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CNN Live At Daybreak

Lincoln Logs Miles; Carrier to Arrive in San Diego Friday

Aired April 28, 2003 - 06:31   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: They are coming home. The USS Abraham Lincoln is on its way to San Diego after its service at Operation Iraqi Freedom.
CNN's Kyra Phillips is board the "Abe" in the Pacific Ocean, and she joins us live this morning.

Good morning -- Kyra.

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, Carol.

I feel like I've never left. As you know, I came out here before the war started. You remember...

(CROSSTALK)

COSTELLO: Yes, I just saw you in...

PHILLIPS: ... out here, of course...

COSTELLO: ... Atlanta the other day.

PHILLIPS: I know. Isn't that strange? I was back there, you know, be able to sleep on a regular bed, be with the family. And now, I'm back in my rack and running all kinds of crazy hours on this schedule.

But let me tell you what. It's like I never left, truly. I felt very comfortable once I got back here. I was out here before the war. Then, of course, I came out here during Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Right now, we're in the hangar bay. Now, during the war, this was an extremely busy place, working on all of the aircraft, the maintenance crews, getting all of the different types of aircraft ready to carry out Operation Iraqi Freedom, and, of course, all of the training involving.

A number of different squadrons here involved in the air wing. You know, you hear a lot about the F-14 pilots, the F-18 pilots. Another very important squadron that took part in Operation Iraqi Freedom: The Prowler Squadron.

One such pilot is Lieutenant Jeff Barrett.

How are you doing?

LT. JEFF BARRETT, PILOT: Fine. How are you? PHILLIPS: Are you excited to get back home?

BARRETT: I'm very excited.

PHILLIPS: Jeff is from Florence, Alabama. And that's quite a long way from home when you think about it.

BARRETT: Exactly.

PHILLIPS: Coming out into the Persian Gulf?

BARRETT: Exactly.

PHILLIPS: Take us back to Operation Iraqi Freedom, and let's talk about the Prowler role in the war.

BARRETT: Essentially what we do is suppress the enemy radar, so basically pointing those guys that you see flying the other jets to kind of get in and out safely without getting shot down. So...

PHILLIPS: Well, let's talk about the impact that it made on you. Now, you have a dad that was a pilot.

BARRETT: Right.

PHILLIPS: You said he was a very jealous man; that he wanted to come out and participate.

BARRETT: From what I hear from my sister, he's kind of wishing he was out here, too, which I can imagine so.

PHILLIPS: So, what's the first thing you're going to tell him? You were telling me you were going to get home, and he's probably the one you're going to really want to vent to.

BARRETT: Exactly, exactly.

PHILLIPS: What are you going to tell him?

BARRETT: Pretty much just sit down with a few beers and discuss getting shot at and different things that we saw out there and stuff like that.

PHILLIPS: What do you think was different from what you did versus, you know, what your dad did years ago when he was flying?

BARRETT: Oh, a lot of different tactics nowadays. I think that the services are a lot more integrated than essentially whenever he flew in the '80s and the '70s. Basically, our assay with regards to that is a lot larger with the integration that we have with each other. So...

PHILLIPS: And right now, we're looking at some video of some workers on the helicopters, the Hueys. It's a very important role in a wartime situation. Search and rescue, right?

BARRETT: Right.

PHILLIPS: And so, you didn't have to worry about that this time around.

BARRETT: Didn't have to. Didn't have to.

PHILLIPS: Well, I know it's your wife's birthday. You wanted to say something to Katie (ph), right?

BARRETT: Yes, I'd just like to tell her happy birthday. I love you, Kate (ph). I should be home here in a few days. So -- and we're not answering the phone once I get home for about a good day or two.

PHILLIPS: You're keeping to your promise.

BARRETT: I'm keeping to my promise.

PHILLIPS: Lieutenant Jeff Barrett, thank you so much.

BARRETT: Thank you much.

PHILLIPS: All right, well, all this week we're going to bring you live cover from the U.S. Abraham Lincoln -- the USS Abraham Lincoln. Sorry. It's a little mid-morning for us, so I'm trying, Carol, to spit everything out in a very cohesive way. But we've got all things -- all kinds of things to talk about this week.

The president of the United States is going to be coming aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln. We'll bring that to you live.

And in addition to what just life is like now that the war is over, what everybody is doing around here from taking new daddy classes to self-defense classes to a barbeque that's even going to take place this afternoon up on the deck. So we'll have all kinds of stuff for you all day today and throughout the week -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Well, that's good to hear good news in the morning. Thank you. Kyra Phillips reporting live for us this morning.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.







