Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Saturday Morning News

Life on the USS John C. Stennis

Aired January 26, 2002 - 08:48   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: As the officers and crew of the USS John C. Stennis go about their duties, they are inspired by a very special memento from home.

CNN's Frank Buckley takes us to the north Arabian Sea.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FRANK BUCKLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): USS John C. Stennis on station in the northern Arabian Sea. Its pilots roar off the deck and into war, flying missions over Afghanistan. But the crew of this warship has with it something special from home.

UNIDENTIFIED SAILOR (singing): Oh, say, can you see by the dawn's early light...

BUCKLEY: A flag, found in the rubble of the World Trade Center.

CAPT. JAMES MCDONELL, USS JOHN C. STENNIS: One of the first things that we had the opportunity to do was make the wing just right so that we could go ahead and unfurl the flag and fly it high above on our mast structure.

CAPT. PHIL WISECUP, COMMANDER, DESTROYER SQUADRON 21: The wave of emotion that came over us here was just incredible. We really feel our responsibility to the people back in the United States.

BUCKLEY: The flag's connection to home all the more real to these sailors and airmen because it was sent to them by a fellow Navy man, a naval reservist.

SGT. KARL HAGSTROM, NEW YORK CITY POLICE DEPARTMENT: It's an odd feeling, because you see it's just like a sterile construction site. Last time I was here it was just gigantic mounds of -- it looked like a cake that had melted, it was...

BUCKLEY: Karl Hagstrom, with whom we visited ground zero. Hagstrom was on duty here as a New York police sergeant when the flag was found. Workers found it buried amid the debris.

(on camera): But it was found in that debris, and it's not even clear where it was from, right?

HAGSTROM: Right. It's -- nobody could tell me that, you know, the -- it could have been found anywhere, it could have been knocked down from, you know, any location. But where exactly, I don't know. And so the flag was, you know, placed up on the, on the fence. My thought was, it was time to do the right thing, remove the flag, safeguard it, pay it the proper respect.

BUCKLEY (voice-over): Hagstrom sent it to the Stennis, which entered the theater of operations in mid-December.

CAPT. ROLLAND THOMPSON, COMMANDER, CARRIER AIR WING NINE: Right now, really, what we're doing is maintaining support of the ground forces. We are there if they get into trouble, if they find Taliban, al Qaeda targets that need to be struck with heavy-type ordinance, we're there to supply that support.

BUCKLEY: And if you look closely at the aircraft going into battle, you'll see more reminders of exactly what brought them here.

THOMPSON: The F-14s have, instead of pilots' names, they have policemen and firemen's names who were killed in the World Trade Center. You'll see some interesting emblems on the airplanes.

BUCKLEY: The leading F-18 fighter from Squadron 147 has the Twin Towers painted on one tailfin, the Pentagon on the other.

RUSS KNIGHT, FORMER COMMANDER, VFA 147: We all have our zappers, little stickers from the New York Police Department, that we stick on the bombs, and, you know, deliver the justice that they, you know, in their defense, as well as our countrymen at work at the Pentagon, you know, we all had someone we knew in the Pentagon.

LT. CMDR. SARA JOYNER, F-18 PILOT: When you go to do it, you know that you're doing something that the American people stand behind. That makes a great difference.

HAGSTROM: I guess it's kind of like a morale booster. It's, like, some way halfway around the world, you're able to kind of, like, strike back a little bit and maybe deal a blow for all the guys that are not with us any more.

BUCKLEY: We showed Hagstrom the video of the flag-raising when we returned to the U.S.

(on camera): What do you think now that you've seen that?

HAGSTROM: It makes it all worthwhile, seeing that.

BUCKLEY: Obviously, I mean, the -- you get a sense there, they're all applauding.

HAGSTROM: It's great.

BUCKLEY (voice-over): The sergeant says it has also been gratifying to receive e-mails from the crew and their family members.

HAGSTROM: One of the mothers of one of the crewmen wrote to me saying that it was almost like fate that other people didn't take it and that the flag belongs there, and that says it all. She was right. That's where it belongs.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: All right. If we have piqued your interest in the Stennis in particular and flat-tops in general, we have just the discussion for you. CNN's Frank Buckley joining us from our Los Angeles bureau, and our military affairs analyst, Major General Don Shepperd, joining us from Washington.

And we should point out that Frank has a one-hour documentary airing tonight at 8:00 p.m. Eastern time, 5:00 p.m. Pacific, and tomorrow 7:00 p.m. Eastern, 4:00 p.m. Pacific. We'll remind you of that in just a moment.

