Return to Transcripts main page

Live From...

Lincoln Returning to Port

Aired April 28, 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: Well, President Bush will speak about post-war Iraq to Arab-Americans this hour. Dearborn, Michigan, the dateline. That is just outside of Detroit. Dearborn is the place where people danced in the streets the day American tanks entered Baghdad. Nearly three weeks later, what you hear in these parts sounds a lot like Iraq itself, differing opinions, differing views of the future. It is the largest Arab community outside of the Middle East.
CNN's Suzanne Malveaux is with Mr. Bush in Dearborn to tell us what to expect -- hello, Suzanne.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Miles. President Bush met with a small group of Iraqi exiles, about 15 of them, behind closed doors, and within moments, he is going to be speaking before an Arab-American audience. Really, the message is very clear that Iraq can be a model, a representative of Islamic democracy, that is up to the Iraqi people to establish that.

Some of those people in the United States will be going back to Iraq to make that happen. And as you know, just as important as the president's message, of course, is where he delivers it. This is his ninth trip to the state of Michigan. It is a swing state for him. In the last election, Gore captured 51 percent to his 46 percent. And as you had mentioned before, Dearborn, of course, a suburb of Detroit, very important. About a third of the population is of Arab descent.

Now, we saw those pictures from April 9, that's when Baghdad -- when Saddam Hussein's regime had crumbled, a lot of happy faces. But, of course, as you mentioned, it is also very complex. The majority here are Christian Iraqi-Americans, and a lot of the divisions. And, of course, the Bush administration recognizes that there is a power vacuum here. They want to make sure that it is multi-ethnic, that it is broad-based, and that it is truly representative of the Iraqi people.

Now, Miles, of course, another big question while we talk about reconstruction, moving ahead, the big question is whether or not the president is going to declare that the war is over. We talked to White House aides who say look to Thursday, possibly when the president is aboard the USS Lincoln coming back from its ten-month tour from battle that perhaps the president will go ahead and initiate that, say that, but White House spokesman Ari Fleischer saying that the president does not characterize this as some sort of declaration of victory, but rather simply the next phase -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: CNN's Suzanne Malveaux in Dearborn, Michigan. Thank you very much -- Heidi.

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Now to Iraq. American experts are testing yet another batch of chemicals as part of the hunt for banned weapons. These were discovered in 55-gallon containers near an abandoned Iraqi military position.

CNN's Nic Robertson is at the scene of this recent discovery. He joins us now with the very latest -- hello to you, Nic.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Heidi. Well, 14 of those 55-gallon drums were discovered here. One of them was opened in the first round of tests. The tests came back positive for a blister agent, namely mustard gas, for cyclosarin, a nerve agent, and for another unknown agent. A second set test of tests were performed on the same barrel of liquid. These tests came back with almost exactly the same results.

However, a third set of tests, again on the same barrel of liquid came back with a completely different set of results. They came back negative on all of those -- on the blister agent and on the nerve agent.

Some further samples have been taken away for analysis by the U.S. Army here in Iraq, and back in the United States.

Now, one of the things that attracted the soldiers who were doing the tests here to this site was a tipoff from Iraq -- from local Iraqis here saying that they thought chemical weapons might have been held at this site. But the other thing that led the soldiers here to believe this could have been a chemical weapons site was the fact that it was unlike the other sites that had been tested before. It wasn't an industrial site. This is a remote hillside location, very close to these barrels of suspected agent are several missiles, a surface-to- air missile, and a number of ground-to-ground missiles.

Also discovered here, two mobile chemical laboratories. These laboratories, the soldiers here believe, could have been used for mixing chemicals before they were put into the missiles. However, that is still conjecture at this time, and until those final results come back on the samples that have been sent away, it's unlikely that they will be able to know conclusively exactly what is in those barrels.

But right at this time, two set of results saying they're a nerve agent and mustard gas, one set of results saying no nerve agent, no mustard gas -- Heidi.

