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Homecoming for Sailors at San Diego

Aired April 25, 2003 - 13:02 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: A scene repeated for generations happening right now, and it's quite a sight.
Two American fighting ships returning in triumph from a war overseas. The scene is in San Diego. It is the home of the guided cruiser Mobile Bay, and her sister ship The USS Shiloh.

The ships are ending a ten-month deployment -- the longest since the Vietnam War. It wasn't planned that way. They were headed back home last winter when word came down to divert to the Persian Gulf for action against Iraq. That job accomplished, the ships and crews are finally home.

CNN's Frank Buckley is aboard the Mobile Bay among some very excited sailors.

Frank. Can you hear me?

FRANK BUCKLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it's very noisy here as we get very close to the pier, and I'd like to take you right over here and show you what's happening live.

Captain Jim Keer (ph) here is bringing this ship into the pier. Captain, end of a very long nine-month deployment for you, sir. Your feelings, as you get close to all these families waiting for these sailors?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I would tell you, Frank, it's an absolutely incredible feeling. The support of the American public while these young Americans were over there defending their country and everything great America stands for. It's just a reassurance to me and a reaffirmation of how great our country is and how important it is in the world place of democracy.

So it's an incredible feeling. And what a view.

BUCKLEY: It really is something else. And it's an honor to be standing here with you to see this. I know that you're very busy right now, trying to make sure this ship gets in. So if you need to tell us to step aside, please do so. But as you see this moment, what is it that you want the families to take away? What do you want them to understand about the service of their sailor family members?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I would say the biggest thing, Frank, is there's just selfless dedication and commitment. If anybody wonders about the patriotism of young Americans, all they have to do is see these young sailors, and I know in the case of the Army and the Air Force and the Marines, soldiers and airmen that are serving so proudly over there, you know, halfway around the world in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, there is no question of their great patriotism, their dedication and selfless commitment to their country.

BUCKLEY: It is really an emotional moment, sir. And thank you, again, for letting us be a part of it with you here. What happens now?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What happens now is we're going to take an opportunity, after nine months of being gone, to take some well deserved time off, to reunite with families and loved ones, and just enjoy the moment. And god bless America, Frank.

BUCKLEY: Thank you very much, Captain Jim Keer, commanding officer of the USS Mobile Bay. The Shiloh also coming in here today. You can see the emotion -- so many people on the pier there, the sailors here, all waving down to their family members. They haven't seen each other for nine months.

BUCKLEY: They were on deployment, had completed their six-month deployment cycle, and then had to turn around and go back to the Persian Gulf. They launched more than two dozen tomahawk missiles into Iraq, and the good news for all the sailors aboard this ship, 351 sailors coming home -- all of them (UNINTELLIGIBLE) safely to their families.

O'BRIEN: Frank, can you hear me okay?

BUCKLEY: Yes, I can hear you now.

O'BRIEN: All right. All right. I know you grew up in a Navy family. To see it from this perspective, aboard the ship and looking down on that dock, you must have a bit of a flashback to your youth and seeing some kids down there and wondering what's going on through their mind. You must know what's going through their mind.

BUCKLEY: I'll tell you, Miles. Sometimes it's tough to sit in a situation like this. I want you to turn around and see this shot right here.

Captain Keer was able to get his son out here on a tug as he was coming in, and that, really, is a moment. These families -- you're getting to see the father and son reaction here. But in a moment, all of those families down there will get to reunite with loved ones. And you think about everything you have done since July 24.

O'BRIEN: Yes.

BUCKLEY: All the family events...

O'BRIEN: You still there? Are you still with us?

BUCKLEY: I'm still with you, but it's tough to talk about. O'BRIEN: Really. It's a tremendous sacrifice. And, what I think about, Frank, is the people we're looking at right there -- the sailors -- you know, they're the ones that signed up and, for kids, you know, they didn't sign on the dotted line, and yet they have to serve, don't they?

BUCKLEY: Oh, you bet.

O'BRIEN: All right, Frank Buckley. An emotional Frank Buckley on board the USS Mobile Bay.

Let's send it down to David Mattingly, who is somewhere amid the throng on the docks there.

David, you know, Frank was just thinking back to his days in the Navy family, and it was a very emotional thing for him. I can only imagine the emotion that you're surrounded by there on the dock.

DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Miles, I'm sorry, as you started talking to me, the cheers got even louder here. I hardly heard a word that you said. But everyone here taking the captain's advice from earlier and just enjoying this moment.

Let's take a look at this crowd. They're waving their heads, they're waving flags, they're waving signs. This moment -- nine months in the making. As Frank told you before, this tour was only supposed to last six months. And they got as far as Australia on their way home, but then they had to turn back.

And at this moment, this -- that extra three months, really hard on families here, particularly in time of war. But something extra to be thankful for today, every single sailor on these two ships, not a single injury during the war. So that is definitely something that makes everyone here especially, especially happy.

Now, there's a particular tradition that we'll be watching for as the sailors start to come off of the ship. They had a lottery and picked three sailors. Those three sailors will get the right to get off the ship first for the first kiss. They will come off and do that and be greeted by their loved ones while everybody watches that.

After that will be the new fathers -- the fathers who have not yet seen their new children, nine of them. They will be able to come off next and see their children for the first time.

Then all the other sailors will be able to get off the ship about -- let's see about 700 in all on both the ships. Quite a mob scene here. Everyone so happy to have everyone home -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: David, can you hear me okay?

MATTINGLY: Let's try it. Yes, go ahead.

O'BRIEN: All right, I hear the screaming. There's got to be a lot of tears streaming down as well. Just harkening back to what Frank Buckley was saying about how much time has elapsed. Think about how much we've all done since July and the sacrifices these families have made. Is there much talk about that?

MATTINGLY: Well, not only how much time, but just what the sailors have been going through. Now, the navy is always used to having separations with their deployments of up to six months. This time, they were actually deployed into a war situation. So the families here having all those extra concerns to deal with. So there is a greater -- a much greater -- sense of relief this time as you would normally see after those six months.

O'BRIEN: David, have they shared with you much their plans for the immediate future? What do you do? Do you go to Disney World or whatever? What are the families thinking of doing?

MATTINGLY: They're not thinking much past that initial embrace, that first kiss, and that first night at home. Everyone here has got their own individual plans. All they want to do is catch up on that quality time they've been missing for so long -- particularly those fathers that haven't seen their children at all. Some of those fathers seeing their children for the first time. There is a big learning curve ahead.

Some of the young mothers are telling me that tonight they got up so early that they are going to go to bed early and let their husbands change diapers for a change.

They're going to be getting back into the family swing -- for the ones that do have families. Everyone here, obviously, just beaming right now. Can't wait for those guys and those men and women to get off of the ship right now.

O'BRIEN: I doubt many of them will begrudge those dirty diapers -- as a matter of fact. I'm sure there's a backlog of those awaiting many of these sailors.

It's interesting in these days, though, with the Internet, these families have had a level of contact all throughout. They've had a level of contacts that they never had when Frank Buckley was growing up -- trading e-mails back and forth. That's got to help.

MATTINGLY: That's right. They say it has helped. They've been able to exchange photographs over the Internet, they've been able to exchange letters.

A cheer going up from the ship right now, and everyone here responding.

O'BRIEN: That's great.

MATTINGLY: But they have been keeping in close contact. The Internet's been a great help.

O'BRIEN: Look at the hats. Look at the hats. Off they go. MATTINGLY: There goes a big bunch of balloons. The bagpipes are playing. Everyone's cheering.

O'BRIEN: Frank Buckley, you still with us? Frank, can you hear us?

BUCKLEY: I can hear you, can you hear me, Miles?

O'BRIEN: Yes. These are just such spectacular pictures. What I was talking to David about was how the Internet has changed the reality for these families, and they can maintain a dialogue, at, least with their departed loved one. When you were growing up, how often would you hear from your father?

BUCKLEY: It was a very different thing. I mean, you know, the primary period of my father's deployment was Vietnam, and I was, frankly, I was 4 or 5 years old. But when you talked to sailors from that era, they called it snail mail, and by the time that the sailor would get the letter from home telling them that there was a crisis or something needed to be solved, of course the crisis was long past.

E-mail really has been fantastic. I've seen it both in Operation Enduring Freedom and here in this particular conflict when I was out on the Persian Gulf.

You get to communicate with your families in real-time practically. They are -- and actually, in real-time. The sailors also have access to telephones. It's pretty expensive. The phone company charges them $1 a minute. But they, at least, can hear the voices from time to time.

And with e-mail, they can communicate every day. So there's the running dialogue of what's going on. So at least they're connected in that sense. They know that you heard one of our -- one of the -- sailors on the ship today, for example, say -- find out -- that his son has lost his two front teeth. He may not have seen that yet, but he's probably heard about it through, and it's really a fantastic thing for the sailors.

The other aspect that's changed, of course, is that most deployments today are six months. This particular one was more like a Vietnam-era deployment in the sense that it was nine months. These guys were at sea, had been in the Gulf, went all the way to Australia, were having liberty there and some maintenance, and were about to steam home, back here to San Diego, when they were told that, no, they would have to turn around and go back to the Persian Gulf. That was -- they will all tell you -- a very difficult day for them. They say that morale took a hit, as it naturally would.

But it was amazing, Miles, to come on this ship yesterday. Of course, they were upbeat because they were coming home. But they say that they really had an upbeat morale after they got back to the Gulf, because many sailors will go a career without being involved in a conflict, and they felt that they had a chance to put their training to work in the conflict in Iraq, and they, in fact, did. They fired at least two dozen tomahawk missiles in the course of the Iraq conflict -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: And that really takes me back to the other point I was making a few moments ago. The people on the ships at least have that. They have something they signed up for, they love to do, they've trained for years and years. And that in and of itself can keep you going. For the families, they don't have that, do they, Frank?

BUCKLEY: No, they really don't. But what happens is with these families, they become part of the military culture. They know how it works. Of course, the kids, the wives, they don't sign up for the six-month deployment, and they will tell you that, of course, they have it much more difficult.