Aired April 28, 2003 - 06:31   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: They are coming home. The USS Abraham Lincoln is on its way to San Diego after its service at Operation Iraqi Freedom.
CNN's Kyra Phillips is board the "Abe" in the Pacific Ocean, and she joins us live this morning.

Good morning -- Kyra.

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, Carol.

I feel like I've never left. As you know, I came out here before the war started. You remember...

(CROSSTALK)

COSTELLO: Yes, I just saw you in...

PHILLIPS: ... out here, of course...

COSTELLO: ... Atlanta the other day.

PHILLIPS: I know. Isn't that strange? I was back there, you know, be able to sleep on a regular bed, be with the family. And now, I'm back in my rack and running all kinds of crazy hours on this schedule.

But let me tell you what. It's like I never left, truly. I felt very comfortable once I got back here. I was out here before the war. Then, of course, I came out here during Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Right now, we're in the hangar bay. Now, during the war, this was an extremely busy place, working on all of the aircraft, the maintenance crews, getting all of the different types of aircraft ready to carry out Operation Iraqi Freedom, and, of course, all of the training involving.

A number of different squadrons here involved in the air wing. You know, you hear a lot about the F-14 pilots, the F-18 pilots. Another very important squadron that took part in Operation Iraqi Freedom: The Prowler Squadron.

One such pilot is Lieutenant Jeff Barrett.

How are you doing?

LT. JEFF BARRETT, PILOT: Fine. How are you? PHILLIPS: Are you excited to get back home?

BARRETT: I'm very excited.

PHILLIPS: Jeff is from Florence, Alabama. And that's quite a long way from home when you think about it.

BARRETT: Exactly.

PHILLIPS: Coming out into the Persian Gulf?

BARRETT: Exactly.

PHILLIPS: Take us back to Operation Iraqi Freedom, and let's talk about the Prowler role in the war.

BARRETT: Essentially what we do is suppress the enemy radar, so basically pointing those guys that you see flying the other jets to kind of get in and out safely without getting shot down. So...

PHILLIPS: Well, let's talk about the impact that it made on you. Now, you have a dad that was a pilot.

BARRETT: Right.

PHILLIPS: You said he was a very jealous man; that he wanted to come out and participate.

BARRETT: From what I hear from my sister, he's kind of wishing he was out here, too, which I can imagine so.

PHILLIPS: So, what's the first thing you're going to tell him? You were telling me you were going to get home, and he's probably the one you're going to really want to vent to.

BARRETT: Exactly, exactly.

PHILLIPS: What are you going to tell him?

BARRETT: Pretty much just sit down with a few beers and discuss getting shot at and different things that we saw out there and stuff like that.

PHILLIPS: What do you think was different from what you did versus, you know, what your dad did years ago when he was flying?

BARRETT: Oh, a lot of different tactics nowadays. I think that the services are a lot more integrated than essentially whenever he flew in the '80s and the '70s. Basically, our assay with regards to that is a lot larger with the integration that we have with each other. So...

PHILLIPS: And right now, we're looking at some video of some workers on the helicopters, the Hueys. It's a very important role in a wartime situation. Search and rescue, right?

BARRETT: Right.

PHILLIPS: And so, you didn't have to worry about that this time around.

BARRETT: Didn't have to. Didn't have to.

PHILLIPS: Well, I know it's your wife's birthday. You wanted to say something to Katie (ph), right?

BARRETT: Yes, I'd just like to tell her happy birthday. I love you, Kate (ph). I should be home here in a few days. So -- and we're not answering the phone once I get home for about a good day or two.

PHILLIPS: You're keeping to your promise.

BARRETT: I'm keeping to my promise.

PHILLIPS: Lieutenant Jeff Barrett, thank you so much.

BARRETT: Thank you much.

PHILLIPS: All right, well, all this week we're going to bring you live cover from the U.S. Abraham Lincoln -- the USS Abraham Lincoln. Sorry. It's a little mid-morning for us, so I'm trying, Carol, to spit everything out in a very cohesive way. But we've got all things -- all kinds of things to talk about this week.

The president of the United States is going to be coming aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln. We'll bring that to you live.

And in addition to what just life is like now that the war is over, what everybody is doing around here from taking new daddy classes to self-defense classes to a barbeque that's even going to take place this afternoon up on the deck. So we'll have all kinds of stuff for you all day today and throughout the week -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Well, that's good to hear good news in the morning. Thank you. Kyra Phillips reporting live for us this morning.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.