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Nic, whether or not these tests come back positive, and it is determined if it's cyclosarin and mustard gas, I'm wondering if this find could change the way that the military looks for weapons of mass destruction in the future days?

ROBERTSON: Well, certainly if that's the case, they will be able to analyze the equipment that has been located here and compare it with other equipment around the country. Perhaps one of the things they will learn from here, the drums are not regular 55-gallon drums, not small and wide. These are tall and thin. They're a tan sand color, perhaps they can use -- perhaps the military here can use that in gauging other drums that they see stored around the country. Perhaps these so-called mobile laboratories where they can mix -- mix chemicals together, perhaps if those prove positive for use with a chemical agent, then that again will be an indicator of what to look for.

But a lot of information right now is coming to the U.S. troops through U.S. Special Forces who are getting information from Iraqi citizens who see stuff lying around, close to their villages that wasn't there before the war, and now they're suspicious of it -- Heidi.

COLLINS: Nic Robertson, live in Bai'ji, Iraq. Thanks so much -- and Miles, back over to you.

O'BRIEN: Thanks, Heidi.

A historic and seemingly interminable cruise is about to end for the USS Abraham Lincoln. After ten months -- ten months at sea, the carrier and her crew of 5,000 are homeward bound. Now, after leaving Honolulu, the ship is nearing San Diego, where it will stop briefly before returning to its home port of Everett, Washington.

And on board for all the cheers and undoubtedly some tears, Kyra Phillips, who was embedded on the flat top during the war, and she is -- she is right in the middle of the screen, in case you're wondering, the one with the longer hair -- Kyra, it is good to see you.

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Miles, you can't figure out who I am?

O'BRIEN: You got the uniform on, though, it is kind of hard to tell. You are looking like you should be in the cockpit of an F-18 there.

PHILLIPS: I wish I was in the cockpit of an F-14 right now. Now, Miles, do you think these folks are excited to get home?

O'BRIEN: I suspect so. And I suspect this is when we're going to hear a big cheer, right?

PHILLIPS: You guys, are you ready to go home?

(APPLAUSE)

PHILLIPS: There's your answer right there. Hey, we got a bunch of special people here. What did you say, Miles?

O'BRIEN: Take it away. It is all yours.

PHILLIPS: All right. Well, this is the group that we got to spend so much time with, of course. VF-31, the Tomcatters, and the entire crew that makes sure every single one of those F-14s gets on and off the flight deck in a safe manner. We are going to just kind of pop around and talk to a couple special people here. Behind me, Airman Renee (ph). Now, this is a pretty unique story. He comes to us from Haiti. Tell us why you joined the military.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To go to school, and to explore the world.

PHILLIPS: So what do you think? Are you pretty proud to be here, serving the USA?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, I am.

PHILLIPS: What do you think was the best part of your deployment? I know it was long, but what made the biggest impact on you?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To serve the country, and be part of VF-31.

PHILLIPS: All right. Airman Renee (ph). Thank you.

Hey, that's pretty good. All right, now we're going to look at shots outside the carrier right now. We are actually going to take a shot out on the flight deck as we talk to Low Bar here.

First of all, why don't you explain to folks how you got your call sign.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's a popular question, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Yes. Why don't you go ahead and explain to America.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's one that I enjoy answering all the time, as often as I can, actually. "Low bar" is LSO shorthand. The LSO is the guys who guide us in landing during our passes there. They have a shorthand to kind of help explain how the pass went, and to determine a basis for the grading, and "low bar" is actually shorthand for low, flat at the ramp, and it's a scary path. It is one you don't want to ever see, and I happened to do one on one particular night...

PHILLIPS: Just one time?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just once. That's all it takes, and you'll never do it again. And that's how I got it.

PHILLIPS: Now, ALF. We wouldn't know how ALF got his call sign, would we?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ALF: Always likeable and friendly is what I say.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Always likable and friendly. That is ALF. Awesome little fighter guy.

