, there was nothing raucously jingoistic or rah-rah. No food fights or trash talk from opposing fans. And not a dry eye in the house.

Least of all, from Lt. Sterling Packer, a native of Salt Lake City. “I couldn’t miss this. My sister is one of the mountain-lion skaters in the artistic portion of the show. I think I saw her, but it doesn’t matter. This is as close to home as I’ve felt in months.”

Spc. Yves-Marie Casimir, from Raleigh, N.C., is one of hundreds of women camped on the old Soviet base in southern Afghanistan. “Watching as they carried the damaged U.S. flag from the World Trade Center and sang the national anthem, that just choked me up. I’m a reservist and, after 9-11, I never thought I’d end up in Afghanistan. But here I am, and I thought, ‘This is why I’m here, so that this never happens again.’”

Her “buddy,” Spc. Elizabeth Casebier, from Tuscaloosa, Ala., agreed. “The ceremony was great. It celebrated all the good stuff, art, dance, sport. It was so moving. It makes you feel good that they are not letting the terrorists win.”
(More: MSNBC.com News Source)
2002 © National Broadcasting Company.

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