Return to Transcripts main page

American Morning

When Duty Calls

Aired December 01, 2003 - 09:34   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.


SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Karen Collins, an Army Reservist, has her marching orders. The mother of four is being called to duty, to active duty. She is most likely headed to Iraq, where her son Eric Lewis is already deployed. Before shipping out, Karen Collins joined us this morning, and she brought her husband along, Woody, and her younger daughter, Leah. Woody and Leah already bracing, I suppose, for mom to be taken off any day now truly.
Thanks for joining us, all of you.

Give me a little background. When did you get word that you were leaving, and how much notice did you get? And how surprised were you?

KAREN COLLINS, ARMY RESERVIST WHO MAY BE DEPLOYED TO IRAQ: I was very surprised. FedEx envelope came on a Saturday morning, November 8th, and had about two day's notice to report to a base in Minnesota, where they told us in three weeks we would have to report back. So that's where I'm headed this Saturday.

O'BRIEN: Do you know what you'll be doing overseas, and where exactly you're going?

COLLINS: We don't know where we're going. I have been reassigned to a medical support group, whose specialty is combat stress control.

O'BRIEN: As we mentioned your son, Eric, is already in Iraq. I know he e-mails when he can. Have you been able to talk to him and tell him that you're heading there? And what's his reaction been?

COLLINS: Actually, I haven't gotten a reaction from him. We haven't had any e-mails since I told him...

O'BRIEN: Since he went off?

COLLINS: Exactly, so we're waiting from him.

O'BRIEN: Woody, you're going to take on a lot more when mom goes off imminently. How are you looking forward to that? How are you going to manage?

WOODY COLLINS, HUSBAND OF KAREN COLLINS: Be a super -- Mr. Mom.

O'BRIEN: Mr. Mom and dad at the same time. You joke about that, but truly, I mean, this is serious. You must really being considering how you're going to manage. W. COLLINS: It's kind of daunting, 18 months is going to be quite a long time. So trying to, you know, work with two parts of the world, trying to keep a relationship going with Karen and also keeping the homefront, so it's going to be my time is going to be divided.

O'BRIEN: You'll be a busy, busy man. You saw active duty 15 years ago, I read, is that correct?

V. COLLINS: That's correct.

O'BRIEN: And then you joined the Reserves three years ago, and in part because they would pay for your schooling to some degree. Do you regret that now? Or do you feel that was part of the deal that was made?

V. COLLINS: I don't regret it a bit. I've gotten a lot of benefit from the military. I finished my undergrad degree. I'm working on my masters degree, and they're helping pay for it. And so, when I signed up, I kind of had an idea any time that that might happen, and so I don't regret it.

O'BRIEN: What do you think of the prospects of maybe seeing your son overseas?

V. COLLINS: I would love to see him. But I'm not sure how that will work out. He's hoping to come home in the spring. I'm not sure exactly where we're located, and he's in the north, and we could be like two ships passing in the night.

O'BRIEN: Leah, you're 15 years old. You told me before you're a little nervous about coming in this morning. You know, you're a young lady and your mom has said your dad's a great dad, but that a girl who is 15 needs her mom. You're going to have to do a lot of growing up while mom's gone?

LEAH LEWIS, DAUGHTER OF VIRGINIA COLLINS: It's going to be really weird.

O'BRIEN: Weird how?

LEWIS: Because I'm going to be talking to my dad about everything that's going on at school and different things like that, Because I usually talk to my mom about. And it feels a little uncomfortable doing that.

O'BRIEN: You think you're going to have to do some bigtime growing up while your mom's gone?

LEWIS: Yes.

O'BRIEN: What sort of things are you prepared to do a little bit differently?

LEWIS: I really don't know what's coming towards me. But I'm going to be with my older sister a lot more.

O'BRIEN: I hear she's in college, and she's going to come back and visit you a little bit more.

LEWIS: Yes, so she's going to help me, too, along the way.

O'BRIEN: Keep a good eye on you.

What's your strategy? I mean, 18 months, it sounds like such a long time on one hand, and then could go by quickly on the other hand. Do you have any kind of strategy going in on how to keep your mind focused on what you really need to focus on, but keeping your family together too?

V. COLLINS: It's difficult. It's difficult because you don't firmly know what's ahead of you. We'll rely heavily on e-mail and regular mail, and just try and focus on the mission that I have, and then remembering that they are back holding down the home front.

O'BRIEN: Eighteen months will go by fast, Leah, I'm confident.

Karen, and Woody and Leah, thanks for coming in to talk to us about it. Best of luck to you. We wish for your very speedy and very safe return.