PHILLIPS: Awesome little fighter. Now, on a serious note. OK, Low Bar and ALF. OK. They kind of give you a hard time with these names, but take us back to the night of shock and awe, take us back to the beginning of Operation Iraqi Freedom. It was a serious time. Do you feel you set out and accomplished everything you wanted to do?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, I think it was great that we were lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time, I think. I think anyone in the Navy could have done the job, and we just happened to be there, and did it with precision and made it happen.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He said it all.

PHILLIPS: Plain and simple.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go ahead.

PHILLIPS: Go ahead.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I wasn't on that particular -- that particular flight that first night, but from the things that some of the guys who did go said, it was pretty amazing. Pretty scary. Pretty humbling. And you know, I'm just real proud to be a part of the fighting force that we are, and be able to go out there and handle the threats like we did, and make our systems work for us to make this thing happen really smoothly.

PHILLIPS: Other important people, of course, that make things happen. You notice all the different colored shirts here. Let's move back and talk to a green shirt. What is your name?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Airman Mollison (ph).

PHILLIPS: Airman Mollison (ph). Tell me how you helped all these guys get on and off the flight deck and successfully complete Operation Iraqi Freedom?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I didn't FOD up (ph) the flight deck.

(LAUGHTER)

PHILLIPS: Now, explain to viewers what that is.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's when you let little stuff fall on the flight deck, and the engines can suck it up and it can break the engines, and I didn't drop anything. I helped prevent flight deck FOD.

PHILLIPS: That is good. You don't want foreign object debris getting into those jets, right?

All right. Mike Olson (ph) back here. He has got a message for the family, Mike, right? Tell us what the message is.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, Olsons. It goes out to my family, my friends, Misty (ph), from me and Adriana (ph), we love you, we miss you. We'll be home in a few days! Yes!

(APPLAUSE)

PHILLIPS: All right. I'm going to hop down here. I'm going to hop right in front of you guys. Thank you, Low Bar. Talk to a red shirt. Let's talk some ordinance. What's your name?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Airman Inkiki (ph).

PHILLIPS: All right. And tell me how you helped participate?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We loaded the bombs on the F-14s that went over the land, and just made sure our air crew had good weapons when they went up.

PHILLIPS: How old are you?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Twenty.

PHILLIPS: Twenty years old, and you are putting ordinance on jets. Isn't that pretty amazing?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is pretty exciting.

PHILLIPS: So what do your parents say when you tell them what you are doing?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They don't like it. They didn't want me to do it. But, they -- I tell them I wanted to be -- explosives and stuff. And they said, Well, that is pretty dangerous. But I went ahead and did it anyway, and I liked it.

PHILLIPS: Why did you go ahead and do it anyway?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just -- when I was a little kid, I just liked to blow stuff up. So, I didn't know that's what I was going to get into now, so...

PHILLIPS: This is the one that had all the fire trucks racing to the house, right, because you were making bombs and putting them in the driveway?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

PHILLIPS: Great. Great. Well, you know what, on a serious note, you had a very important job to carry out, and you did it. Thank you very much.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you.

PHILLIPS: All right. Who else am I going to come over to?

We have got to get a white shirt. Let's come over here. Fleming (ph). All right, Fleming (ph). I'm going to squat down next to you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sammy...

PHILLIPS: Sammy...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Lee Fleming (ph).

PHILLIPS: All right, Sammy. Why is everybody cheering when I say your name? I don't know.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) Sammy!

PHILLIPS: He is a popular guy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, right.

PHILLIPS: Sammy, tell me how you participated in OIF, and made it a successful mission?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My job, I'm a quality insurance representative, and what I do is, when the aircraft come down for specials (ph), or different type maintenance, we are the final shop that look over the aircraft, make sure it is good to go, to make mission.

PHILLIPS: So, show me the sign for good to go.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I just say thumbs.

PHILLIPS: There you go, thumbs up.

All right. I understand Miles O'Brien has a question for us. What is it, Miles?

O'BRIEN: Gosh, there are so many questions, and some of them I really can't share...