I think the sailors will say the same -- that the families at home have it much more difficult than the sailors and airmen themselves, when they're deployed.

It's not easy duty, of course, when you're at sea for months at a time -- in this case, nine months. But the families are the ones who have to maintain their lives, go on without dad or, in some cases, mom. No, they didn't sign up for it, but that's what they got, and they make the best of it.

They do have support groups at home, and they take care of each other. But it's very difficult. You know, you talk to some of these kids out here. They say, "Why does dad have to leave? Why is he gone for so long?" And they eventually get it, as they get older, but it doesn't make it easier.

O'BRIEN: And it's got to be hard. I was looking at a picture -- while you were talking -- of the captain's son, who you said was spirited aboard on a tug boat. He's grown up with this, and when you're young, it's probably difficult to understand, when all your other friends have their dads home all the time. Difficult to understand why dad is leaving.

By the way, one just quick point -- where did they get the flowers?

BUCKLEY: Well, the flowers that are here aboard the ship -- yesterday, when we flew out on a helicopter, I noticed there was a big barrel full of flowers. And I think that that's how they came aboard.

You know, that was another thing that was tough, Miles, for these guys. We were just offshore last night, and you could actually see off in the distance the lights of San Diego. And, you know, if the ship needed to, if it wanted to, they could have come home last night. They don't want to do that, of course. It's safer to come in during the day. And they want this big, beautiful scene. So while it was difficult for them, they enjoy coming back to see this.

O'BRIEN: So close yet so far. That probably might have been one of the longer nights of that long deployment. Let's go back to David Mattingly down there on the dock.

David, I gather you have found -- did you find somebody without their front teeth again or -- who did you find?

MATTINGLY: I don't know about the front teeth. I haven't had a dental inspection yet. But Melissa Pedali (ph) is here. She's been wandering up and down the sides of the dock here -- trying to find her husband so she can wave and make eye contact.

You haven't been able to do that yet. So close.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, not yet. So close. We're still looking.

MATTINGLY: What has it been like -- these nine months for you?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's been hard. Very hard. It's our first deployment. The first time he's ever been away from our son for a long time, you know. He missed his birth, and he missed his second birthday. It's very hard going through, being a military spouse. We're just...

MATTINGLY: Yes. I guess you had to emotionally prepare for that six-month deployment you were prepared for, and then a three months on top of that. That had to be tough.

Especially when they were talking about war, you know. It's not something easily prepared.

MATTINGLY: Do you have something you'd like to say to your daddy?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Tell daddy something, O.J. Can you tell your daddy you love him?

He's been trying. It's been very hard on him these last nine months, too -- always looking for his dad. He'd run up and play hide and go seek because they used to do that and daddy wouldn't be there so he'd start crying. It's hard with a kid but you have to make do.

MATTINGLY: What do you say to him -- your son?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I tell him daddy loves him. Because daddy's away, it makes him able for us to be free in our world today.

MATTINGLY: He's just so distracted right now. Does he really understand he's going to get to see his dad now?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't think so. But I keep saying it to him. And he kisses his daddy's picture all the time.

MATTINGLY: Do you want to hold this with me? Go right ahead. Can you talk to your dad?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Tell your daddy something.

MATTINGLY: Oh. They all get shy so quick.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, they do. MATTINGLY: Melissa, thank you very much. I hope you get a chance to see your husband. The gangplank's going in. It could be just any minute now that he's going to be walking out there.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're hoping. But thank you very much.

MATTINGLY: All right, thanks. Miles -- back to you.

O'BRIEN: David why don't you just give him that microphone cover. Just give it to him. Why not?

Frank Buckley, you're back on the bridge or near the bridge. You've got some sailors there. You've have some flowers. What's going through their mind right now?

BUCKLEY: Yes, Miles, we've got Kevin Francis (ph) here. And we were looking, just as the -- Greg (ph), why don't you show the brow just coming right across here on the ship.

Kevin -- oh, who do you see down there?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There it is -- Kaomi (ph). That's my friend and also Gina (ph). She's holding my little niece and there they go with the signs -- the "Welcome Home" (UNINTELLIGIBLE). That's my best friend -- right in that little center.

BUCKLEY: Right over here, Greg, let me show you. Do you see the flowers down there? And it says, "Welcome home, Big Wood" over there right beyond the reflector. There's a big sign that says, "Welcome home, Big Wood." And to see that for you, tell me what it feels like after nine months?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's been a long trip. Captain brought us a long way. I'm pretty glad to be home right now, and to see this and all I can say, it's been a long journey. I'm pretty sure -- I'm looking forward to it agaom.

BUCKLEY: You've got a whole bunch of flowers here. Who are they for?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These are for my two friends. One is for my little niece. She's only a year and six months but, hey, still glad to be home at this time.

BUCKLEY: Great, thank you very much for talking to us. I appreciate it.

O'BRIEN: I wonder if we can get David Mattingly over to that "Big Wood" sign. I don't know if he's anywhere near it, but maybe we can do that.

Frank, is it -- at this point, he seems kind of subdued almost. I guess he's giving us his cool veneer, as a sailor and all, but it's got to be difficult to just stay on ship at this point.

BUCKLEY: Oh, man, these guys are so ready for this moment. And -- but getting back to what we were talking about, about last night, as they could see the lights. You know, it was difficult for them. I think some of them wanted to jump off and swim to shore. They had some activities last night. They did a big cake-cutting. It was a chance for these guys to spend one more night together. And I think -- we slept down in the enlisted berthing and tried to get to sleep around 10:30 or 11:00. But people were not going to sleep. They were up well past midnight because of the excitement.

Now right down there, what you're seeing are the first women who get to come aboard. Now, these are the winners of a lottery, or their husbands were the winners of a lottery -- husbands and boyfriends, who get to actually get what they call the first kiss. And you can imagine that that's an exciting moment for them.

We're going to be seeing Harold Casey (ph), Kendall Pickering, and Matthew Berry (ph). These are the three guys that get to come down. The way they normally do it, they actually sell tickets to the sailors, and they will buy these tickets for a dollar or two dollars, and at a chance to get the first kiss.

Then they take that money and put it back into either to navy relief, which helps sailor families, or they'll put it into their recreation fund on the ship, which they really use to -- quite a few wonderful activities, as far as these sailors were concerned. They had a -- for example, when they did a port visit -- well, let me let you see this wonderful moment. The first kiss.

O'BRIEN: There it is. There they are. Welcome home. Wow. I guess that's the money shot, isn't it, frank?

BUCKLEY: Man, it is, isn't it? You think about World War II and that famous photo in New York with the sailor doing the kiss and...

Yeah, wonderful scenes.

O'BRIEN: Tell us a little bit, you know, when dad comes home after ten months, it can't be all easy. It's got to be hard to re- adjust your lives. In a sense this sounds crass, but life does go on.

BUCKLEY: Oh, yes. You know, you actually hear some of these sailors will say their wives give them a hard time. What you're seeing next are the new fathers. These are all -- I think there were 20 new dads, and you can see all the reporters. You talk about the money shot, these are the money shots, where you -- dads get to see their kids for the first time.

O'BRIEN: Unbelievable. That's got to be incredible, right there, to see your baby and your wife -- oh, my gosh, it's hard to imagine the emotion it really is.

BUCKLEY: It really is. You know, some of these families they actually had planned for the father to be home. That was the sound of "liberty call." And that means the next thing you're going to see is everyone on this ship emptying.

O'BRIEN: Let me ask you this, does anybody have to stay back? And who are the poor souls that do in case that is true?

BUCKLEY: There will be. There are some guys who do actually have to pull duty today. And they'll have to stay on the ship and make sure that it runs. It's a skeleton crew. I don't know how many people it is.

But they will get to stay hello to their family members. They'll do their duty, and then they'll get to go home as well. You can see the crowd surging forward now. Now it's just a free for all.

O'BRIEN: Wow. Virtual stampede. An orderly Navy stampede, you might say. Let's go back to David Mattingly somewhere in the crowd there. David, who do you have now?

MATTINGLY: Well, not everyone here, Miles, is waiting for a husband to step off the ship.

You're waiting for your brother?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. I'm really anxious to see him already.

MATTINGLY: And what is his name and how long has he been away for you?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He's been away about four years. Yes, he took off when he was 18. And I haven't seen him like for nine months, I believe.

MATTINGLY: Nine months since he deployed.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

MATTINGLY: So what kind of a moment is this for an extended family -- not just for wives and children, but for brothers and sister, mothers and fathers?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm so happy, I'm so, so proud of him and everybody that they gave their lives for us, and I really, really do appreciate them, and I'm really anxious to see him.

MATTINGLY: We've got some reunions taking place right behind you right now. Yours will probably be coming up any moment now. Do you see him in the crowd anywhere?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, not yet. Pretty soon, I will.

MATTINGLY: And what's going to happen when you see him?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm going to go give him a big, big hug, I'm going to kiss him. I'm going to take him to my mother. She's somewhere over there waiting for him.

MATTINGLY: Well, I'll let you get back into the crowd so you can go find him. And Miles, this is the moment when all those smiles and all those happy faces that we saw are going to start shedding tears of joy. And you saw some of those reunions happening just behind us here. All these families being reunited after such a long time.

There's so much emotion here in the crowd right now. All the cheering going on. Notice how quiet it's gotten? That's with everybody just coming close and hugging and holding each over for the first time. What has probably seemed like to them an absolute eternity -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Frank Buckley, back on the ship. It turns from screams to silence. There's probably a few tears shed.

Let me just ask you this as a practical matter. Can they just go home or do they have to sign out and do procedural things? Can they just take off?

BUCKLEY: Now, they're out of here. That liberty call was it. That's the green light. They can go home now. I don't know -- Charlie, how many weeks do they get or how many days off?

About a month...

O'BRIEN: So they get a month off, that's fantastic.

