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American Morning

Recovery for Private Lynch

Aired July 22, 2003 - 08:08   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: Now the question, again, goes today in the recovery for Private Lynch.
Colonel Bob Roland, a military psychologist who has worked with former POWs, back with us here on AMERICAN MORNING live in D.C.

Good to see you, Colonel.

Good morning.

COL. ROBERT ROLAND, MILITARY PSYCHOLOGIST, NATIONAL DEFENSE UNIVERSITY: Bill, it's great to see you again.

Thank you for having me on.

HEMMER: Not a problem.

Psychologically, what can Jessica expect now?

ROLAND: Well, I think for today at least, it will be an exciting time for her. It will be akin to coming out of the treatment at Walter Reed where you can't receive all of the treatment that you need. The good care and concern of your family and friends at home is a great tonic for somebody in Jessica's situation. The fine treatment staff at Walter Reed have done what they can do. It's now time for her to go home and heal among her friends and family.

And what she can expect, I think, is a very exciting day today. She's a relatively shy person, so this might be a little difficult for her. But she's also proud because she knows that she represents not only herself and the State of West Virginia, but all of those other young soldiers that are out in the field every day doing their jobs and especially the ones who have been wounded and hurt that are being treated at Walter Reed.

Some 655 patients have been treated from Iraqi Freedom at Walter Reed. A hundred and seventy-five of those have been combat casualties.

So she knows that she's representing all of those young soldiers.

HEMMER: Yes, you've had contact with her team along this road to recovery.

What can you share with us about what they have told you about her process and her condition now? ROLAND: Well, I think it's been widely reported in the press that she's still having some difficulty in walking and she has some, also some problems just in her mobility. And I think that they're going to continue to work on that at home. Her house has been completely set up to try to help her to do that. The people of West Virginia and her family and her friends back there have completely rebuilt that house so it's almost as good as a physical therapy clinic.

And we know that being there, being home, being with friends is going to be the tonic that she needs to help to recover. And the treatment team at Walter Reed is confident that this is the best step for her. They wouldn't be putting her in that place unless they thought it was the case.

HEMMER: Colonel, some people think this is good for her because she can get back to a sense of normalcy.

Is there anything right now going forward that you can define as normal?

ROLAND: Well, you know, Bill, once she gets through this day, through the intense media coverage and she's transported to her house and she sees her cat and the big tree that she sat under as a kid, I think the sense of normalcy will start to return to her. Her family is completely prepared to help her, to give her some space to recover, to give her some time to recover, and we can only hope that the press, after this great event today, will allow her to have that time, as well. It's very important.

HEMMER: Colonel, certainly she is aware of this media frenzy that surrounds not only her story, but the controversy over her story, as to her rescue, what happened, what were the facts on the ground in that hospital in Nasiriya.

Has she given the doctors taking care of her any indication about how she's responded and reacted to those reports ?

ROLAND: I think that she's still trying to integrate that information, Bill, and it will take her some time to plow through it and to think about it. We can use as examples some of the other people that were with her during that event.

Shoshana Johnson, for instance, who appeared at the National Association, NAACP last week, did a beautiful job of talking about what was going on in her mind and what happened to her and the fact that she represented all of the soldiers that are currently on active duty.

So I think she needs some time and space to put the piece together. Some of those memories will never come back to her because they never existed. But she certainly has been exposed to the news coverage and will -- she'll have some help in putting those pieces back together.

HEMMER: Colonel, we've got to run... ROLAND: I...

HEMMER: Listen, I'm out of time.

ROLAND: Yes.

HEMMER: And I apologize about that.

She's going to make a statement for about two and a half minutes.

Why is it that we have not heard her speak until two o'clock this afternoon?

ROLAND: I don't think she was ready until today, and now, going home, I think she feels the strength to do that.

HEMMER: Colonel Bob Roland, thanks for coming back and talking with us.

ROLAND: Always great, Bill.

Thank you very much.

HEMMER: All right.

You got it.

About six hours away, Palestine, West Virginia, a reminder, later today, two o'clock Eastern. We'll be there live. Stay tuned for the statement, expected to go about two and a half minutes. Why it's two and a half minutes, we don't know. But apparently they've time it out in advance.