PHILLIPS: Well, go ahead, fire away.

O'BRIEN: ... I can't share with them on the air.

But I'm curious, what was the low point of this cruise? I know there was a point where they thought they were going to go home, and they got redeployed to go onward. Was that a tough time?

PHILLIPS: Yes, that is a great question. Let me go back to the skipper and ask him that question. I'm going move my way back here.

This is the commanding officer of the VF-31. He basically had to keep everybody motivated when that happened, Miles. Miles is wanting to talk about January, you were all excited, everybody was headed home, and then you had to make the turnaround and come back out here. How did you motivate everyone and get everyone just thinking positively about what was about to happen and what you had to do?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Kyra, it's actually fairly easy. This group of folks is an awesome bunch of professionals, and it really didn't take anything other than telling them, Hey, we're going back, there's a good reason for it, we need to be ready, and by God, we were.

PHILLIPS: I see you shaking your head back there, Phillips (ph), and I know how much of an important role you play to these guys. Everyone loves you -- I love your last name, but that is a whole 'nother story. You were shaking your head -- you were OK with coming back? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In a way. We kind of knew what we were coming back out here to do, and to liberate a country means a lot to a lot of people, and I was just glad that I was here, and a part of it.

PHILLIPS: Do me a favor -- come here a minute, Phillips (ph). All right. I hear you. I know we got to wrap up, but I have got to get Phillips (ph) to do something for me. Now, when you get on the flight deck, OK -- when you get on the flight deck, and the aircraft is getting ready to go, and it's got to launch, guess who's your man? Phillips (ph). And he's going to show us exactly the final sign of what you got to do to shoot that jet off the deck. So will you please demonstrate?

(APPLAUSE)

PHILLIPS: All right. Now, I guess we have to shoot it back to you, after such a wonderful example -- there you go, Miles.

O'BRIEN: All right. Kyra, I -- I suspect they'll be imbibing in some shooters in a few short days. All right. Thank you very much, Kyra Phillips, and best to the entire crew there, and we'll be checking in with you as you steam in toward port frequently.

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 28, 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: Well, President Bush will speak about post-war Iraq to Arab-Americans this hour. Dearborn, Michigan, the dateline. That is just outside of Detroit. Dearborn is the place where people danced in the streets the day American tanks entered Baghdad. Nearly three weeks later, what you hear in these parts sounds a lot like Iraq itself, differing opinions, differing views of the future. It is the largest Arab community outside of the Middle East.
CNN's Suzanne Malveaux is with Mr. Bush in Dearborn to tell us what to expect -- hello, Suzanne.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Miles. President Bush met with a small group of Iraqi exiles, about 15 of them, behind closed doors, and within moments, he is going to be speaking before an Arab-American audience. Really, the message is very clear that Iraq can be a model, a representative of Islamic democracy, that is up to the Iraqi people to establish that.

Some of those people in the United States will be going back to Iraq to make that happen. And as you know, just as important as the president's message, of course, is where he delivers it. This is his ninth trip to the state of Michigan. It is a swing state for him. In the last election, Gore captured 51 percent to his 46 percent. And as you had mentioned before, Dearborn, of course, a suburb of Detroit, very important. About a third of the population is of Arab descent.

Now, we saw those pictures from April 9, that's when Baghdad -- when Saddam Hussein's regime had crumbled, a lot of happy faces. But, of course, as you mentioned, it is also very complex. The majority here are Christian Iraqi-Americans, and a lot of the divisions. And, of course, the Bush administration recognizes that there is a power vacuum here. They want to make sure that it is multi-ethnic, that it is broad-based, and that it is truly representative of the Iraqi people.

Now, Miles, of course, another big question while we talk about reconstruction, moving ahead, the big question is whether or not the president is going to declare that the war is over. We talked to White House aides who say look to Thursday, possibly when the president is aboard the USS Lincoln coming back from its ten-month tour from battle that perhaps the president will go ahead and initiate that, say that, but White House spokesman Ari Fleischer saying that the president does not characterize this as some sort of declaration of victory, but rather simply the next phase -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: CNN's Suzanne Malveaux in Dearborn, Michigan. Thank you very much -- Heidi.