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 December 1, 2003 - 09:34   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Karen Collins, an Army Reservist, has her marching orders. The mother of four is being called to duty, to active duty. She is most likely headed to Iraq, where her son Eric Lewis is already deployed. Before shipping out, Karen Collins joined us this morning, and she brought her husband along, Woody, and her younger daughter, Leah. Woody and Leah already bracing, I suppose, for mom to be taken off any day now truly.
Thanks for joining us, all of you.

Give me a little background. When did you get word that you were leaving, and how much notice did you get? And how surprised were you?

KAREN COLLINS, ARMY RESERVIST WHO MAY BE DEPLOYED TO IRAQ: I was very surprised. FedEx envelope came on a Saturday morning, November 8th, and had about two day's notice to report to a base in Minnesota, where they told us in three weeks we would have to report back. So that's where I'm headed this Saturday.

O'BRIEN: Do you know what you'll be doing overseas, and where exactly you're going?

COLLINS: We don't know where we're going. I have been reassigned to a medical support group, whose specialty is combat stress control.

O'BRIEN: As we mentioned your son, Eric, is already in Iraq. I know he e-mails when he can. Have you been able to talk to him and tell him that you're heading there? And what's his reaction been?

COLLINS: Actually, I haven't gotten a reaction from him. We haven't had any e-mails since I told him...

O'BRIEN: Since he went off?

COLLINS: Exactly, so we're waiting from him.

O'BRIEN: Woody, you're going to take on a lot more when mom goes off imminently. How are you looking forward to that? How are you going to manage?

WOODY COLLINS, HUSBAND OF KAREN COLLINS: Be a super -- Mr. Mom.

O'BRIEN: Mr. Mom and dad at the same time. You joke about that, but truly, I mean, this is serious. You must really being considering how you're going to manage. W. COLLINS: It's kind of daunting, 18 months is going to be quite a long time. So trying to, you know, work with two parts of the world, trying to keep a relationship going with Karen and also keeping the homefront, so it's going to be my time is going to be divided.

O'BRIEN: You'll be a busy, busy man. You saw active duty 15 years ago, I read, is that correct?

V. COLLINS: That's correct.

O'BRIEN: And then you joined the Reserves three years ago, and in part because they would pay for your schooling to some degree. Do you regret that now? Or do you feel that was part of the deal that was made?

V. COLLINS: I don't regret it a bit. I've gotten a lot of benefit from the military. I finished my undergrad degree. I'm working on my masters degree, and they're helping pay for it. And so, when I signed up, I kind of had an idea any time that that might happen, and so I don't regret it.

O'BRIEN: What do you think of the prospects of maybe seeing your son overseas?

V. COLLINS: I would love to see him. But I'm not sure how that will work out. He's hoping to come home in the spring. I'm not sure exactly where we're located, and he's in the north, and we could be like two ships passing in the night.

O'BRIEN: Leah, you're 15 years old. You told me before you're a little nervous about coming in this morning. You know, you're a young lady and your mom has said your dad's a great dad, but that a girl who is 15 needs her mom. You're going to have to do a lot of growing up while mom's gone?

LEAH LEWIS, DAUGHTER OF VIRGINIA COLLINS: It's going to be really weird.

O'BRIEN: Weird how?

LEWIS: Because I'm going to be talking to my dad about everything that's going on at school and different things like that, Because I usually talk to my mom about. And it feels a little uncomfortable doing that.

O'BRIEN: You think you're going to have to do some bigtime growing up while your mom's gone?

LEWIS: Yes.

O'BRIEN: What sort of things are you prepared to do a little bit differently?

LEWIS: I really don't know what's coming towards me. But I'm going to be with my older sister a lot more.

O'BRIEN: I hear she's in college, and she's going to come back and visit you a little bit more.

LEWIS: Yes, so she's going to help me, too, along the way.

O'BRIEN: Keep a good eye on you.

What's your strategy? I mean, 18 months, it sounds like such a long time on one hand, and then could go by quickly on the other hand. Do you have any kind of strategy going in on how to keep your mind focused on what you really need to focus on, but keeping your family together too?

V. COLLINS: It's difficult. It's difficult because you don't firmly know what's ahead of you. We'll rely heavily on e-mail and regular mail, and just try and focus on the mission that I have, and then remembering that they are back holding down the home front.

O'BRIEN: Eighteen months will go by fast, Leah, I'm confident.

Karen, and Woody and Leah, thanks for coming in to talk to us about it. Best of luck to you. We wish for your very speedy and very safe return.

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