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American Morning

Talk With a Female Captain in United States Marine Corps

Aired December 26, 2001 - 07:25   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: Time, now, to go back to the U.S. Marine base at Kandahar Airport in Afghanistan. That's where we find Bill Hemmer, our point man for CNN's Operation Happy Holidays.

Hello, again, Bill.

BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR, KANDAHAR, AFGHANISTAN: Hey, Miles. Hello, again.

I am now with the few, the proud - the women - of the United States Marine Corps.

Captain Stacy Hays (ph) of Savannah, Georgia with us now. Hello to you.

CAPTAIN STACY HAYS: Hi, how are you doing?

HEMMER: I'm doing just fine. Tell me this. There's only a couple dozen women here. There's about 2,000 men. How'd you get here?

HAYS: Same way they did, exact same process, same wants and desires.

HEMMER: Yeah, wow. Is it different, though, being a woman? Just comparing the two genders, here, in terms of acceptance, how you work your way in, knowing the Marines are such a tight-knit group anyway?

HAYS: I don't think so. I think, if you just don't think about it, everybody treats you exactly the same. So, no one minds, as long as you get up every morning same way they do. Put on your pants exact same way they do. Do your job. That's all anyone expects from you.

HEMMER: Right. I mentioned you're a captain, that means you fly. And you fly a pretty impressive piece of aircraft.

We've got some video tape we can show our viewers. It's call a Sea Knight.

HAYS: Right.

HEMMER: Tell us about this aircraft. Tell us about what's, maybe its advantages on the battle field. HAYS: OK. We - it's formally known as the Sea Knight, but we call it the frog.

HEMMER: All right.

HAYS: And one of the advantages is that it's not the biggest aircraft, but it's not the smallest aircraft.

So, the dust signature is a little bit less, and that's significant when we're out here in desert terrain.

You can send several in at one time and makes a little bit less of a noise signature, also.

HEMMER: Yeah, I've noticed a lot coming off, taking off and landing here in the past couple of hours.

You initially were flying these down at Camp Rhino, is that right?

HAYS: That's right. I haven't stayed at Rhino. I've only passed through there.

HEMMER: OK. And when you were flying down there, can you give us a comparison so we can understand the difference here at the Kandahar Airport? One would think it's absolutely better.

HAYS: Oh, 10 times better. One, we have the pavement here, the made runways, they made taxi ways. That makes a huge difference, cuts down on a lot of dust.

There's still a significant amount of dust around here. The Harriers had been in here earlier and bombed this area before we took it over. So we have to deal with all that debris kicking up.

But at Rhino, everything down there is dirt. It's in the middle of the desert. It's like talcum powder, basically. So when you're landing, and that's all kicking up in your face, and you have to deal with that on landing.

HEMMER: A lot of Americans back home want to know how the mission's going. Give us a grade.

HAYS: Outstanding. As best as you can possibly imagine.

HEMMER: Tell me your Christmas was fantastic because you got to fly for six hours.

HAYS: That's right.

HEMMER: Pretty good Christmas present for a pilot.

HAYS: I drew the long straw that day.

HEMMER: Excellent. Captain Hays, thanks. And appreciate you sharing your story with us. HAYS: Thank you.

HEMMER: And you're making us all proud, OK?

HAYS: Thanks very much.

HEMMER: Good deal. All right.

Miles, a lot more to come up shortly here in Kandahar, Afghanistan. Captain Stacy Hays with us. One of the few, the proud, the women, here at the U.S. Marine Corps.

Miles, back to you. (UNINTELLIGIBLE) ...

O'BRIEN: Bill, before she gets away, is she flying again today?

HEMMER: Have you flown today? You going to fly today?

HAYS: No, I'm not.

HEMMER: No.

HAYS: I'm writing schedules today.

HEMMER: You know, Miles, great point, though. There was a drill conducted here for about, oh, about an hour, hour and 30 minutes here.

HAYS: Right.

HEMMER: It was the first drill that encompassed the entire base here. Tell us why that's critical, and why was it done now?

HAYS: It was done - mostly those drills are done so everyone will know exactly where they're supposed to go in case something actually does happen.

And that's really important, because you can pass the word over and over, and people don't really know until they actually walk through a routine.

Even in flying, we do those types of things. We plan a mission, and then we like to go outside and actually everybody physically walk through what they're going to do.

HEMMER: Right. You going to fly tomorrow?

HAYS: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)

HEMMER: Keep your fingers crossed. You may draw the long straw again.

HAYS: I wish.

HEMMER: OK. Thank you, captain.

That does it, Miles. O'BRIEN: Get her back in that frog. All right. Captain and Bill, thank you very much to both of you, and we wish you well in your endeavors out there, on what is a very important and challenging mission.

We're going to take a break. We'll be back with more in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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