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Now to Iraq. American experts are testing yet another batch of chemicals as part of the hunt for banned weapons. These were discovered in 55-gallon containers near an abandoned Iraqi military position.

CNN's Nic Robertson is at the scene of this recent discovery. He joins us now with the very latest -- hello to you, Nic.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Heidi. Well, 14 of those 55-gallon drums were discovered here. One of them was opened in the first round of tests. The tests came back positive for a blister agent, namely mustard gas, for cyclosarin, a nerve agent, and for another unknown agent. A second set test of tests were performed on the same barrel of liquid. These tests came back with almost exactly the same results.

However, a third set of tests, again on the same barrel of liquid came back with a completely different set of results. They came back negative on all of those -- on the blister agent and on the nerve agent.

Some further samples have been taken away for analysis by the U.S. Army here in Iraq, and back in the United States.

Now, one of the things that attracted the soldiers who were doing the tests here to this site was a tipoff from Iraq -- from local Iraqis here saying that they thought chemical weapons might have been held at this site. But the other thing that led the soldiers here to believe this could have been a chemical weapons site was the fact that it was unlike the other sites that had been tested before. It wasn't an industrial site. This is a remote hillside location, very close to these barrels of suspected agent are several missiles, a surface-to- air missile, and a number of ground-to-ground missiles.

Also discovered here, two mobile chemical laboratories. These laboratories, the soldiers here believe, could have been used for mixing chemicals before they were put into the missiles. However, that is still conjecture at this time, and until those final results come back on the samples that have been sent away, it's unlikely that they will be able to know conclusively exactly what is in those barrels.

But right at this time, two set of results saying they're a nerve agent and mustard gas, one set of results saying no nerve agent, no mustard gas -- Heidi.

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Nic, whether or not these tests come back positive, and it is determined if it's cyclosarin and mustard gas, I'm wondering if this find could change the way that the military looks for weapons of mass destruction in the future days?

ROBERTSON: Well, certainly if that's the case, they will be able to analyze the equipment that has been located here and compare it with other equipment around the country. Perhaps one of the things they will learn from here, the drums are not regular 55-gallon drums, not small and wide. These are tall and thin. They're a tan sand color, perhaps they can use -- perhaps the military here can use that in gauging other drums that they see stored around the country. Perhaps these so-called mobile laboratories where they can mix -- mix chemicals together, perhaps if those prove positive for use with a chemical agent, then that again will be an indicator of what to look for.

But a lot of information right now is coming to the U.S. troops through U.S. Special Forces who are getting information from Iraqi citizens who see stuff lying around, close to their villages that wasn't there before the war, and now they're suspicious of it -- Heidi.

COLLINS: Nic Robertson, live in Bai'ji, Iraq. Thanks so much -- and Miles, back over to you.

O'BRIEN: Thanks, Heidi.

A historic and seemingly interminable cruise is about to end for the USS Abraham Lincoln. After ten months -- ten months at sea, the carrier and her crew of 5,000 are homeward bound. Now, after leaving Honolulu, the ship is nearing San Diego, where it will stop briefly before returning to its home port of Everett, Washington.

And on board for all the cheers and undoubtedly some tears, Kyra Phillips, who was embedded on the flat top during the war, and she is -- she is right in the middle of the screen, in case you're wondering, the one with the longer hair -- Kyra, it is good to see you.

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Miles, you can't figure out who I am?

O'BRIEN: You got the uniform on, though, it is kind of hard to tell. You are looking like you should be in the cockpit of an F-18 there.

PHILLIPS: I wish I was in the cockpit of an F-14 right now. Now, Miles, do you think these folks are excited to get home?

O'BRIEN: I suspect so. And I suspect this is when we're going to hear a big cheer, right?

PHILLIPS: You guys, are you ready to go home?

