Return to Transcripts main page

Live From...

Interview With Scott Snow

Aired April 15, 2003 - 13:27   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.


KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: In just the past few minutes, we were talking about the time that I had to -- or I had the chance to spend on the USS Abraham Lincoln. Just got back last week. Was able to spend time with fighter pilots onboard, the whole crew on board that carrier. Well, they're now on their way home. Needless to say, a tremendous amount of excited sailors. One of the strike fighter pilots within the squadron VF-31, the Tomcatters, the first guys to launch off that carrier and drop bombs over Iraq, Lieutenant Commander Scott Snow on the phone with us on the USS Abraham Lincoln. Scott, can you hear me OK?
LT. COM. SCOTT SNOW, ABOARD THE USS LINCOLN: Yes, I can hear you fine, Kyra, how are you?

PHILLIPS: All right. It's great. The question is, how are you, and how are you feeling as you're heading home?

SNOW: Pretty much elated. I think everyone here on the crew and everyone in the air wing of the Abraham Lincoln were just beside ourselves with excitement, joy, and just can't get by these two weeks fast enough.

PHILLIPS: I can just imagine. Now, we're looking at a picture of you right now next to your jet, also inside the cockpit. Explain to me the Tomcatters, the number of pictures that are on the number 104 strike fighter. And explain, that's how many bombs you dropped, right?

SNOW: Yes, on each airplane every time a bomb was dropped off that aircraft, there will be a helix (ph) with a bomb put on aircraft itself. So each separate airplane will have a numerous amount of bombs put on it.

PHILLIPS: So Scott, when I spent time with you and the other strike fighter pilots within the squadron, I just remember you coming back at all hours of the night, all hours of the day, all of you extremely pumped up, a lot of energy. How have you -- have you had a chance to decompress, have you had a chance to put it all into perspective and think about what you did over the past couple of months?

SNOW: Well, truthfully, I don't think I'll be able to decompress until I'm off the ship with my bare feet standing in the grass of my front yard. Then I'll decompress pretty well then.

PHILLIPS: No doubt. I know you've talked a lot about that. It's hard being at sea. You guys were on this carrier almost nine months, longer than any carrier out there covering Operation Iraqi Freedom. Was it tough? How did you keep your edge for so long?

SNOW: Well, most of it's compartmentalization, and actually we will be the eleventh longest cruise in the history of aircraft carriers, so that's quite a long time.

PHILLIPS: Right now, Scott, we're looking at some video of you. This was when President Bush, the president of the United States, came out and said, ladies and gentlemen, we are no longer involved with Operation Southern Watch. We're now in the middle of Operation Iraqi Freedom. You were one of the first ones to suit up, get in your F-14 and drop bombs over Iraq. As we're looking at this video, the very moment that this happened, take me back to that moment, Scott. Tell me what was going through your head as you were suiting up, getting in your jet, and getting ready to carry out Operation Iraqi Freedom.

SNOW: Well, I think you have the pregame jitters, like anyone would. You know, you're going out to a hostile environment where people are going to be shooting at you the whole time, and you're trying to get rid of the bad guys. For the most part, we play like we practice. We've been practicing for years and years, and we're professionals in what we do, and that -- the professionalism and training took over as soon as we got off the deck. As soon as that canopy comes down, you know, most of your fears and inhibitions go away.

PHILLIPS: That night over Baghdad, I remember talking to you, I think it was about 3:00 in the morning. And you were definitely in just a different world because of all the surface-to-air missiles, the AAA fire. A lot of you guys told me it was like "Star Wars." Tell me what it was like over Baghdad and how this was so different from anything you've done before? You've dropped bombs in Afghanistan. You carried out Operation Southern Watch. How was this different?

SNOW: The big difference is we had normally not flown over Baghdad itself. We had always kept everything south of the 33rd parallel. Once we were over downtown, that's where they have a very heavily defended city and one of the most robust surface-to-air threats that there is in the world. When the SAMs are coming up, you're basically concentrating on the mission at hand. It's, you know, dodge the SAMs, don't get shot down yourself, put the bombs on target and then come home. You have a little bit of time on the way home that you can kind of decompress, and like I talked about compartmentalization before, what you're doing is basically now I'm done with the threat, I'm out of the threat area, I'm back over the sea, and I have to work on my night trap (ph), because the ramp is still as unforgiving as ever. You just put on a different hat every time you're going through a different part of the flight, and that's what gets you through the whole thing.

PHILLIPS: How did you manage -- I think you told me there were close to 60 missile sites that you weren't even expecting to encounter when you were flying over Baghdad. How did you defend -- I mean, concentrate on defending against all the surface-to-air missiles, but at the same time, concentrating on your target, and dropping the bomb at just the right time and at the right moment. Tell me how that communication process takes place? And also, how you kept it all in perspective?

SNOW: Well, with the systems on the jet, you know exactly where you need to put the aircraft in a certain (UNINTELLIGIBLE) to be able to release the weapons to get them to their targets. The way we would defend is, you know, the way we've been practicing all the time. We would put all out lots of (UNINTELLIGIBLE) flares and decoy the missiles away. We have systems on board the jet that will warn us when they're coming up, but most of the time you're looking out the window. You're definitely catching things visually, especially at night, with the goggles on. You'll catch just about anything coming up from the ground, and then defend accordingly.

PHILLIPS: Lieutenant Commander Scott Snow aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln. I hate to cut it off here. We appreciate you joining us. Welcome home. You're almost home.

