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CNN Saturday Morning News
Homecoming for Several Hundred Members of Army's 101st
Aired January 10, 2004 - 09:12 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.
RENAY SAN MIGUEL: At Fort Campbell, Kentucky, it's homecoming. Several hundred members of the Army's 101st Airborne Division are returning after a year-long tour of duty in Iraq. Twenty thousand soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division were sent to Iraq. The 101st is among the first wave of troops to return after completing one-year tours.
Fifty-nine soldiers from Fort Campbell, Kentucky, have been killed in the war, 57 of them from the 101st. The post has had more deaths in Iraq than any other military installation.
Six hundred Screaming Eagles get back home this week.
And one of them, one of the first back on American soil, is Sergeant Mark Gower. He is safely back home with his grateful family at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. Wife Tammy and daughter Ashley are joining him.
Thanks all of you for being with us this morning. We appreciate your time.
TAMMY GOWER, WIFE: Well, thank you.
SGT. MARK GOWER, 101ST AIRBORNE DIVISION: Thank you.
SAN MIGUEL: Sergeant Gower, let me start with you. You've been in the military for 14 years. You did a peacekeeping mission, I believe, in the former Yugoslavia, but this was your first time to experience combat. I can't imagine how I would prepare myself for that situation. Let me ask you how you did.
MARK GOWER: Well, just preparing was through training, and then, you know, (UNINTELLIGIBLE) all the training that the Army does for us, prepares you to go in, and all the realistic training we do at (UNINTELLIGIBLE) and NTC, that helps prepare us to go into war. It's not just the training that the military gives us.
SAN MIGUEL: And so once you got to Iraq, and you saw the situation there, did it -- did -- you know, was -- did the training prepare you for it? Was it worse Tell me what it was like there.
MARK GOWER: You know, it was unknown. And it was worse at times, and other times it wasn't as bad. But going up through Baghdad and all the way up to Mosul, you know, we just had to expect the unexpected and take what was given to us, or was put at us, and move on with the mission.
SAN MIGUEL: I hope you don't mind me asking you, but was there one incident in particular that where you really felt yourself in danger and really had to draw upon that training?
MARK GOWER: Oh, there was quite a few different times, especially when I was in Baghdad. And other times, when we were dropping off troops for missions to go in and secure towns and things like that, the firefights started up at places we didn't expect. So we just, you know, had to react and move on with the mission.
SAN MIGUEL: Tammy, you -- as you said, 14 years in the military. You've been married for a long time. You're high school sweethearts. What was going through your mind when you found out he was being deployed to Iraq?
TAMMY GOWER: It was obviously very nerve-wracking. It was some comfort knowing the whole post was going to go, so I knew I had a large support system here. But I certainly didn't want him in harm's way.
SAN MIGUEL: But when you found out that there was -- when you would hear reports on the news of some firefight somewhere in Baghdad, you were able to talk to him, and he was able to tell you that everything was OK. How important was that to your mental well-being?
TAMMY GOWER: That was absolutely important. There were times where we would get reports that there were U.S. casualties, U.S. Army casualties, and there would be several hours, maybe even the next day, before we knew if it was 101st, and if it was 101st, what unit they were in. But he always did find -- manage to find a way to contact me to let me know, I'm OK.
SAN MIGUEL: Ashley, did -- were you watching the news while all this was going on and thinking about your dad and wondering, you know, how he was? How was that -- what was going through your mind when you would read -- see these reports on TV?
ASHLEY GOWER, DAUGHTER: I was just really, really scared, and making sure it wasn't him.
SAN MIGUEL: And when you found out about that. And now that your dad is back home, I mean, tell me how happy you are about -- to have Dad.
ASHLEY GOWER: Very, very happy. Like I came and (UNINTELLIGIBLE), that's how happy I am.
SAN MIGUEL: And I guess one of the first things that you had him do was jump on the trampoline with you. We're showing video of a little bit of R&R back there, back home in Fort Campbell, Kentucky. Looks like you guys are having a lot of fun.
