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American Morning

Morale High On USS Carl Vinson

Aired October 09, 2001 - 11:43   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.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Once again, many of the attacks on Afghanistan and against the Taliban staged possibly from the USS Carl Vinson deployed in the region there. CNN's Walter Rodgers is on board.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WALTER RODGERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It is a neatly choreographed dance off the deck of the nuclear carrier, Carl Vinson, as the ship launches its war planes day and night to hit targets in Afghanistan. But, this is all business, from crews loading smart bombs aboard planes, to an F-14 air crew returning to report on their bombing run, To the captain's bridge. No one here, including the admiral, wants to discuss the likelihood that their mission could well produce a backlash of new terrorism by Islamic radicals.

REAR. ADM. THOMAS ZELIBOR, COMMANDER, CARRIER GROUP 3: When I raised my right hand when I came in the military, I said I would support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies foreign and domestic. That's what every person on this ship has done.

RODGERS: In the perrenial twilight below the decks, there is a similar single mindedness among the crew of this nuclear aircraft carrier.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: An enemy to me is anyone who is against the United States.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think a lot of people see it as payback for September 11.

RODGERS: Young men and women park airplanes and bombs as casually as a parking attendant parks your car. An aerobics class, hops and skips, surrealistically in a dark airplane hangar as a bomb crew wheels another bomb headed for Afghanistan past them. No one even turns their head.

For many in this ship's crew, something else has engaged them. The conviction that now these sailors are here to defend their families back in America.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'd say all of the families around the U.S. would have got too scared. RODGERS: So, the war against terrorism, spawned in Afghanistan, was waged from the sea and by air. Most here believe they are paying back those responsible for the terrorism against America.

CAPT. RICK WREN, U.S. NAVY: The new enemy plays by a set of rules that we have not seen in any of our military training. So we are having to change the way we think.

RODGERS: A rethinking, maybe. Still, here, five or 600 miles south of Afghanistan, the exclusive American focus seems to be on pounding and punishing Osama bin Laden, perhaps because warriors often leave reflections about context and cause to the policy makers back in Washington.

Walter Rodgers, CNN aboard the USS Carl Vinson, in the Arabian Sea.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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