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 15, 2003 - 13:27   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: In just the past few minutes, we were talking about the time that I had to -- or I had the chance to spend on the USS Abraham Lincoln. Just got back last week. Was able to spend time with fighter pilots onboard, the whole crew on board that carrier. Well, they're now on their way home. Needless to say, a tremendous amount of excited sailors. One of the strike fighter pilots within the squadron VF-31, the Tomcatters, the first guys to launch off that carrier and drop bombs over Iraq, Lieutenant Commander Scott Snow on the phone with us on the USS Abraham Lincoln. Scott, can you hear me OK?
LT. COM. SCOTT SNOW, ABOARD THE USS LINCOLN: Yes, I can hear you fine, Kyra, how are you?

PHILLIPS: All right. It's great. The question is, how are you, and how are you feeling as you're heading home?

SNOW: Pretty much elated. I think everyone here on the crew and everyone in the air wing of the Abraham Lincoln were just beside ourselves with excitement, joy, and just can't get by these two weeks fast enough.

PHILLIPS: I can just imagine. Now, we're looking at a picture of you right now next to your jet, also inside the cockpit. Explain to me the Tomcatters, the number of pictures that are on the number 104 strike fighter. And explain, that's how many bombs you dropped, right?

SNOW: Yes, on each airplane every time a bomb was dropped off that aircraft, there will be a helix (ph) with a bomb put on aircraft itself. So each separate airplane will have a numerous amount of bombs put on it.

PHILLIPS: So Scott, when I spent time with you and the other strike fighter pilots within the squadron, I just remember you coming back at all hours of the night, all hours of the day, all of you extremely pumped up, a lot of energy. How have you -- have you had a chance to decompress, have you had a chance to put it all into perspective and think about what you did over the past couple of months?

SNOW: Well, truthfully, I don't think I'll be able to decompress until I'm off the ship with my bare feet standing in the grass of my front yard. Then I'll decompress pretty well then.

PHILLIPS: No doubt. I know you've talked a lot about that. It's hard being at sea. You guys were on this carrier almost nine months, longer than any carrier out there covering Operation Iraqi Freedom. Was it tough? How did you keep your edge for so long?

SNOW: Well, most of it's compartmentalization, and actually we will be the eleventh longest cruise in the history of aircraft carriers, so that's quite a long time.

PHILLIPS: Right now, Scott, we're looking at some video of you. This was when President Bush, the president of the United States, came out and said, ladies and gentlemen, we are no longer involved with Operation Southern Watch. We're now in the middle of Operation Iraqi Freedom. You were one of the first ones to suit up, get in your F-14 and drop bombs over Iraq. As we're looking at this video, the very moment that this happened, take me back to that moment, Scott. Tell me what was going through your head as you were suiting up, getting in your jet, and getting ready to carry out Operation Iraqi Freedom.

SNOW: Well, I think you have the pregame jitters, like anyone would. You know, you're going out to a hostile environment where people are going to be shooting at you the whole time, and you're trying to get rid of the bad guys. For the most part, we play like we practice. We've been practicing for years and years, and we're professionals in what we do, and that -- the professionalism and training took over as soon as we got off the deck. As soon as that canopy comes down, you know, most of your fears and inhibitions go away.

PHILLIPS: That night over Baghdad, I remember talking to you, I think it was about 3:00 in the morning. And you were definitely in just a different world because of all the surface-to-air missiles, the AAA fire. A lot of you guys told me it was like "Star Wars." Tell me what it was like over Baghdad and how this was so different from anything you've done before? You've dropped bombs in Afghanistan. You carried out Operation Southern Watch. How was this different?

SNOW: The big difference is we had normally not flown over Baghdad itself. We had always kept everything south of the 33rd parallel. Once we were over downtown, that's where they have a very heavily defended city and one of the most robust surface-to-air threats that there is in the world. When the SAMs are coming up, you're basically concentrating on the mission at hand. It's, you know, dodge the SAMs, don't get shot down yourself, put the bombs on target and then come home. You have a little bit of time on the way home that you can kind of decompress, and like I talked about compartmentalization before, what you're doing is basically now I'm done with the threat, I'm out of the threat area, I'm back over the sea, and I have to work on my night trap (ph), because the ramp is still as unforgiving as ever. You just put on a different hat every time you're going through a different part of the flight, and that's what gets you through the whole thing.

PHILLIPS: How did you manage -- I think you told me there were close to 60 missile sites that you weren't even expecting to encounter when you were flying over Baghdad. How did you defend -- I mean, concentrate on defending against all the surface-to-air missiles, but at the same time, concentrating on your target, and dropping the bomb at just the right time and at the right moment. Tell me how that communication process takes place? And also, how you kept it all in perspective?

SNOW: Well, with the systems on the jet, you know exactly where you need to put the aircraft in a certain (UNINTELLIGIBLE) to be able to release the weapons to get them to their targets. The way we would defend is, you know, the way we've been practicing all the time. We would put all out lots of (UNINTELLIGIBLE) flares and decoy the missiles away. We have systems on board the jet that will warn us when they're coming up, but most of the time you're looking out the window. You're definitely catching things visually, especially at night, with the goggles on. You'll catch just about anything coming up from the ground, and then defend accordingly.

PHILLIPS: Lieutenant Commander Scott Snow aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln. I hate to cut it off here. We appreciate you joining us. Welcome home. You're almost home.

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