BUCKLEY: I see. So it's about a month in which they -- it's two weeks at a time kind of thing for each person to just spend some time at home with the family. As we were saying, the ship is still here and will be maintained and there will be a crew on it. But they get some really good quality time with the families now and I'm sure they'll be taking advantage of it.

O'BRIEN: We won't begrudge them a single day off, will we? And good news that summer vacation is coming up so they'll have more time with the kids.

David Mattingly, you're back on the dock and you have found a reunited family, as I understand it.

David? All right.

As you can imagine, there's a bit of confusion on the dock there. We've lost David temporarily.

MATTINGLY: Yes, I can hear you now, Miles. Are you there?

O'BRIEN: Oh good. Do you have a reunited family? You probably can't hear me with the bagpipes going.

MATTINGLY: Just fresh off the boat.

What happened? You walked off. You saw them in the crowd. How did it work?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I saw him. I saw her while we were standing manning the rails. We always just meet each other.

MATTINGLY: I noticed everybody got so quiet there for a moment. What was going on?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We just -- it's just the astonishment of being back and seeing everybody. Everybody's so happy, and you just don't know what to say for a second.

MATTINGLY: You saw this little one nine months ago. How has she changed?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She's a lot heavier. And I guess she walks now -- which before, she was just barely the length of my forearm and now she's huge.

MATTINGLY: And look at how quick she took to her daddy being home.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She loves her daddy. She's been talking about daddy the whole time he's been gone.

MATTINGLY: I imagine mom has, too. How do you feel now?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I am happy. I'm relieved. I'm very excited.

MATTINGLY: Well, you came prepared. You actually have the flowers and everything. What are the plans for the rest of the day?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We'll just go home. There's a big party for him at the house when we get there. And friends are (UNINTELLIGIBLE) to drop by all afternoon. So it'll just be a big homecoming.

MATTINGLY: We'll let you get that homecoming. Welcome home. Thank you for talking with us.

We have another family over here.

You walked in and found a little one here. Was he here when you left?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, he wasn't. He's four months old right now.

MATTINGLY: What's his name?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Christopher.

MATTINGLY: Christopher, this is your dad. How do you feel so far?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, my goodness.

MATTINGLY: And what was it like being away -- knowing that he had been born and you couldn't be here?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was hard. It was difficult. But we overcame. We get used to it. We did our job. We're back. We're back to this -- our families, my lovely wife, my kid, my newborn kid.

Our one-year anniversary just happened on Monday.

MATTINGLY: Your one-year anniversary, and you had to celebrate it apart.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

MATTINGLY: But you knew he was coming home, so I imagine that was a little bit better.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. He was coming home soon, so --

MATTINGLY: And now that he's home, what do you have planned?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just go home, be a family.

MATTINGLY: Tell me, what was the longest moment? Was it while he was away, or was it as you were watching the ship coming in?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: While he was away, yes. The ship -- it did take awhile, but yes.

MATTINGLY: Well, folks...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I got to say something. It was because of all these guys -- everybody on board -- that we all made it through. It was a long, a long, hard time. People just don't realize what it is to be on a ship, but it's the people you work with. It's the people that you live with. You eat with them. You work with them. Day in and day out, and that's what's going to get you through the next day.

MATTINGLY: How did you two find each other? Did you make eye contact while he was still on the ship?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, I didn't see him. I was waiting for him. We got to go up first where the new moms, and I didn't see him and he came up to me.

MATTINGLY: I imagine you've been able to see pictures so far.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, I have.

MATTINGLY: How much of a surprise is it to actually hold him?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's amazing. I was expecting a little thing about this big. And I get here and look at him. He's already grasping stuff and -- oh, my goodness, it's amazing.

MATTINGLY: Well, thank you very much. Welcome home. We're all so happy for you. Thanks for talking with us. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you very much.

MATTINGLY: We have another couple here.

O'BRIEN: David...

MATTINGLY: Yes.

O'BRIEN: I know they can't hear me. I'm just curious if you can ask -- well you're on to the next family -- if they've ever doubted it was worth all the sacrifice they've made. Tremendous sacrifice to have your -- to miss the birth of a child, miss anniversaries, all that kind of thing. Do you ever hear that?

MATTINGLY: Miles O'Brien is talking to me. He's asked a question. I'm curious how you might want to answer this one. Just what is it you have to sacrifice, and what is it like having to pass by those life's moments that everybody has but you can't have while you're apart like this?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There's a song -- I think Alabama sings it. It's called "In Pictures," and it talks about, you know, "I hope some day they understand that a lot of big moments get missed. And we only capture them the best we can in pictures." And, you know, my girls -- this is why all of these men and women do what they do, it's for their children and I just want to always instill in our girls that their lives are -- you know -- we have what we have because of what their daddy does and it's part of our lives. We've chosen it and we do the best we can and the moments that he is here are even more precious.

MATTINGLY: I'm just sitting here -- she looks just like you. Can you go in close for that? She is definitely daddy's girl. Did you feel that when you saw her?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, yeah, but this one right here, she's more of a daddy's girl than this one. This one, Katelyn (ph), she's more of a mama's girl, but it's fine. We each got our girls, but they're both ours, Huh?

MATTINGLY: As a father, how hard was it for you to be away? You're obviously very busy, you had other concerns. But you still had your family back home. That had to weigh very heavily.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It did but the thing that kept me going, the times when I got down and just depressed or whatever, it would be their letters coming home or coming to the ship via e-mail or just getting on the phone on the ship and calling home and talking to them for a few minutes at a time and hearing my wife and my daughters' voice just got my spirits back up and that just kept me going throughout the whole day, every day.

MATTINGLY: We were talking about this before. The previous generation of sailors didn't have that type of luxury. How valuable was it to have those short phone conversations?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's amazing. It's -- I mean, it's only -- I think we only talked a few times. But it's three or four minutes. Sometimes you get frustrated because it's the delay and everything.

But just hearing his voice, because sometimes it's like, he would know, somehow, mysteriously, that I was having a rough day and he would call and say, "How are you doing?" and I would always respond, "Oh, we're fine."

MATTINGLY: That's what you have to say...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's what you always say. That's what's important, you know, my job here is to make sure that he knows everything's okay while he's gone.

MATTINGLY: Thank you very much for talking with us. Best of luck to you. Welcome home. Welcome home. Thank you.

Miles, we have another family here -- I'm a little tangled up in the cords here.

Well, welcome home.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How are you doing?

MATTINGLY: Are all of these yours?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is my family.

MATTINGLY: So tell me, the minute you got off the ship, what was the first thing you were able to see?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, just the huge group of people. It's just awesome, wonderful.

MATTINGLY: What's it like now to finally be in the embrace of your family?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, it couldn't be anything better.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What he said.

MATTINGLY: What's the hardest thing about being apart?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The kids. The kids. And the mess. And the dog that kept getting out of the gate.

MATTINGLY: So does that mean you've got some plans for dad to get back into the family swing of things?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yeah, he's going to clean the house.

MATTINGLY: He's going to clean the house, clean up after the dog.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Chase the kids.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's great to see you both smiling so big. This had to have been very hard. It was. We're -- never again. Never again.

MATTINGLY: Have you talked to the Navy about this? You're never going out...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's right, you know, I'm actually (UNINTELLIGIBLE) writing to the president and telling him that he's never going again.

MATTINGLY: There you go. You have a written excuse next time, just in case. All right. We going to let you get on with your lives now. Thank you very much. Thanks for talking with us.

Miles, these stories just keep going on and on and on. Every single family out here has just a great story to tell right now about how they've waited so long. Finally, this day is here and so many of them finding the words difficult to come by, to explain just exactly what they're going through today.

Miles, back to you.

O'BRIEN: There's a lot of emotion, but there's also the kids, the mess, and the gate, which the dog is getting through, awaiting these sailors and officers.

David Mattingly.

Let's go back to Frank Buckley, who is still aboard ship. And Frank, have you talked to these guys at all about what the darkest moment, if you will -- if that's the way to describe it -- or the low point. Was it that time in Australia when they got turned back around, or were there other moments when they sort of questioned whether it was worth it?

BUCKLEY: No, I think you hit it. It was -- when you talk to these guys -- the darkest moment, if you will, was when, you know you can imagine, you're at sea for five months, almost into your sixth month, headed home and enjoying liberty, and then to be told, got to go back, back to work, and it's been another three months since then.

So to get back to a point we were talking about earlier, a lot of these sailors, or at least some of them, had planned to have children, upon their return. They had actually planned out the pregnancy. and they expected to be home, and of course you can imagine how devastating that would be if you had to then go back out, knowing that you were going to miss the birth of a child.

We also talked earlier about some of the guys who have to pull duty. I pulled three of them over here. Seaman Smith (ph) from Indiana, Third Class Wallace (ph) from South Carolina, and Second Class Kafer (ph) from Arizona. Their families are not here. So hopefully they're watching CNN. And look at your boys. There they are. They're back safely. And let me talk to you guys.

Seaman Smith, first. You're going back to Indiana tomorrow. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, sir.

BUCKLEY: Tell me what it was like.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was -- it was long. The days were long, long hours, but I mean this is all worth it, as you can see. I mean, we didn't expect this kind of a homecoming. We give all, every day, and for this coming home, you guys give a little to us and it makes it a whole lot better, a whole lot.

BUCKLEY: Well said.

And Mr. Wallace, yesterday, you were the C.O. of the day when we were on the ship, where they have a program where one of the enlisted gets to be the C.O. Now you're back home as someone who is a war veteran. Can you tell us what that feels like for you?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, being C.O. for the day was really exciting. You know I get to talk to the officers, doing (UNINTELLIGIBLE) things, seeing how the captain really actually does what he does. Being a war veteran right now is very -- something different. So there's something new to it. It's not that bad. We're just here to do our job, just like the Navy told us to, and that's how they taught us, and it's the way we do it.

BUCKLEY: And you were C.O. yesterday. Now you're pulling duty today.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I just got to do my job. That's the way life is sometimes.

BUCKLEY: Mr. Kafer, you're from Arizona. and you're hoping to go see mom tomorrow. Anything you want to say to her now?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I just can't wait to see you. It's been a long time, and I appreciate all the support that you gave me and I can't wait to get back.