Frank, you and producer Craig Duff were on board the Stennis in mid-December. You've been very busy, obviously, ever since getting this together. First of all, just take us back, give us a sense of the kind of access you got there. Given the fact that you were in a war zone and these were active -- actual war sorties, was the military very cooperative?

BUCKLEY: Well, I found -- this was my second trip to an aircraft carrier during the conflict in Afghanistan, and I found that the Navy was very open to giving us access on my first trip, which was to the Theodore Roosevelt. And so when we went back about a month and a half later to do this one, the Stennis, it was the same story. They essentially said to us, What do you want to show? What -- how do you want to tell this Navy story?

So we were able to go aboard and go through all parts of the ship, the island there is 24 stories tall. You can see we went through all parts of the ship, from the flight deck, obviously, where we spent a great deal of time, into the hangar bay where they work on the planes, and then to the berthing areas, into the mess areas around it, deep down to the bowels of the ship.

What we couldn't see, of course, were the nuclear reactors, the two nuclear reactors that keep the ship going and provide it with fuel to keep that ship at sea for 20 years without refueling, if necessary.

So beyond that, we were able to get to all parts of the -- the hardware parts of the ship.

But I'm hoping that what people will take away from the hour is the sense of humanity that we also found. These are, yes, warriors, but they're also human beings who had to deploy a couple of months early, earlier than they had planned to. That meant they missed the holidays with their families. And they are still at sea. They will be at sea for six months.

O'BRIEN: You know, General Shepperd, let's turn it to you on that point, because we've been seeing some of these ships return of late, and it's just such an emotional thing, realizing that these families have been separated for so many months. I think the ship that just returned to the West Coast, there were 76 children born while that ship was on its tour, and many of them, the fathers, you know, got their first chance to see their children after this trip.

It's a tremendous hardship, a tremendous sacrifice that we ask of them. Do we ask too much of our naval personnel?

MAJ. GEN. DON SHEPPERD (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: No, we don't ask too much, Miles. This is what the Navy does and what they've done for centuries. In fact, it's actually gotten better. They used to go out on nine-month cruises, and they've reduced them to six-month cruises, at least for now.

But these people are dedicated people, they're well trained, they love what they do. Of course it's hard on families, but that's the Navy way of life. It is a great service.

O'BRIEN: Yes, I guess you realize that when you sign up. But to the extent that they are taxed more as the U.S. tries to project its force with aircraft carriers, what's to be done to guard against putting them at sea too long?

SHEPPERD: Well, again, they, they're on a regular cycle in which they go out for a certain period of time. They know when they're going out, they know when they're coming back, unless there's some kind of an emergency. So holding to that cycle for the stability of families, so families can plan, is very, very important.

Unseen, however, is when they get home. Of course, they get a few weeks off to do things with their families, but they're also going into training, and they train up for the next cycle out. So it's a windmill -- it's a windmill that they're on all the time, and it's something we have to be totally mindful of.

Again, this is what people join up for when they get in our military services. It's not just the Navy, we're taxed everywhere. And they know it, and we try to take care of our families at home the best we can.

O'BRIEN: Frank Buckley, if you had to pick one impression about your visit to the Stennis and perhaps the Roosevelt before it, what would it be?

BUCKLEY: Well, again, going back to this idea of the humanity of the people on this ship, there was one particular moment that is really just a small moment in our program, but it's one that really stuck with me.

And that was, the enlisted men and women, you know, their areas where they eat, their mess halls, they aren't as plush as the officers' wardrooms. But there is one day of the month in which those people who are having a birthday that month get special service. They get steak and lobster, they get tablecloth service, they get waiter- waitress service. And on that day, a petty officer sang in a very soulful way, "Happy Birthday" to all of them.

This was at the holiday period. And I talked to one of the sailors afterward, and this sailor, a big, strapping guy, had, you know, his children, his wife back at home, and he told me that he was almost moved to tears by it. And it was really -- it really gave you an insight into this person as a human being and to these sailors as human beings, not just warriors.

O'BRIEN: All right, gentlemen, we're going to have to leave it at that, unfortunately. You won't want to miss Frank Buckley's special. It is entitled "Carrier at War." That's on our CNN PRESENTS program tonight at 8:00 Eastern time, 5:00 Pacific, airs again tomorrow 7:00 p.m. and 4:00.

General Shepperd, correspondent Buckley, thanks very much for being with us.

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