(APPLAUSE)

PHILLIPS: There's your answer right there. Hey, we got a bunch of special people here. What did you say, Miles?

O'BRIEN: Take it away. It is all yours.

PHILLIPS: All right. Well, this is the group that we got to spend so much time with, of course. VF-31, the Tomcatters, and the entire crew that makes sure every single one of those F-14s gets on and off the flight deck in a safe manner. We are going to just kind of pop around and talk to a couple special people here. Behind me, Airman Renee (ph). Now, this is a pretty unique story. He comes to us from Haiti. Tell us why you joined the military.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To go to school, and to explore the world.

PHILLIPS: So what do you think? Are you pretty proud to be here, serving the USA?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, I am.

PHILLIPS: What do you think was the best part of your deployment? I know it was long, but what made the biggest impact on you?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To serve the country, and be part of VF-31.

PHILLIPS: All right. Airman Renee (ph). Thank you.

Hey, that's pretty good. All right, now we're going to look at shots outside the carrier right now. We are actually going to take a shot out on the flight deck as we talk to Low Bar here.

First of all, why don't you explain to folks how you got your call sign.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's a popular question, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Yes. Why don't you go ahead and explain to America.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's one that I enjoy answering all the time, as often as I can, actually. "Low bar" is LSO shorthand. The LSO is the guys who guide us in landing during our passes there. They have a shorthand to kind of help explain how the pass went, and to determine a basis for the grading, and "low bar" is actually shorthand for low, flat at the ramp, and it's a scary path. It is one you don't want to ever see, and I happened to do one on one particular night...

PHILLIPS: Just one time?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just once. That's all it takes, and you'll never do it again. And that's how I got it.

PHILLIPS: Now, ALF. We wouldn't know how ALF got his call sign, would we?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ALF: Always likeable and friendly is what I say.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Always likable and friendly. That is ALF. Awesome little fighter guy.

PHILLIPS: Awesome little fighter. Now, on a serious note. OK, Low Bar and ALF. OK. They kind of give you a hard time with these names, but take us back to the night of shock and awe, take us back to the beginning of Operation Iraqi Freedom. It was a serious time. Do you feel you set out and accomplished everything you wanted to do?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, I think it was great that we were lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time, I think. I think anyone in the Navy could have done the job, and we just happened to be there, and did it with precision and made it happen.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He said it all.

PHILLIPS: Plain and simple.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go ahead.

PHILLIPS: Go ahead.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I wasn't on that particular -- that particular flight that first night, but from the things that some of the guys who did go said, it was pretty amazing. Pretty scary. Pretty humbling. And you know, I'm just real proud to be a part of the fighting force that we are, and be able to go out there and handle the threats like we did, and make our systems work for us to make this thing happen really smoothly.

PHILLIPS: Other important people, of course, that make things happen. You notice all the different colored shirts here. Let's move back and talk to a green shirt. What is your name?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Airman Mollison (ph).

PHILLIPS: Airman Mollison (ph). Tell me how you helped all these guys get on and off the flight deck and successfully complete Operation Iraqi Freedom?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I didn't FOD up (ph) the flight deck.

(LAUGHTER)

PHILLIPS: Now, explain to viewers what that is.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's when you let little stuff fall on the flight deck, and the engines can suck it up and it can break the engines, and I didn't drop anything. I helped prevent flight deck FOD.

PHILLIPS: That is good. You don't want foreign object debris getting into those jets, right?

All right. Mike Olson (ph) back here. He has got a message for the family, Mike, right? Tell us what the message is.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, Olsons. It goes out to my family, my friends, Misty (ph), from me and Adriana (ph), we love you, we miss you. We'll be home in a few days! Yes!

(APPLAUSE)

PHILLIPS: All right. I'm going to hop down here. I'm going to hop right in front of you guys. Thank you, Low Bar. Talk to a red shirt. Let's talk some ordinance. What's your name?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Airman Inkiki (ph).