BUCKLEY: You know, Miles O'Brien was asking, what was the -- maybe -- the toughest moment for you guys when you were at sea. Was it that moment in Australia, when they said you got to go back, or was there something else?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For me, it was that night when we were actually getting ready to launch. For myself, I mean there was a lot of people over there and -- and, just the whole concept of war is just broader than I could ever imagine so it was a difficult night that night.

BUCKLEY: Knowing the responsibility that you were launching.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Exactly. I mean, we -- we do our job, like Petty Officer Wallace says, we do our job and we do it well. But at that time, it was like where it all falls into place and we're here to do something and we did it. BUCKLEY: What about you? You get to see this wonderful homecoming, no one's here for you guys, but is it still gratifying to see this?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's gratifying for my shipmates, because I'm there for them just like they were there for me, in a time of war, in a time of need. They always have my back, like I have theirs. In other words, it's all good, as long as they're happy and enjoying themselves, I'm happy for them.

BUCKLEY: And how long is duty? You have to pull it all night long? Do you get to leave the ship? What happens?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sometimes we get to leave but most times we really don't. We do our duty. We stand here and we get to guard the ship. There has to be somebody on the ship 24/7, every day.

BUCKLEY: Well, hopefully there are families in Indiana, South Carolina, and Arizona watching, and thanks very much.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you.

BUCKLEY: All right, Miles there you go. Three of the guys pulling duty tonight here on the ship.

O'BRIEN: Boy, I ask and I receive. Frank Buckley, thank you very much. That teaches me a lot.

I presume, by that -- and it's not a coincidence -- that they all have family members elsewhere. They try to have the people that hang back -- not have reunions on the dock, I presume, right? That's good to hear.

BUCKLEY: That's true, they try to get the guys to pull duty who are not going to have families here, right?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's true.

BUCKLEY: Yes.

Miles, once again, you are right, sir.

O'BRIEN: All right, let's send it back down to David Mattingly.

David, you can't help but get some goose bumps and a little choke, and you can't help but be proud of these people and this country, when you see these -- so far, all young men coming off this ship.

BUCKLEY: It's just great to share in everyone's happiness. There was something unusual we spotted in the crowd. Everyone holding these signs up called "Beach Exit 1 Mile" and then "Beaches Exit Now." That was for -- look at this, name tag, Brian Beach.

I'm glad to see you followed the signs, got out okay.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It wasn't hard. I saw the green and the beach and then saw my clan there.

BUCKLEY: You're right about that, you have, let's see, one, two, three, four, five daughters and two sons here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

BUCKLEY: Largest family on the ship?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I believe so. I haven't heard anybody else that has more than me but...

BUCKLEY: I hope that means you got more letters.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: E-mails -- a lot more e-mails, yes.

BUCKLEY: Something I want to show you real quick. All the daughters are wearing "Daddy's Favorite." Tell the truth, who actually is the favorite?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Me.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Me.

BUCKLEY: I guess they're all dad's favorites.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They're all daddy's girls. I've missed all of them so much.

BUCKLEY: The son's here today as well. Your younger son decided during the war that he wants to grow up and become president.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, he does. He wants to make a difference. That was the whole thing.

BUCKLEY: Does he want to go into the Navy first or is that something you want him to do?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If that's his choice when he gets up to that age, that's fine. The thing -- when we got turned around because we were extended, and he decided to send us secret plans to finish the war early. We had that posted where everybody could read it.

BUCKLEY: What were those secret plans?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I can't tell.

BUCKLEY: But you're right, they did work, didn't they?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, but they didn't exactly get it completely right, they get everything, but it got them home early.

BUCKLEY: Maybe we'll have something to say to the Pentagon a little bit later about that. Did it help having such a large family when he was gone?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Did it help? well, yeah, it kept me busy.

BUCKLEY: We've talked to so many younger families with new ones that have just arrived. It seems like you've got your family settled. You've got so many people here who can help you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, it's different. Each deployment is different. This is our fourth deployment. I think with more kids, you're busier and the time goes by and your don't realize how lonely you are and it does help. Yes, gives you something to do so.

BUCKLEY: As a son, how do you feel about your dad being home now?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's about time.

BUCKLEY: Not the man of the house anymore?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.

BUCKLEY: What's that?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I said I was the man of the house, not Mike! I wanted to ask dad if I can still be the man of the house.

BUCKLEY: I think he does have a career in politics. Brian Beach and family, thank you so much for joining us. Welcome home.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you.

BUCKLEY: We have another family, Miles. Come on over this way. Welcome home.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi. Thank you.

BUCKLEY: Lindsay Hornbeck (ph), administrative officer.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

BUCKLEY: What was it like being away from your family?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was a long time. It was hard. But I'm really glad to be home now.

BUCKLEY: Introduce us.

This is my grandma, and my mom, Jan York, and this is my stepdad, Jim York.

BUCKLEY: A daughter in the Navy, on the ship for so long, you must be awfully proud to have her home.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Absolutely -- go ahead, honey.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're proud to have her home. We're proud of our daughter. We're proud of everybody on that ship and everything they've done to protect our freedom here. I told her the next time I have to wait nine months for her, though, I hope it's her child, not mine.

BUCKLEY: Parents always have a special worry about their children, whenever they leave home, no matter what they leave home for. To have a child in the military, a daughter in the navy, what sort of special concerns might you have had?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, first, I think the -- there have been a lot of ups and downs. I think everything was great and she was supposed to be back in January when the six months was up, and then when she got to Australia and asked the ship to turn around and go back to the Persian Gulf, that was a low point in our lives, because there was just so many uncertainties with some of the weapons that Saddam Hussein had, and we're very concerned, even though she was on a ship out in the Gulf, who knows what could happen but we've got through it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She has been our strength. She has been our strength. She kept e-mailing us and said "Don't worry. I'm fine, Mom, don't worry. I'm fine." And that kept us strong.

BUCKLEY: Is that true? Were you fine the whole time?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was, I was.

BUCKLEY: We've heard from so many young fathers today. How is it different for a woman coming home today?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No different. Obviously, it's a little sweeter for the dads coming home to their new baby, but it's great to be home for my family.

BUCKLEY: I'd like to hear from your grandmother. You have the roses.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They're not for me. I've just been holding them. I guess they were for me. I've been told they were for me.

BUCKLEY: To have a granddaughter in the Navy, what were you worried about while she was gone?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, I worried about her health, her safety, and all the things that go along with war. It's a worry. Naturally. And...

BUCKLEY: And that had to be awfully hard for you when you found out that after six months, while you were there in Australia. I understand you were just 16 days away from coming home, then you find out you have to go back.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. It was hard. But we knew what we had to do and we had to go back. After the initial letdown, everybody bonded together. We did what we had to do.

BUCKLEY: When you're in a war-time situation, as opposed to a six-month cruise, how was it different?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It wasn't a lot different for us. Just more stress. We finally got to put our training into action. It was exciting to launch our missiles and do what we needed to do, but...

BUCKLEY: Tat's right, very early on in the conflict, your ship was launching cruise missiles at targets in Iraq. So the training -- and no one was hurt on your ship through the entire -- through the entire war, so the training must have paid off.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Definitely, definitely. Paid off -- multiples.

BUCKLEY: Well, this family, like so many other families, Miles, still with that huge smile, everyone so happy to be home, have their loved ones home. I can't tell you how many times, how many different stories there are, like that, just on this pier. Seems like the crowd is thinning out, people seeing their families and wanting to get right home, for whatever reunions they have. And this is a familiar face. We talked to you just about an hour ago. Dad, welcome home.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you. Thank you very much. Great to be back. Great to see you. I have Natalie in my arms. I don't think she's going to let me go.

BUCKLEY: You were able to talk to them as you were coming up, but now you get to hug them, see your daughters.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, so I got to see Gabby for the first time, but she's asleep. She gave me a big hug when I first came back on shore.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Never wake a sleeping baby.

BUCKLEY: You have -- you've had the e-mail. You've had the pictures you've been getting. Still, it's just not the same as being here. What have you missed the most?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just the day in, day out, right. Having those hugs, getting up in the morning or coming back home from work and having them give you a hug. This -- this is great.

BUCKLEY: Your oldest daughter couldn't understand why daddy couldn't get here right now.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can you answer his question, Natalie? Say hi.

She got shy again.

BUCKLEY: Yes, she got shy when we tried to talk to you before. What are you plans now, now that you're trying to get reacquainted with your family?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just relax, like you said, get reacquainted, spend a lot of time together. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I saved some yard work for him.

BUCKLEY: Everybody seems to have saved special chores. It's the yard work for you. I've talked to other people. They've got to take care of the dog. Some fathers are going to have to learn how to change diapers. Are you going to be helping with those chores?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, I will. I do have to relearn. You still have to change them for Natalie. I have to relearn for Gabby.

BUCKLEY: One particular question -- you had a child that arrived while you were gone. At that six-month point, you thought you were going to get to come home. That had to have been doubly hard for you to go back.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was definitely tough. Six months is a long time. When we turned around, we didn't know how long we were going to be gone so all that uncertainty made it harder. I think we did a great job out there everyone with the Abraham Lincoln battle group. We completed our mission, but now it's great to be back.

BUCKLEY: Quite an understatement. It is great to be back, I'm sure for everyone here. Miles, back to you.

O'BRIEN: David Mattingly, on the dock. Frank Buckley, still aboard the USS Mobile Bay. Great work, both of you.

We'll leave those families to go off to reacquainting themselves with friends and family. I'm sure they'll be a lot of favorite meals cooked up this evening. Perhaps a few late-night parties. Hundreds, maybe thousands of hugs lie ahead, and more important, that time with family. That time, as that officer just said, to just relax and catch up on those hugs from little ones like Natalie.

We owe them all a debt of gratitude. Let's take a moment to think of them and the sacrifices they make for all of us.

We'll be back in a moment. We won't be able to top that, but we'll be back with something else.

