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Navy Lieutenant Commander Blazes Historic Trail

Aired February 23, 2004 - 15:12   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Black History Month is winding down, but there's still time to note the fact that in 2004, in small steps and giant leaps, black history is still being made. Just ask Lieutenant Commander Keith Huskiness, U.S. Navy. Huskiness is a rising start at, , the U.S. strategic command in Omaha, Nebraska. He's also the first African-American solo pilot for the Navy's elite Blue Angels. But even that barely skims his resume, which includes 60-plus combat missions in Iraq as part of Strike Fighter Squadron 25, the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) of the fleet.
Commander Huskiness joins us this hour from Omaha.

Great to see you, Keith.

LT. CMDR. KEITH HOSKINS, U.S. NAVY: It's great to you see you, Kara. Thank you so much for having me on your show.

PHILLIPS: Oh, well it's a pleasure. Hey, take folks back, OK, to when you were five years old and how you even got introduced to aviation.

HOSKINS: Well, I tell you what, it all started, first of all with my parents, specifically my father. He was back -- when he was a young man, back in the '50s, he wanted to join the military and he wanted to be a pilot. Never got that opportunity. He actually joined the Army and became a paratrooper.

Out of all the six kids, I was the last one. So I think it was his destiny to make one of his children a pilot in the military. So he really influenced me as a young child, taught me how to build models, taught me a lot about aircraft and about being a person. And I tell you what, he is the one that instilled my love of aviation.

PHILLIPS: Well, Keith, you were telling me back during that time it was tough, because he knew what he wanted to do, and also the fact that he was -- or is an African-American. Did he ever school you on race relations? Did he say to you, look, don't let this get in the way of anything? Hang tough and you can do whatever you want to do.

HOSKINS: Well, Kara, I tell you what, I think it worked to my advantage the way my father and my mother brought me up. Because I think from day one, they saw that there was opportunity. Because if you remember, a lot of things changed, obviously in the '60s and so forth, for blacks. And there was a lot of people that laid the groundwork prior to that, specifically in the military.

And my father was always positive. My mother was always positive to put me in the right perspective as far as integration of all the races, and set all that aside because, now you have the opportunity. And take it, grasp it, and go somewhere with it. So I think from an early age they did a very good job instilling that within me.

PHILLIPS: Well, Keith, it's obvious. And I remember you telling me back when you were in officer candidate school back in '89, and there you were looking around and you thought, hmm, out of this whole group of people, there's me and one other black guy. What's the deal here? Why is it such a low percentage?

Tell me what was going through your mind and what you were thinking about.

HOSKINS: Well, I'm not going to lie to you. Obviously, being two percent of maybe a whole class at aviation officer candidate school, it did kind of raise my eyebrow a little bit. However, I think that it's a question that is still being asked today by a lot of the services, is there minority recruiting. And why is there so small numbers of blacks in aviation.

I don't know the answer to that. I don't know when we'll find the answer to that. But I'm hoping that those numbers will increase.

PHILLIPS: Well, you broke all the barriers, that is for sure. And you've continued to be a role model -- the stories that you've told me.

Take me back to Seattle. And I know that this one organization always has you come speak to these high school kids, mostly black. Tell me what you tell them, Keith, when you're standing there in your uniform and you start talking about being a strike fighter pilot.

HOSKINS: Well, that was a very special meeting that I got to do with some very young students. They were high school students that were prospective students of the University of Washington. And it was an engineering group geared towards minorities.

I have a degree in electrical engineering, so I got the opportunity to speak with them. And my message to them was, regardless of who you are, what your color is, your race, you just have to go for whatever goal that you have set. And I told them a short story about when I was a child -- actually I wasn't that much of a child, I was in high school, where a counselor would tell me that, you know, I don't think that you can make it. I don't think you can do this because of maybe your grades, or just by looking at pieces of paper, not knowing about me and what I wanted to do in my lifetime.

And just tell them that that should be the fuel to your fire. If somebody's going to tell you can't do something, don't listen to them. Because you know what you can do. You have the ability. If you've got it in your mind, you've got the heart and the desire, you can accomplish anything, regardless of who you are.

PHILLIPS: Well, talking about fueling the fire, I remember being on the deck of the Abraham Lincoln, I remember looking up on the eve of "shock and awe," and you were in your F-18. We've got video of you now getting ready to take off and fly over Iraq. Tell me, Keith, how within the military basically no matter what color you are, what's your race, it's proof of performance, isn't it?

HOSKINS: It is purely about performance. And that's shown in the history of naval aviation itself. Going all the way back to Lieutenant Junior Grade Jesse Brown (ph), who was the first naval aviator -- black naval aviator in the naval service, the military will honor those and will credit those that perform.

It doesn't matter what race, color, creed you are. It is a performance-based system. And it's a wonderful system.

I'll tell you what, the military's taught me a lot. And it is a wonderful place to be for minorities.

PHILLIPS: Lieutenant Commander Keith Hoskins, quite the spokesperson, but also quite the individual that set an example. It's always a pleasure. I hope the next time we're talking I'm introducing you as admiral. Can we make a small wager here?

HOSKINS: We'll wait on that. I'll get back to you on that one, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right. Keith, thanks so much.

HOSKINS: Thank you.