PHILLIPS: All right. And tell me how you helped participate?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We loaded the bombs on the F-14s that went over the land, and just made sure our air crew had good weapons when they went up.

PHILLIPS: How old are you?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Twenty.

PHILLIPS: Twenty years old, and you are putting ordinance on jets. Isn't that pretty amazing?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is pretty exciting.

PHILLIPS: So what do your parents say when you tell them what you are doing?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They don't like it. They didn't want me to do it. But, they -- I tell them I wanted to be -- explosives and stuff. And they said, Well, that is pretty dangerous. But I went ahead and did it anyway, and I liked it.

PHILLIPS: Why did you go ahead and do it anyway?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just -- when I was a little kid, I just liked to blow stuff up. So, I didn't know that's what I was going to get into now, so...

PHILLIPS: This is the one that had all the fire trucks racing to the house, right, because you were making bombs and putting them in the driveway?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

PHILLIPS: Great. Great. Well, you know what, on a serious note, you had a very important job to carry out, and you did it. Thank you very much.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you.

PHILLIPS: All right. Who else am I going to come over to?

We have got to get a white shirt. Let's come over here. Fleming (ph). All right, Fleming (ph). I'm going to squat down next to you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sammy...

PHILLIPS: Sammy...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Lee Fleming (ph).

PHILLIPS: All right, Sammy. Why is everybody cheering when I say your name? I don't know.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) Sammy!

PHILLIPS: He is a popular guy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, right.

PHILLIPS: Sammy, tell me how you participated in OIF, and made it a successful mission?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My job, I'm a quality insurance representative, and what I do is, when the aircraft come down for specials (ph), or different type maintenance, we are the final shop that look over the aircraft, make sure it is good to go, to make mission.

PHILLIPS: So, show me the sign for good to go.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I just say thumbs.

PHILLIPS: There you go, thumbs up.

All right. I understand Miles O'Brien has a question for us. What is it, Miles?

O'BRIEN: Gosh, there are so many questions, and some of them I really can't share...

PHILLIPS: Well, go ahead, fire away.

O'BRIEN: ... I can't share with them on the air.

But I'm curious, what was the low point of this cruise? I know there was a point where they thought they were going to go home, and they got redeployed to go onward. Was that a tough time?

PHILLIPS: Yes, that is a great question. Let me go back to the skipper and ask him that question. I'm going move my way back here.

This is the commanding officer of the VF-31. He basically had to keep everybody motivated when that happened, Miles. Miles is wanting to talk about January, you were all excited, everybody was headed home, and then you had to make the turnaround and come back out here. How did you motivate everyone and get everyone just thinking positively about what was about to happen and what you had to do?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Kyra, it's actually fairly easy. This group of folks is an awesome bunch of professionals, and it really didn't take anything other than telling them, Hey, we're going back, there's a good reason for it, we need to be ready, and by God, we were.

PHILLIPS: I see you shaking your head back there, Phillips (ph), and I know how much of an important role you play to these guys. Everyone loves you -- I love your last name, but that is a whole 'nother story. You were shaking your head -- you were OK with coming back? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In a way. We kind of knew what we were coming back out here to do, and to liberate a country means a lot to a lot of people, and I was just glad that I was here, and a part of it.

PHILLIPS: Do me a favor -- come here a minute, Phillips (ph). All right. I hear you. I know we got to wrap up, but I have got to get Phillips (ph) to do something for me. Now, when you get on the flight deck, OK -- when you get on the flight deck, and the aircraft is getting ready to go, and it's got to launch, guess who's your man? Phillips (ph). And he's going to show us exactly the final sign of what you got to do to shoot that jet off the deck. So will you please demonstrate?

(APPLAUSE)

PHILLIPS: All right. Now, I guess we have to shoot it back to you, after such a wonderful example -- there you go, Miles.

O'BRIEN: All right. Kyra, I -- I suspect they'll be imbibing in some shooters in a few short days. All right. Thank you very much, Kyra Phillips, and best to the entire crew there, and we'll be checking in with you as you steam in toward port frequently.

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