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 25, 2003 - 13:02 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: A scene repeated for generations happening right now, and it's quite a sight.
Two American fighting ships returning in triumph from a war overseas. The scene is in San Diego. It is the home of the guided cruiser Mobile Bay, and her sister ship The USS Shiloh.

The ships are ending a ten-month deployment -- the longest since the Vietnam War. It wasn't planned that way. They were headed back home last winter when word came down to divert to the Persian Gulf for action against Iraq. That job accomplished, the ships and crews are finally home.

CNN's Frank Buckley is aboard the Mobile Bay among some very excited sailors.

Frank. Can you hear me?

FRANK BUCKLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it's very noisy here as we get very close to the pier, and I'd like to take you right over here and show you what's happening live.

Captain Jim Keer (ph) here is bringing this ship into the pier. Captain, end of a very long nine-month deployment for you, sir. Your feelings, as you get close to all these families waiting for these sailors?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I would tell you, Frank, it's an absolutely incredible feeling. The support of the American public while these young Americans were over there defending their country and everything great America stands for. It's just a reassurance to me and a reaffirmation of how great our country is and how important it is in the world place of democracy.

So it's an incredible feeling. And what a view.

BUCKLEY: It really is something else. And it's an honor to be standing here with you to see this. I know that you're very busy right now, trying to make sure this ship gets in. So if you need to tell us to step aside, please do so. But as you see this moment, what is it that you want the families to take away? What do you want them to understand about the service of their sailor family members?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I would say the biggest thing, Frank, is there's just selfless dedication and commitment. If anybody wonders about the patriotism of young Americans, all they have to do is see these young sailors, and I know in the case of the Army and the Air Force and the Marines, soldiers and airmen that are serving so proudly over there, you know, halfway around the world in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, there is no question of their great patriotism, their dedication and selfless commitment to their country.

BUCKLEY: It is really an emotional moment, sir. And thank you, again, for letting us be a part of it with you here. What happens now?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What happens now is we're going to take an opportunity, after nine months of being gone, to take some well deserved time off, to reunite with families and loved ones, and just enjoy the moment. And god bless America, Frank.

BUCKLEY: Thank you very much, Captain Jim Keer, commanding officer of the USS Mobile Bay. The Shiloh also coming in here today. You can see the emotion -- so many people on the pier there, the sailors here, all waving down to their family members. They haven't seen each other for nine months.

BUCKLEY: They were on deployment, had completed their six-month deployment cycle, and then had to turn around and go back to the Persian Gulf. They launched more than two dozen tomahawk missiles into Iraq, and the good news for all the sailors aboard this ship, 351 sailors coming home -- all of them (UNINTELLIGIBLE) safely to their families.

O'BRIEN: Frank, can you hear me okay?

BUCKLEY: Yes, I can hear you now.

O'BRIEN: All right. All right. I know you grew up in a Navy family. To see it from this perspective, aboard the ship and looking down on that dock, you must have a bit of a flashback to your youth and seeing some kids down there and wondering what's going on through their mind. You must know what's going through their mind.

BUCKLEY: I'll tell you, Miles. Sometimes it's tough to sit in a situation like this. I want you to turn around and see this shot right here.

Captain Keer was able to get his son out here on a tug as he was coming in, and that, really, is a moment. These families -- you're getting to see the father and son reaction here. But in a moment, all of those families down there will get to reunite with loved ones. And you think about everything you have done since July 24.

O'BRIEN: Yes.

BUCKLEY: All the family events...

O'BRIEN: You still there? Are you still with us?

BUCKLEY: I'm still with you, but it's tough to talk about. O'BRIEN: Really. It's a tremendous sacrifice. And, what I think about, Frank, is the people we're looking at right there -- the sailors -- you know, they're the ones that signed up and, for kids, you know, they didn't sign on the dotted line, and yet they have to serve, don't they?

BUCKLEY: Oh, you bet.

O'BRIEN: All right, Frank Buckley. An emotional Frank Buckley on board the USS Mobile Bay.

Let's send it down to David Mattingly, who is somewhere amid the throng on the docks there.

David, you know, Frank was just thinking back to his days in the Navy family, and it was a very emotional thing for him. I can only imagine the emotion that you're surrounded by there on the dock.

DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Miles, I'm sorry, as you started talking to me, the cheers got even louder here. I hardly heard a word that you said. But everyone here taking the captain's advice from earlier and just enjoying this moment.

Let's take a look at this crowd. They're waving their heads, they're waving flags, they're waving signs. This moment -- nine months in the making. As Frank told you before, this tour was only supposed to last six months. And they got as far as Australia on their way home, but then they had to turn back.

And at this moment, this -- that extra three months, really hard on families here, particularly in time of war. But something extra to be thankful for today, every single sailor on these two ships, not a single injury during the war. So that is definitely something that makes everyone here especially, especially happy.

Now, there's a particular tradition that we'll be watching for as the sailors start to come off of the ship. They had a lottery and picked three sailors. Those three sailors will get the right to get off the ship first for the first kiss. They will come off and do that and be greeted by their loved ones while everybody watches that.

After that will be the new fathers -- the fathers who have not yet seen their new children, nine of them. They will be able to come off next and see their children for the first time.

Then all the other sailors will be able to get off the ship about -- let's see about 700 in all on both the ships. Quite a mob scene here. Everyone so happy to have everyone home -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: David, can you hear me okay?

MATTINGLY: Let's try it. Yes, go ahead.

O'BRIEN: All right, I hear the screaming. There's got to be a lot of tears streaming down as well. Just harkening back to what Frank Buckley was saying about how much time has elapsed. Think about how much we've all done since July and the sacrifices these families have made. Is there much talk about that?

MATTINGLY: Well, not only how much time, but just what the sailors have been going through. Now, the navy is always used to having separations with their deployments of up to six months. This time, they were actually deployed into a war situation. So the families here having all those extra concerns to deal with. So there is a greater -- a much greater -- sense of relief this time as you would normally see after those six months.

O'BRIEN: David, have they shared with you much their plans for the immediate future? What do you do? Do you go to Disney World or whatever? What are the families thinking of doing?

MATTINGLY: They're not thinking much past that initial embrace, that first kiss, and that first night at home. Everyone here has got their own individual plans. All they want to do is catch up on that quality time they've been missing for so long -- particularly those fathers that haven't seen their children at all. Some of those fathers seeing their children for the first time. There is a big learning curve ahead.

Some of the young mothers are telling me that tonight they got up so early that they are going to go to bed early and let their husbands change diapers for a change.

They're going to be getting back into the family swing -- for the ones that do have families. Everyone here, obviously, just beaming right now. Can't wait for those guys and those men and women to get off of the ship right now.

O'BRIEN: I doubt many of them will begrudge those dirty diapers -- as a matter of fact. I'm sure there's a backlog of those awaiting many of these sailors.

It's interesting in these days, though, with the Internet, these families have had a level of contact all throughout. They've had a level of contacts that they never had when Frank Buckley was growing up -- trading e-mails back and forth. That's got to help.

MATTINGLY: That's right. They say it has helped. They've been able to exchange photographs over the Internet, they've been able to exchange letters.

A cheer going up from the ship right now, and everyone here responding.

O'BRIEN: That's great.

MATTINGLY: But they have been keeping in close contact. The Internet's been a great help.

O'BRIEN: Look at the hats. Look at the hats. Off they go. MATTINGLY: There goes a big bunch of balloons. The bagpipes are playing. Everyone's cheering.

O'BRIEN: Frank Buckley, you still with us? Frank, can you hear us?

BUCKLEY: I can hear you, can you hear me, Miles?

O'BRIEN: Yes. These are just such spectacular pictures. What I was talking to David about was how the Internet has changed the reality for these families, and they can maintain a dialogue, at, least with their departed loved one. When you were growing up, how often would you hear from your father?

BUCKLEY: It was a very different thing. I mean, you know, the primary period of my father's deployment was Vietnam, and I was, frankly, I was 4 or 5 years old. But when you talked to sailors from that era, they called it snail mail, and by the time that the sailor would get the letter from home telling them that there was a crisis or something needed to be solved, of course the crisis was long past.

E-mail really has been fantastic. I've seen it both in Operation Enduring Freedom and here in this particular conflict when I was out on the Persian Gulf.

You get to communicate with your families in real-time practically. They are -- and actually, in real-time. The sailors also have access to telephones. It's pretty expensive. The phone company charges them $1 a minute. But they, at least, can hear the voices from time to time.

And with e-mail, they can communicate every day. So there's the running dialogue of what's going on. So at least they're connected in that sense. They know that you heard one of our -- one of the -- sailors on the ship today, for example, say -- find out -- that his son has lost his two front teeth. He may not have seen that yet, but he's probably heard about it through, and it's really a fantastic thing for the sailors.

The other aspect that's changed, of course, is that most deployments today are six months. This particular one was more like a Vietnam-era deployment in the sense that it was nine months. These guys were at sea, had been in the Gulf, went all the way to Australia, were having liberty there and some maintenance, and were about to steam home, back here to San Diego, when they were told that, no, they would have to turn around and go back to the Persian Gulf. That was -- they will all tell you -- a very difficult day for them. They say that morale took a hit, as it naturally would.

But it was amazing, Miles, to come on this ship yesterday. Of course, they were upbeat because they were coming home. But they say that they really had an upbeat morale after they got back to the Gulf, because many sailors will go a career without being involved in a conflict, and they felt that they had a chance to put their training to work in the conflict in Iraq, and they, in fact, did. They fired at least two dozen tomahawk missiles in the course of the Iraq conflict -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: And that really takes me back to the other point I was making a few moments ago. The people on the ships at least have that. They have something they signed up for, they love to do, they've trained for years and years. And that in and of itself can keep you going. For the families, they don't have that, do they, Frank?

BUCKLEY: No, they really don't. But what happens is with these families, they become part of the military culture. They know how it works. Of course, the kids, the wives, they don't sign up for the six-month deployment, and they will tell you that, of course, they have it much more difficult.