PHILLIPS: All right.

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 February 23, 2004 - 15:12   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Black History Month is winding down, but there's still time to note the fact that in 2004, in small steps and giant leaps, black history is still being made. Just ask Lieutenant Commander Keith Huskiness, U.S. Navy. Huskiness is a rising start at, , the U.S. strategic command in Omaha, Nebraska. He's also the first African-American solo pilot for the Navy's elite Blue Angels. But even that barely skims his resume, which includes 60-plus combat missions in Iraq as part of Strike Fighter Squadron 25, the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) of the fleet.
Commander Huskiness joins us this hour from Omaha.

Great to see you, Keith.

LT. CMDR. KEITH HOSKINS, U.S. NAVY: It's great to you see you, Kara. Thank you so much for having me on your show.

PHILLIPS: Oh, well it's a pleasure. Hey, take folks back, OK, to when you were five years old and how you even got introduced to aviation.

HOSKINS: Well, I tell you what, it all started, first of all with my parents, specifically my father. He was back -- when he was a young man, back in the '50s, he wanted to join the military and he wanted to be a pilot. Never got that opportunity. He actually joined the Army and became a paratrooper.

Out of all the six kids, I was the last one. So I think it was his destiny to make one of his children a pilot in the military. So he really influenced me as a young child, taught me how to build models, taught me a lot about aircraft and about being a person. And I tell you what, he is the one that instilled my love of aviation.

PHILLIPS: Well, Keith, you were telling me back during that time it was tough, because he knew what he wanted to do, and also the fact that he was -- or is an African-American. Did he ever school you on race relations? Did he say to you, look, don't let this get in the way of anything? Hang tough and you can do whatever you want to do.

HOSKINS: Well, Kara, I tell you what, I think it worked to my advantage the way my father and my mother brought me up. Because I think from day one, they saw that there was opportunity. Because if you remember, a lot of things changed, obviously in the '60s and so forth, for blacks. And there was a lot of people that laid the groundwork prior to that, specifically in the military.

And my father was always positive. My mother was always positive to put me in the right perspective as far as integration of all the races, and set all that aside because, now you have the opportunity. And take it, grasp it, and go somewhere with it. So I think from an early age they did a very good job instilling that within me.

PHILLIPS: Well, Keith, it's obvious. And I remember you telling me back when you were in officer candidate school back in '89, and there you were looking around and you thought, hmm, out of this whole group of people, there's me and one other black guy. What's the deal here? Why is it such a low percentage?

Tell me what was going through your mind and what you were thinking about.

HOSKINS: Well, I'm not going to lie to you. Obviously, being two percent of maybe a whole class at aviation officer candidate school, it did kind of raise my eyebrow a little bit. However, I think that it's a question that is still being asked today by a lot of the services, is there minority recruiting. And why is there so small numbers of blacks in aviation.

I don't know the answer to that. I don't know when we'll find the answer to that. But I'm hoping that those numbers will increase.

PHILLIPS: Well, you broke all the barriers, that is for sure. And you've continued to be a role model -- the stories that you've told me.

Take me back to Seattle. And I know that this one organization always has you come speak to these high school kids, mostly black. Tell me what you tell them, Keith, when you're standing there in your uniform and you start talking about being a strike fighter pilot.

HOSKINS: Well, that was a very special meeting that I got to do with some very young students. They were high school students that were prospective students of the University of Washington. And it was an engineering group geared towards minorities.

I have a degree in electrical engineering, so I got the opportunity to speak with them. And my message to them was, regardless of who you are, what your color is, your race, you just have to go for whatever goal that you have set. And I told them a short story about when I was a child -- actually I wasn't that much of a child, I was in high school, where a counselor would tell me that, you know, I don't think that you can make it. I don't think you can do this because of maybe your grades, or just by looking at pieces of paper, not knowing about me and what I wanted to do in my lifetime.

And just tell them that that should be the fuel to your fire. If somebody's going to tell you can't do something, don't listen to them. Because you know what you can do. You have the ability. If you've got it in your mind, you've got the heart and the desire, you can accomplish anything, regardless of who you are.

PHILLIPS: Well, talking about fueling the fire, I remember being on the deck of the Abraham Lincoln, I remember looking up on the eve of "shock and awe," and you were in your F-18. We've got video of you now getting ready to take off and fly over Iraq. Tell me, Keith, how within the military basically no matter what color you are, what's your race, it's proof of performance, isn't it?

HOSKINS: It is purely about performance. And that's shown in the history of naval aviation itself. Going all the way back to Lieutenant Junior Grade Jesse Brown (ph), who was the first naval aviator -- black naval aviator in the naval service, the military will honor those and will credit those that perform.

It doesn't matter what race, color, creed you are. It is a performance-based system. And it's a wonderful system.

I'll tell you what, the military's taught me a lot. And it is a wonderful place to be for minorities.

PHILLIPS: Lieutenant Commander Keith Hoskins, quite the spokesperson, but also quite the individual that set an example. It's always a pleasure. I hope the next time we're talking I'm introducing you as admiral. Can we make a small wager here?

HOSKINS: We'll wait on that. I'll get back to you on that one, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right. Keith, thanks so much.

HOSKINS: Thank you.

PHILLIPS: All right.

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