American armed service personnel sat around a table at a NATO base in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Thanksgiving Day and shared why they give thanks.

Navy Lt. Kerry Ann Hudson -- 7,000 miles from her native Peters and away from family on a holiday for the first time in her 31 years -- didn't hesitate, having seen the country's oppressive poverty.

"Being here has made me thankful and grateful for being an American and for everything we have," the Navy medical doctor and 1995 Peters High School graduate recounted in a telephone interview yesterday. "Running water, electricity, plumbing and just family, too. You take all of that for granted until it's gone."

The realization -- as well as a traditional Thanksgiving dinner and camaraderie -- helped bridge the miles to home.

"It was a little tough, but everyone here is in the same situation," she said. "Six of us who work in a clinic and two other Navy guys had a family fun day because we're family here in Afghanistan. We had dinner, played Trivial Pursuit, drank some non-alcoholic cider and had dessert."

Also bringing the American holiday halfway around the world was the Skype teleconferencing computer program that allowed Lt. Hudson to at least virtually share the holiday with her husband and their 2-year-old son in Baltimore and her mother, sisters and brother-in-law in Virginia. She got to see them eating dinner and playing board games. And they got to see her.

"It's tough being away from her. I was so upset she wasn't with us this year," said her mother, Suzanne George of Peters. "It was really good to hear her be so excited about having an American Thanksgiving.

"She looked better than she had in the past. She had been looking a little stressed, but she was more relaxed and had a fun evening."

Skype has provided the family a link it didn't have available to them when Lt. Hudson's twin sister, Marine Capt. Kelly McConnell, was deployed last year to Afghanistan and in 2003 to Iraq and Kuwait.

Even though Lt. Hudson was already in Afghanistan on her son Jacob's second birthday on Oct. 10, she got to sing "Happy Birthday" to him that day and see him enjoying himself. And three or four nights a week she virtually tucks him in as his father, Navy Ensign Dan Hudson, a former submarine officer who's studying to be a doctor, does so in person.

Seeing her son in the comfort of the couple's home reinforces that for her in Afghanistan "the hardest thing is seeing the level of poverty over here. When I'm out on a mission, I see 2-year-olds without winter jackets, without shoes on. There's dirt everywhere.

"This is a very poverty-stricken country. That's the part that hits home the most."

Lt. Hudson, along with another physician, a nurse and four medics, is responsible for clinic care for 2,000 military and civilian personnel. An OB/GYN specialist, she also finds time to visit a women's hospital in the city to help educate physicians there.

She told her family the women in the hospital are so poor that babies are sent home without clothing. That spurred Lt. Hudson's sister Kristen, 25, to begin collecting used baby clothing. Last week, she shipped Lt. Hudson six boxes that had been collected in Peters.

That kind of support from the homefront makes her swell with pride. And so, too, did what occurred the day before Thanksgiving, when U.S. Rep. Tim Murphy, R-Upper St. Clair, had dinner with the troops and shared letters written by Gateway High School students.

"They were awesome, tear-jerkers. They said, 'We're so proud of you,' and 'Thank you.' I was so proud to read that. It keeps a lot of us going over here," said Lt. Hudson, whose tour there will continue until April.

She said she had never been more inspired than when she boarded a plane in Fort Jackson, S.C., on her way to Afghanistan. Local residents, many with no ties to service personnel, provided food, care packages and small American flags that Lt. Hudson and others still carry with them.

"As we walked down the runway, every one of the people formed a huge line and shook our hands, gave us hugs, said how proud they are of us. I've never seen anything like that. I was overwhelmed by the outpouring."

For that, and for so much more, Lt. Hudson gives thanks in a war-torn country thousands of miles from home.