I think the sailors will say the same -- that the families at home have it much more difficult than the sailors and airmen themselves, when they're deployed.

It's not easy duty, of course, when you're at sea for months at a time -- in this case, nine months. But the families are the ones who have to maintain their lives, go on without dad or, in some cases, mom. No, they didn't sign up for it, but that's what they got, and they make the best of it.

They do have support groups at home, and they take care of each other. But it's very difficult. You know, you talk to some of these kids out here. They say, "Why does dad have to leave? Why is he gone for so long?" And they eventually get it, as they get older, but it doesn't make it easier.

O'BRIEN: And it's got to be hard. I was looking at a picture -- while you were talking -- of the captain's son, who you said was spirited aboard on a tug boat. He's grown up with this, and when you're young, it's probably difficult to understand, when all your other friends have their dads home all the time. Difficult to understand why dad is leaving.

By the way, one just quick point -- where did they get the flowers?

BUCKLEY: Well, the flowers that are here aboard the ship -- yesterday, when we flew out on a helicopter, I noticed there was a big barrel full of flowers. And I think that that's how they came aboard.

You know, that was another thing that was tough, Miles, for these guys. We were just offshore last night, and you could actually see off in the distance the lights of San Diego. And, you know, if the ship needed to, if it wanted to, they could have come home last night. They don't want to do that, of course. It's safer to come in during the day. And they want this big, beautiful scene. So while it was difficult for them, they enjoy coming back to see this.

O'BRIEN: So close yet so far. That probably might have been one of the longer nights of that long deployment. Let's go back to David Mattingly down there on the dock.

David, I gather you have found -- did you find somebody without their front teeth again or -- who did you find?

MATTINGLY: I don't know about the front teeth. I haven't had a dental inspection yet. But Melissa Pedali (ph) is here. She's been wandering up and down the sides of the dock here -- trying to find her husband so she can wave and make eye contact.

You haven't been able to do that yet. So close.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, not yet. So close. We're still looking.

MATTINGLY: What has it been like -- these nine months for you?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's been hard. Very hard. It's our first deployment. The first time he's ever been away from our son for a long time, you know. He missed his birth, and he missed his second birthday. It's very hard going through, being a military spouse. We're just...

MATTINGLY: Yes. I guess you had to emotionally prepare for that six-month deployment you were prepared for, and then a three months on top of that. That had to be tough.

Especially when they were talking about war, you know. It's not something easily prepared.

MATTINGLY: Do you have something you'd like to say to your daddy?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Tell daddy something, O.J. Can you tell your daddy you love him?

He's been trying. It's been very hard on him these last nine months, too -- always looking for his dad. He'd run up and play hide and go seek because they used to do that and daddy wouldn't be there so he'd start crying. It's hard with a kid but you have to make do.

MATTINGLY: What do you say to him -- your son?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I tell him daddy loves him. Because daddy's away, it makes him able for us to be free in our world today.

MATTINGLY: He's just so distracted right now. Does he really understand he's going to get to see his dad now?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't think so. But I keep saying it to him. And he kisses his daddy's picture all the time.

MATTINGLY: Do you want to hold this with me? Go right ahead. Can you talk to your dad?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Tell your daddy something.

MATTINGLY: Oh. They all get shy so quick.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, they do. MATTINGLY: Melissa, thank you very much. I hope you get a chance to see your husband. The gangplank's going in. It could be just any minute now that he's going to be walking out there.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're hoping. But thank you very much.

MATTINGLY: All right, thanks. Miles -- back to you.

O'BRIEN: David why don't you just give him that microphone cover. Just give it to him. Why not?

Frank Buckley, you're back on the bridge or near the bridge. You've got some sailors there. You've have some flowers. What's going through their mind right now?

BUCKLEY: Yes, Miles, we've got Kevin Francis (ph) here. And we were looking, just as the -- Greg (ph), why don't you show the brow just coming right across here on the ship.

Kevin -- oh, who do you see down there?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There it is -- Kaomi (ph). That's my friend and also Gina (ph). She's holding my little niece and there they go with the signs -- the "Welcome Home" (UNINTELLIGIBLE). That's my best friend -- right in that little center.

BUCKLEY: Right over here, Greg, let me show you. Do you see the flowers down there? And it says, "Welcome home, Big Wood" over there right beyond the reflector. There's a big sign that says, "Welcome home, Big Wood." And to see that for you, tell me what it feels like after nine months?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's been a long trip. Captain brought us a long way. I'm pretty glad to be home right now, and to see this and all I can say, it's been a long journey. I'm pretty sure -- I'm looking forward to it agaom.

BUCKLEY: You've got a whole bunch of flowers here. Who are they for?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These are for my two friends. One is for my little niece. She's only a year and six months but, hey, still glad to be home at this time.

BUCKLEY: Great, thank you very much for talking to us. I appreciate it.

O'BRIEN: I wonder if we can get David Mattingly over to that "Big Wood" sign. I don't know if he's anywhere near it, but maybe we can do that.

Frank, is it -- at this point, he seems kind of subdued almost. I guess he's giving us his cool veneer, as a sailor and all, but it's got to be difficult to just stay on ship at this point.

BUCKLEY: Oh, man, these guys are so ready for this moment. And -- but getting back to what we were talking about, about last night, as they could see the lights. You know, it was difficult for them. I think some of them wanted to jump off and swim to shore. They had some activities last night. They did a big cake-cutting. It was a chance for these guys to spend one more night together. And I think -- we slept down in the enlisted berthing and tried to get to sleep around 10:30 or 11:00. But people were not going to sleep. They were up well past midnight because of the excitement.

Now right down there, what you're seeing are the first women who get to come aboard. Now, these are the winners of a lottery, or their husbands were the winners of a lottery -- husbands and boyfriends, who get to actually get what they call the first kiss. And you can imagine that that's an exciting moment for them.

We're going to be seeing Harold Casey (ph), Kendall Pickering, and Matthew Berry (ph). These are the three guys that get to come down. The way they normally do it, they actually sell tickets to the sailors, and they will buy these tickets for a dollar or two dollars, and at a chance to get the first kiss.

Then they take that money and put it back into either to navy relief, which helps sailor families, or they'll put it into their recreation fund on the ship, which they really use to -- quite a few wonderful activities, as far as these sailors were concerned. They had a -- for example, when they did a port visit -- well, let me let you see this wonderful moment. The first kiss.

O'BRIEN: There it is. There they are. Welcome home. Wow. I guess that's the money shot, isn't it, frank?

BUCKLEY: Man, it is, isn't it? You think about World War II and that famous photo in New York with the sailor doing the kiss and...

Yeah, wonderful scenes.

O'BRIEN: Tell us a little bit, you know, when dad comes home after ten months, it can't be all easy. It's got to be hard to re- adjust your lives. In a sense this sounds crass, but life does go on.

BUCKLEY: Oh, yes. You know, you actually hear some of these sailors will say their wives give them a hard time. What you're seeing next are the new fathers. These are all -- I think there were 20 new dads, and you can see all the reporters. You talk about the money shot, these are the money shots, where you -- dads get to see their kids for the first time.

O'BRIEN: Unbelievable. That's got to be incredible, right there, to see your baby and your wife -- oh, my gosh, it's hard to imagine the emotion it really is.

BUCKLEY: It really is. You know, some of these families they actually had planned for the father to be home. That was the sound of "liberty call." And that means the next thing you're going to see is everyone on this ship emptying.

O'BRIEN: Let me ask you this, does anybody have to stay back? And who are the poor souls that do in case that is true?

BUCKLEY: There will be. There are some guys who do actually have to pull duty today. And they'll have to stay on the ship and make sure that it runs. It's a skeleton crew. I don't know how many people it is.

But they will get to stay hello to their family members. They'll do their duty, and then they'll get to go home as well. You can see the crowd surging forward now. Now it's just a free for all.

O'BRIEN: Wow. Virtual stampede. An orderly Navy stampede, you might say. Let's go back to David Mattingly somewhere in the crowd there. David, who do you have now?

MATTINGLY: Well, not everyone here, Miles, is waiting for a husband to step off the ship.

You're waiting for your brother?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. I'm really anxious to see him already.

MATTINGLY: And what is his name and how long has he been away for you?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He's been away about four years. Yes, he took off when he was 18. And I haven't seen him like for nine months, I believe.

MATTINGLY: Nine months since he deployed.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

MATTINGLY: So what kind of a moment is this for an extended family -- not just for wives and children, but for brothers and sister, mothers and fathers?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm so happy, I'm so, so proud of him and everybody that they gave their lives for us, and I really, really do appreciate them, and I'm really anxious to see him.

MATTINGLY: We've got some reunions taking place right behind you right now. Yours will probably be coming up any moment now. Do you see him in the crowd anywhere?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, not yet. Pretty soon, I will.

MATTINGLY: And what's going to happen when you see him?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm going to go give him a big, big hug, I'm going to kiss him. I'm going to take him to my mother. She's somewhere over there waiting for him.

MATTINGLY: Well, I'll let you get back into the crowd so you can go find him. And Miles, this is the moment when all those smiles and all those happy faces that we saw are going to start shedding tears of joy. And you saw some of those reunions happening just behind us here. All these families being reunited after such a long time.

There's so much emotion here in the crowd right now. All the cheering going on. Notice how quiet it's gotten? That's with everybody just coming close and hugging and holding each over for the first time. What has probably seemed like to them an absolute eternity -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Frank Buckley, back on the ship. It turns from screams to silence. There's probably a few tears shed.

Let me just ask you this as a practical matter. Can they just go home or do they have to sign out and do procedural things? Can they just take off?

BUCKLEY: Now, they're out of here. That liberty call was it. That's the green light. They can go home now. I don't know -- Charlie, how many weeks do they get or how many days off?

About a month...

O'BRIEN: So they get a month off, that's fantastic.

BUCKLEY: I see. So it's about a month in which they -- it's two weeks at a time kind of thing for each person to just spend some time at home with the family. As we were saying, the ship is still here and will be maintained and there will be a crew on it. But they get some really good quality time with the families now and I'm sure they'll be taking advantage of it.