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 July 22, 2003 - 08:08   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Now the question, again, goes today in the recovery for Private Lynch.
Colonel Bob Roland, a military psychologist who has worked with former POWs, back with us here on AMERICAN MORNING live in D.C.

Good to see you, Colonel.

Good morning.

COL. ROBERT ROLAND, MILITARY PSYCHOLOGIST, NATIONAL DEFENSE UNIVERSITY: Bill, it's great to see you again.

Thank you for having me on.

HEMMER: Not a problem.

Psychologically, what can Jessica expect now?

ROLAND: Well, I think for today at least, it will be an exciting time for her. It will be akin to coming out of the treatment at Walter Reed where you can't receive all of the treatment that you need. The good care and concern of your family and friends at home is a great tonic for somebody in Jessica's situation. The fine treatment staff at Walter Reed have done what they can do. It's now time for her to go home and heal among her friends and family.

And what she can expect, I think, is a very exciting day today. She's a relatively shy person, so this might be a little difficult for her. But she's also proud because she knows that she represents not only herself and the State of West Virginia, but all of those other young soldiers that are out in the field every day doing their jobs and especially the ones who have been wounded and hurt that are being treated at Walter Reed.

Some 655 patients have been treated from Iraqi Freedom at Walter Reed. A hundred and seventy-five of those have been combat casualties.

So she knows that she's representing all of those young soldiers.

HEMMER: Yes, you've had contact with her team along this road to recovery.

What can you share with us about what they have told you about her process and her condition now? ROLAND: Well, I think it's been widely reported in the press that she's still having some difficulty in walking and she has some, also some problems just in her mobility. And I think that they're going to continue to work on that at home. Her house has been completely set up to try to help her to do that. The people of West Virginia and her family and her friends back there have completely rebuilt that house so it's almost as good as a physical therapy clinic.

And we know that being there, being home, being with friends is going to be the tonic that she needs to help to recover. And the treatment team at Walter Reed is confident that this is the best step for her. They wouldn't be putting her in that place unless they thought it was the case.

HEMMER: Colonel, some people think this is good for her because she can get back to a sense of normalcy.

Is there anything right now going forward that you can define as normal?

ROLAND: Well, you know, Bill, once she gets through this day, through the intense media coverage and she's transported to her house and she sees her cat and the big tree that she sat under as a kid, I think the sense of normalcy will start to return to her. Her family is completely prepared to help her, to give her some space to recover, to give her some time to recover, and we can only hope that the press, after this great event today, will allow her to have that time, as well. It's very important.

HEMMER: Colonel, certainly she is aware of this media frenzy that surrounds not only her story, but the controversy over her story, as to her rescue, what happened, what were the facts on the ground in that hospital in Nasiriya.

Has she given the doctors taking care of her any indication about how she's responded and reacted to those reports ?

ROLAND: I think that she's still trying to integrate that information, Bill, and it will take her some time to plow through it and to think about it. We can use as examples some of the other people that were with her during that event.

Shoshana Johnson, for instance, who appeared at the National Association, NAACP last week, did a beautiful job of talking about what was going on in her mind and what happened to her and the fact that she represented all of the soldiers that are currently on active duty.

So I think she needs some time and space to put the piece together. Some of those memories will never come back to her because they never existed. But she certainly has been exposed to the news coverage and will -- she'll have some help in putting those pieces back together.

HEMMER: Colonel, we've got to run... ROLAND: I...

HEMMER: Listen, I'm out of time.

ROLAND: Yes.

HEMMER: And I apologize about that.

She's going to make a statement for about two and a half minutes.

Why is it that we have not heard her speak until two o'clock this afternoon?

ROLAND: I don't think she was ready until today, and now, going home, I think she feels the strength to do that.

HEMMER: Colonel Bob Roland, thanks for coming back and talking with us.

ROLAND: Always great, Bill.

Thank you very much.

HEMMER: All right.

You got it.

About six hours away, Palestine, West Virginia, a reminder, later today, two o'clock Eastern. We'll be there live. Stay tuned for the statement, expected to go about two and a half minutes. Why it's two and a half minutes, we don't know. But apparently they've time it out in advance.

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