HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: General John Abuzaid, the Commander of U.S. Central Command, is spending the holiday with the troops. He recently returned to the Persian Gulf region. Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr reports now by video phone from Doha, Qatar. Barbara, hello.</s>BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well hello to you, Heidi. We are here in Doha, Qatar, at the desert headquarters of the U.S. Central Command. We went out to the base a little bit earlier today to be with the soldiers at their midday Thanksgiving meal. And here's a few of those key turkey specifics from here. About 2,500 meals were served. That included about 900 pounds of turkey, 1,000 pounds of beef, over 2,000 desserts and even 700 pounds of shrimp cocktail. Now, a fair number of the soldiers were young men and women who were back in Qatar on R&R; leave, if you will, for the Thanksgiving holiday from their duty stations in Afghanistan and in Iraq. We got a chance to talk to some of them. They said hello to their moms. But indeed, this was just a relaxing day here in the Persian Gulf, a chance for some of the soldiers to kick back, get a good hot meal and have a little rest and relaxation on this Thanksgiving Day -- Heidi.</s>COLLINS: All right, sounds good to us here. Thanks so much, Barbara Starr in Doha, Qatar.
Thanksgiving Day With the Troops