O'BRIEN: We won't begrudge them a single day off, will we? And good news that summer vacation is coming up so they'll have more time with the kids.

David Mattingly, you're back on the dock and you have found a reunited family, as I understand it.

David? All right.

As you can imagine, there's a bit of confusion on the dock there. We've lost David temporarily.

MATTINGLY: Yes, I can hear you now, Miles. Are you there?

O'BRIEN: Oh good. Do you have a reunited family? You probably can't hear me with the bagpipes going.

MATTINGLY: Just fresh off the boat.

What happened? You walked off. You saw them in the crowd. How did it work?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I saw him. I saw her while we were standing manning the rails. We always just meet each other.

MATTINGLY: I noticed everybody got so quiet there for a moment. What was going on?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We just -- it's just the astonishment of being back and seeing everybody. Everybody's so happy, and you just don't know what to say for a second.

MATTINGLY: You saw this little one nine months ago. How has she changed?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She's a lot heavier. And I guess she walks now -- which before, she was just barely the length of my forearm and now she's huge.

MATTINGLY: And look at how quick she took to her daddy being home.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She loves her daddy. She's been talking about daddy the whole time he's been gone.

MATTINGLY: I imagine mom has, too. How do you feel now?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I am happy. I'm relieved. I'm very excited.

MATTINGLY: Well, you came prepared. You actually have the flowers and everything. What are the plans for the rest of the day?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We'll just go home. There's a big party for him at the house when we get there. And friends are (UNINTELLIGIBLE) to drop by all afternoon. So it'll just be a big homecoming.

MATTINGLY: We'll let you get that homecoming. Welcome home. Thank you for talking with us.

We have another family over here.

You walked in and found a little one here. Was he here when you left?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, he wasn't. He's four months old right now.

MATTINGLY: What's his name?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Christopher.

MATTINGLY: Christopher, this is your dad. How do you feel so far?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, my goodness.

MATTINGLY: And what was it like being away -- knowing that he had been born and you couldn't be here?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was hard. It was difficult. But we overcame. We get used to it. We did our job. We're back. We're back to this -- our families, my lovely wife, my kid, my newborn kid.

Our one-year anniversary just happened on Monday.

MATTINGLY: Your one-year anniversary, and you had to celebrate it apart.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

MATTINGLY: But you knew he was coming home, so I imagine that was a little bit better.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. He was coming home soon, so --

MATTINGLY: And now that he's home, what do you have planned?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just go home, be a family.

MATTINGLY: Tell me, what was the longest moment? Was it while he was away, or was it as you were watching the ship coming in?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: While he was away, yes. The ship -- it did take awhile, but yes.

MATTINGLY: Well, folks...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I got to say something. It was because of all these guys -- everybody on board -- that we all made it through. It was a long, a long, hard time. People just don't realize what it is to be on a ship, but it's the people you work with. It's the people that you live with. You eat with them. You work with them. Day in and day out, and that's what's going to get you through the next day.

MATTINGLY: How did you two find each other? Did you make eye contact while he was still on the ship?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, I didn't see him. I was waiting for him. We got to go up first where the new moms, and I didn't see him and he came up to me.

MATTINGLY: I imagine you've been able to see pictures so far.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, I have.

MATTINGLY: How much of a surprise is it to actually hold him?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's amazing. I was expecting a little thing about this big. And I get here and look at him. He's already grasping stuff and -- oh, my goodness, it's amazing.

MATTINGLY: Well, thank you very much. Welcome home. We're all so happy for you. Thanks for talking with us. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you very much.

MATTINGLY: We have another couple here.

O'BRIEN: David...

MATTINGLY: Yes.

O'BRIEN: I know they can't hear me. I'm just curious if you can ask -- well you're on to the next family -- if they've ever doubted it was worth all the sacrifice they've made. Tremendous sacrifice to have your -- to miss the birth of a child, miss anniversaries, all that kind of thing. Do you ever hear that?

MATTINGLY: Miles O'Brien is talking to me. He's asked a question. I'm curious how you might want to answer this one. Just what is it you have to sacrifice, and what is it like having to pass by those life's moments that everybody has but you can't have while you're apart like this?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There's a song -- I think Alabama sings it. It's called "In Pictures," and it talks about, you know, "I hope some day they understand that a lot of big moments get missed. And we only capture them the best we can in pictures." And, you know, my girls -- this is why all of these men and women do what they do, it's for their children and I just want to always instill in our girls that their lives are -- you know -- we have what we have because of what their daddy does and it's part of our lives. We've chosen it and we do the best we can and the moments that he is here are even more precious.

MATTINGLY: I'm just sitting here -- she looks just like you. Can you go in close for that? She is definitely daddy's girl. Did you feel that when you saw her?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, yeah, but this one right here, she's more of a daddy's girl than this one. This one, Katelyn (ph), she's more of a mama's girl, but it's fine. We each got our girls, but they're both ours, Huh?

MATTINGLY: As a father, how hard was it for you to be away? You're obviously very busy, you had other concerns. But you still had your family back home. That had to weigh very heavily.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It did but the thing that kept me going, the times when I got down and just depressed or whatever, it would be their letters coming home or coming to the ship via e-mail or just getting on the phone on the ship and calling home and talking to them for a few minutes at a time and hearing my wife and my daughters' voice just got my spirits back up and that just kept me going throughout the whole day, every day.

MATTINGLY: We were talking about this before. The previous generation of sailors didn't have that type of luxury. How valuable was it to have those short phone conversations?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's amazing. It's -- I mean, it's only -- I think we only talked a few times. But it's three or four minutes. Sometimes you get frustrated because it's the delay and everything.

But just hearing his voice, because sometimes it's like, he would know, somehow, mysteriously, that I was having a rough day and he would call and say, "How are you doing?" and I would always respond, "Oh, we're fine."

MATTINGLY: That's what you have to say...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's what you always say. That's what's important, you know, my job here is to make sure that he knows everything's okay while he's gone.

MATTINGLY: Thank you very much for talking with us. Best of luck to you. Welcome home. Welcome home. Thank you.

Miles, we have another family here -- I'm a little tangled up in the cords here.

Well, welcome home.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How are you doing?

MATTINGLY: Are all of these yours?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is my family.

MATTINGLY: So tell me, the minute you got off the ship, what was the first thing you were able to see?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, just the huge group of people. It's just awesome, wonderful.

MATTINGLY: What's it like now to finally be in the embrace of your family?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, it couldn't be anything better.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What he said.

MATTINGLY: What's the hardest thing about being apart?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The kids. The kids. And the mess. And the dog that kept getting out of the gate.

MATTINGLY: So does that mean you've got some plans for dad to get back into the family swing of things?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yeah, he's going to clean the house.

MATTINGLY: He's going to clean the house, clean up after the dog.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Chase the kids.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's great to see you both smiling so big. This had to have been very hard. It was. We're -- never again. Never again.

MATTINGLY: Have you talked to the Navy about this? You're never going out...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's right, you know, I'm actually (UNINTELLIGIBLE) writing to the president and telling him that he's never going again.

MATTINGLY: There you go. You have a written excuse next time, just in case. All right. We going to let you get on with your lives now. Thank you very much. Thanks for talking with us.

Miles, these stories just keep going on and on and on. Every single family out here has just a great story to tell right now about how they've waited so long. Finally, this day is here and so many of them finding the words difficult to come by, to explain just exactly what they're going through today.

Miles, back to you.

O'BRIEN: There's a lot of emotion, but there's also the kids, the mess, and the gate, which the dog is getting through, awaiting these sailors and officers.

David Mattingly.

Let's go back to Frank Buckley, who is still aboard ship. And Frank, have you talked to these guys at all about what the darkest moment, if you will -- if that's the way to describe it -- or the low point. Was it that time in Australia when they got turned back around, or were there other moments when they sort of questioned whether it was worth it?

BUCKLEY: No, I think you hit it. It was -- when you talk to these guys -- the darkest moment, if you will, was when, you know you can imagine, you're at sea for five months, almost into your sixth month, headed home and enjoying liberty, and then to be told, got to go back, back to work, and it's been another three months since then.

So to get back to a point we were talking about earlier, a lot of these sailors, or at least some of them, had planned to have children, upon their return. They had actually planned out the pregnancy. and they expected to be home, and of course you can imagine how devastating that would be if you had to then go back out, knowing that you were going to miss the birth of a child.

We also talked earlier about some of the guys who have to pull duty. I pulled three of them over here. Seaman Smith (ph) from Indiana, Third Class Wallace (ph) from South Carolina, and Second Class Kafer (ph) from Arizona. Their families are not here. So hopefully they're watching CNN. And look at your boys. There they are. They're back safely. And let me talk to you guys.

Seaman Smith, first. You're going back to Indiana tomorrow. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, sir.

BUCKLEY: Tell me what it was like.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was -- it was long. The days were long, long hours, but I mean this is all worth it, as you can see. I mean, we didn't expect this kind of a homecoming. We give all, every day, and for this coming home, you guys give a little to us and it makes it a whole lot better, a whole lot.

BUCKLEY: Well said.

And Mr. Wallace, yesterday, you were the C.O. of the day when we were on the ship, where they have a program where one of the enlisted gets to be the C.O. Now you're back home as someone who is a war veteran. Can you tell us what that feels like for you?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, being C.O. for the day was really exciting. You know I get to talk to the officers, doing (UNINTELLIGIBLE) things, seeing how the captain really actually does what he does. Being a war veteran right now is very -- something different. So there's something new to it. It's not that bad. We're just here to do our job, just like the Navy told us to, and that's how they taught us, and it's the way we do it.

BUCKLEY: And you were C.O. yesterday. Now you're pulling duty today.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I just got to do my job. That's the way life is sometimes.

BUCKLEY: Mr. Kafer, you're from Arizona. and you're hoping to go see mom tomorrow. Anything you want to say to her now?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I just can't wait to see you. It's been a long time, and I appreciate all the support that you gave me and I can't wait to get back.

