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CNN Live At Daybreak
USS John C. Stennis Ships Out For Operation Enduring Freedom
Aired November 12, 2001 - 05:17 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.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Now, the Stennis aircraft carrier battle group ships out today from San Diego. The fleet's going to be joining other vessels already stationed near Pakistan.
As CNN's Hena Cuevas reports this morning, the sailors and their families have been busy saying their good-byes.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HENA CUEVAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's an early Thanksgiving dinner for the family of one U.S. sailor in San Diego.
KEVIN, U.S. NAVY: It's November, it's close enough to Thanksgiving.
CUEVAS: Trying to fit in the holidays before Kevin, a structural engineer aboard the aircraft carrier, the USS John C. Stennis, most go.
JANAE, KEVIN'S WIFE: We're getting Christmas pictures taken tomorrow.
CUEVAS: Kevin is one of the 6,000 crew members on the Stennis. They'll be gone for at least six months. An eternity when you have three kids, especially two small ones, like 2-year-old Logan and 4- month-old Corbin.
KEVIN: A lot of his firsts I'll miss. My 2-year-old daughter, she's going to be growing. And in the six months I'm gone, I mean, each day she's learning new words and talking even more. And that, that's hard.
CUEVAS: Harder still because of uncertainty of the situation.
JANAE: We have no idea, none, what is going to happen, whatsoever. We don't know if they're going to be home in six months. They could be gone for a year.
CUEVAS: The family says they'll stay in touch via e-mail, sending updates and digital photos.
KEVIN: You look forward to getting the letters every day and the e-mail or whatever, however we can stay in contact, you look forward to that day. CUEVAS: Still, no substitute, they say, for actually being together.
KEVIN: I give a kiss to a picture every night. And that's, the hard part -- is I'm not able to actually hold onto the person, hold onto my kids, hold onto my wife. When you really get home, you understand how much you missed it.
CUEVAS: Hena Cuevas, San Diego, California.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: And military families across the country can tell you that e-mail is a godsend.
The USS Stennis is leaving San Diego, but as we can tell you right now, CNN's Hena Cuevas is going to be reporting live from San Diego beginning around 9:00 a.m. Eastern. So stay tuned for that.
Now, the Stennis is just one of many vessels that are in this battle group that are going to be active. But CNN.com has a complete listing of all the ships and their home ports, as well. So just click onto CNN.com, AOL keyword there is CNN.
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