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CNN Live At Daybreak

Changed in a Moment

Aired October 02, 2001 - 07:55   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.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Many military families have been living in limbo since the president declared war against terrorists. With one phone call, one order, military personnel could be sent away to serve, changing their families' lives for weeks or months or forever.

CNN's James Hattori has that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JAMES HATTORI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): On the home front in America's new war near Travis Air Force Base in northern California, Mike, a chaplain for the 60th Air Mobility Wing, whose last name we've been asked not to use, has suddenly become a single parent to his 9-year-old son Nathan.

MIKE: Hey buddy, come on. You ready?

UNIDENTIFIED TEACHER: 'Bye Nathan. See you tomorrow.

MIKE: See you later. Thank you. How did school go with you today?

HATTORI: Nathan's mother Rachel, an army reserve chaplain, was deployed overseas a week after the September 11 attacks.

MIKE: Well, he's taking it pretty hard, really. You know, he's complained about a headache or being sore or not feeling good and I know exactly where that's coming from. It's just symptoms of his stress and missing her.

I know the country she's in but I don't know the exact location in that country and I don't know when she'll be back.

HATTORI (on camera): Military families live with the possibility of being separated when duty calls. In this case, it's double duty. Chaplain Mike says there's a very good chance he, too, will be deployed. It could happen anytime.

MIKE: Some of you are in the same position that I am, that they've kind of got you on a short leash dangling you.

I'm just living on edge all the time. It's like every time the phone rings, I think it's going to be my boss saying it's time, come in right now.

Did you pick up one of those?

HATTORI (voice-over): As he waits for the call, Mike carries on with his duties, including counseling military families.

UNIDENTIFIED SERVICEMAN: I'm ready to go but she doesn't want me to.

HATTORI: But the chaplain has his own worries, like arranging for his son to stay with friends until he or his wife return.

MIKE: And with my wife gone right now, if I have to go at the same time, then the person who really bears that sacrifice, I think, is Nathan.

NATHAN: Buildings have been destroyed, people have been killed and now my parents are going away.

HATTORI: For now, Mike is trying to spend as much time as he can with Nathan.

MIKE: Do you have a lot of problems to do today or just a few?

HATTORI: And trying not to think about the prospect of war splitting his family apart.

MIKE: We're both fully committed to what we feel God's called us to do in the military as chaplains and we didn't join just when it was going to be easy or just for peacetime. We knew there were going to be difficult times and times of war. So we're ready for either one.

HATTORI: James Hattori, CNN, Travis Air Force Base, California.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: A tough time for all these families.

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