BUCKLEY: You know, Miles O'Brien was asking, what was the -- maybe -- the toughest moment for you guys when you were at sea. Was it that moment in Australia, when they said you got to go back, or was there something else?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For me, it was that night when we were actually getting ready to launch. For myself, I mean there was a lot of people over there and -- and, just the whole concept of war is just broader than I could ever imagine so it was a difficult night that night.

BUCKLEY: Knowing the responsibility that you were launching.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Exactly. I mean, we -- we do our job, like Petty Officer Wallace says, we do our job and we do it well. But at that time, it was like where it all falls into place and we're here to do something and we did it. BUCKLEY: What about you? You get to see this wonderful homecoming, no one's here for you guys, but is it still gratifying to see this?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's gratifying for my shipmates, because I'm there for them just like they were there for me, in a time of war, in a time of need. They always have my back, like I have theirs. In other words, it's all good, as long as they're happy and enjoying themselves, I'm happy for them.

BUCKLEY: And how long is duty? You have to pull it all night long? Do you get to leave the ship? What happens?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sometimes we get to leave but most times we really don't. We do our duty. We stand here and we get to guard the ship. There has to be somebody on the ship 24/7, every day.

BUCKLEY: Well, hopefully there are families in Indiana, South Carolina, and Arizona watching, and thanks very much.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you.

BUCKLEY: All right, Miles there you go. Three of the guys pulling duty tonight here on the ship.

O'BRIEN: Boy, I ask and I receive. Frank Buckley, thank you very much. That teaches me a lot.

I presume, by that -- and it's not a coincidence -- that they all have family members elsewhere. They try to have the people that hang back -- not have reunions on the dock, I presume, right? That's good to hear.

BUCKLEY: That's true, they try to get the guys to pull duty who are not going to have families here, right?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's true.

BUCKLEY: Yes.

Miles, once again, you are right, sir.

O'BRIEN: All right, let's send it back down to David Mattingly.

David, you can't help but get some goose bumps and a little choke, and you can't help but be proud of these people and this country, when you see these -- so far, all young men coming off this ship.

BUCKLEY: It's just great to share in everyone's happiness. There was something unusual we spotted in the crowd. Everyone holding these signs up called "Beach Exit 1 Mile" and then "Beaches Exit Now." That was for -- look at this, name tag, Brian Beach.

I'm glad to see you followed the signs, got out okay.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It wasn't hard. I saw the green and the beach and then saw my clan there.

BUCKLEY: You're right about that, you have, let's see, one, two, three, four, five daughters and two sons here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

BUCKLEY: Largest family on the ship?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I believe so. I haven't heard anybody else that has more than me but...

BUCKLEY: I hope that means you got more letters.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: E-mails -- a lot more e-mails, yes.

BUCKLEY: Something I want to show you real quick. All the daughters are wearing "Daddy's Favorite." Tell the truth, who actually is the favorite?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Me.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Me.

BUCKLEY: I guess they're all dad's favorites.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They're all daddy's girls. I've missed all of them so much.

BUCKLEY: The son's here today as well. Your younger son decided during the war that he wants to grow up and become president.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, he does. He wants to make a difference. That was the whole thing.

BUCKLEY: Does he want to go into the Navy first or is that something you want him to do?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If that's his choice when he gets up to that age, that's fine. The thing -- when we got turned around because we were extended, and he decided to send us secret plans to finish the war early. We had that posted where everybody could read it.

BUCKLEY: What were those secret plans?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I can't tell.

BUCKLEY: But you're right, they did work, didn't they?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, but they didn't exactly get it completely right, they get everything, but it got them home early.

BUCKLEY: Maybe we'll have something to say to the Pentagon a little bit later about that. Did it help having such a large family when he was gone?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Did it help? well, yeah, it kept me busy.

BUCKLEY: We've talked to so many younger families with new ones that have just arrived. It seems like you've got your family settled. You've got so many people here who can help you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, it's different. Each deployment is different. This is our fourth deployment. I think with more kids, you're busier and the time goes by and your don't realize how lonely you are and it does help. Yes, gives you something to do so.

BUCKLEY: As a son, how do you feel about your dad being home now?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's about time.

BUCKLEY: Not the man of the house anymore?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.

BUCKLEY: What's that?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I said I was the man of the house, not Mike! I wanted to ask dad if I can still be the man of the house.

BUCKLEY: I think he does have a career in politics. Brian Beach and family, thank you so much for joining us. Welcome home.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you.

BUCKLEY: We have another family, Miles. Come on over this way. Welcome home.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi. Thank you.

BUCKLEY: Lindsay Hornbeck (ph), administrative officer.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

BUCKLEY: What was it like being away from your family?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was a long time. It was hard. But I'm really glad to be home now.

BUCKLEY: Introduce us.

This is my grandma, and my mom, Jan York, and this is my stepdad, Jim York.

BUCKLEY: A daughter in the Navy, on the ship for so long, you must be awfully proud to have her home.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Absolutely -- go ahead, honey.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're proud to have her home. We're proud of our daughter. We're proud of everybody on that ship and everything they've done to protect our freedom here. I told her the next time I have to wait nine months for her, though, I hope it's her child, not mine.

BUCKLEY: Parents always have a special worry about their children, whenever they leave home, no matter what they leave home for. To have a child in the military, a daughter in the navy, what sort of special concerns might you have had?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, first, I think the -- there have been a lot of ups and downs. I think everything was great and she was supposed to be back in January when the six months was up, and then when she got to Australia and asked the ship to turn around and go back to the Persian Gulf, that was a low point in our lives, because there was just so many uncertainties with some of the weapons that Saddam Hussein had, and we're very concerned, even though she was on a ship out in the Gulf, who knows what could happen but we've got through it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She has been our strength. She has been our strength. She kept e-mailing us and said "Don't worry. I'm fine, Mom, don't worry. I'm fine." And that kept us strong.

BUCKLEY: Is that true? Were you fine the whole time?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was, I was.

BUCKLEY: We've heard from so many young fathers today. How is it different for a woman coming home today?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No different. Obviously, it's a little sweeter for the dads coming home to their new baby, but it's great to be home for my family.

BUCKLEY: I'd like to hear from your grandmother. You have the roses.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They're not for me. I've just been holding them. I guess they were for me. I've been told they were for me.

BUCKLEY: To have a granddaughter in the Navy, what were you worried about while she was gone?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, I worried about her health, her safety, and all the things that go along with war. It's a worry. Naturally. And...

BUCKLEY: And that had to be awfully hard for you when you found out that after six months, while you were there in Australia. I understand you were just 16 days away from coming home, then you find out you have to go back.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. It was hard. But we knew what we had to do and we had to go back. After the initial letdown, everybody bonded together. We did what we had to do.

BUCKLEY: When you're in a war-time situation, as opposed to a six-month cruise, how was it different?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It wasn't a lot different for us. Just more stress. We finally got to put our training into action. It was exciting to launch our missiles and do what we needed to do, but...

BUCKLEY: Tat's right, very early on in the conflict, your ship was launching cruise missiles at targets in Iraq. So the training -- and no one was hurt on your ship through the entire -- through the entire war, so the training must have paid off.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Definitely, definitely. Paid off -- multiples.

BUCKLEY: Well, this family, like so many other families, Miles, still with that huge smile, everyone so happy to be home, have their loved ones home. I can't tell you how many times, how many different stories there are, like that, just on this pier. Seems like the crowd is thinning out, people seeing their families and wanting to get right home, for whatever reunions they have. And this is a familiar face. We talked to you just about an hour ago. Dad, welcome home.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you. Thank you very much. Great to be back. Great to see you. I have Natalie in my arms. I don't think she's going to let me go.

BUCKLEY: You were able to talk to them as you were coming up, but now you get to hug them, see your daughters.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, so I got to see Gabby for the first time, but she's asleep. She gave me a big hug when I first came back on shore.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Never wake a sleeping baby.

BUCKLEY: You have -- you've had the e-mail. You've had the pictures you've been getting. Still, it's just not the same as being here. What have you missed the most?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just the day in, day out, right. Having those hugs, getting up in the morning or coming back home from work and having them give you a hug. This -- this is great.

BUCKLEY: Your oldest daughter couldn't understand why daddy couldn't get here right now.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can you answer his question, Natalie? Say hi.

She got shy again.

BUCKLEY: Yes, she got shy when we tried to talk to you before. What are you plans now, now that you're trying to get reacquainted with your family?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just relax, like you said, get reacquainted, spend a lot of time together. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I saved some yard work for him.

BUCKLEY: Everybody seems to have saved special chores. It's the yard work for you. I've talked to other people. They've got to take care of the dog. Some fathers are going to have to learn how to change diapers. Are you going to be helping with those chores?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, I will. I do have to relearn. You still have to change them for Natalie. I have to relearn for Gabby.

BUCKLEY: One particular question -- you had a child that arrived while you were gone. At that six-month point, you thought you were going to get to come home. That had to have been doubly hard for you to go back.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was definitely tough. Six months is a long time. When we turned around, we didn't know how long we were going to be gone so all that uncertainty made it harder. I think we did a great job out there everyone with the Abraham Lincoln battle group. We completed our mission, but now it's great to be back.

BUCKLEY: Quite an understatement. It is great to be back, I'm sure for everyone here. Miles, back to you.

O'BRIEN: David Mattingly, on the dock. Frank Buckley, still aboard the USS Mobile Bay. Great work, both of you.

We'll leave those families to go off to reacquainting themselves with friends and family. I'm sure they'll be a lot of favorite meals cooked up this evening. Perhaps a few late-night parties. Hundreds, maybe thousands of hugs lie ahead, and more important, that time with family. That time, as that officer just said, to just relax and catch up on those hugs from little ones like Natalie.

We owe them all a debt of gratitude. Let's take a moment to think of them and the sacrifices they make for all of us.

We'll be back in a moment. We won't be able to top that, but we'll be back with something else.

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