Mark, I've got to ask you, were you able to keep up with the political debate that was going on over here, while you were over there, some of the protests, some of the opposition from some of the people that are running for president? What did you think, and how does that affect the troops over there?
MARK GOWER: Well, as far as the political debate, I didn't hear too much about it or know any opposition. All we was hearing that the United States, the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) people were behind us, and when President Bush showed up in Baghdad, you know, that lifted a lot of our spirits and let us know that our president is behind us 100 percent.
So as far as the political debate, we didn't follow that too much and didn't get too much news on that.
SAN MIGUEL: We are so happy, as I'm sure your family is as well, to have you home safe and sound. Thanks so much for joining us, Sergeant Mark Gower, wife Tammy, and daughter Ashley. We'll let you guys get back to jumping up and down on the trampoline in the back yard there.
TAMMY GOWER: Thank you.
SAN MIGUEL: Thank you so much for joining us, and welcome home.
MARK GOWER: Thank you.
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 January 10, 2004 - 09:12 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
RENAY SAN MIGUEL: At Fort Campbell, Kentucky, it's homecoming. Several hundred members of the Army's 101st Airborne Division are returning after a year-long tour of duty in Iraq. Twenty thousand soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division were sent to Iraq. The 101st is among the first wave of troops to return after completing one-year tours.
Fifty-nine soldiers from Fort Campbell, Kentucky, have been killed in the war, 57 of them from the 101st. The post has had more deaths in Iraq than any other military installation.
Six hundred Screaming Eagles get back home this week.
And one of them, one of the first back on American soil, is Sergeant Mark Gower. He is safely back home with his grateful family at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. Wife Tammy and daughter Ashley are joining him.
Thanks all of you for being with us this morning. We appreciate your time.
TAMMY GOWER, WIFE: Well, thank you.
SGT. MARK GOWER, 101ST AIRBORNE DIVISION: Thank you.
SAN MIGUEL: Sergeant Gower, let me start with you. You've been in the military for 14 years. You did a peacekeeping mission, I believe, in the former Yugoslavia, but this was your first time to experience combat. I can't imagine how I would prepare myself for that situation. Let me ask you how you did.
MARK GOWER: Well, just preparing was through training, and then, you know, (UNINTELLIGIBLE) all the training that the Army does for us, prepares you to go in, and all the realistic training we do at (UNINTELLIGIBLE) and NTC, that helps prepare us to go into war. It's not just the training that the military gives us.
SAN MIGUEL: And so once you got to Iraq, and you saw the situation there, did it -- did -- you know, was -- did the training prepare you for it? Was it worse Tell me what it was like there.
MARK GOWER: You know, it was unknown. And it was worse at times, and other times it wasn't as bad. But going up through Baghdad and all the way up to Mosul, you know, we just had to expect the unexpected and take what was given to us, or was put at us, and move on with the mission.
SAN MIGUEL: I hope you don't mind me asking you, but was there one incident in particular that where you really felt yourself in danger and really had to draw upon that training?
MARK GOWER: Oh, there was quite a few different times, especially when I was in Baghdad. And other times, when we were dropping off troops for missions to go in and secure towns and things like that, the firefights started up at places we didn't expect. So we just, you know, had to react and move on with the mission.
SAN MIGUEL: Tammy, you -- as you said, 14 years in the military. You've been married for a long time. You're high school sweethearts. What was going through your mind when you found out he was being deployed to Iraq?
TAMMY GOWER: It was obviously very nerve-wracking. It was some comfort knowing the whole post was going to go, so I knew I had a large support system here. But I certainly didn't want him in harm's way.
SAN MIGUEL: But when you found out that there was -- when you would hear reports on the news of some firefight somewhere in Baghdad, you were able to talk to him, and he was able to tell you that everything was OK. How important was that to your mental well-being?
TAMMY GOWER: That was absolutely important. There were times where we would get reports that there were U.S. casualties, U.S. Army casualties, and there would be several hours, maybe even the next day, before we knew if it was 101st, and if it was 101st, what unit they were in. But he always did find -- manage to find a way to contact me to let me know, I'm OK.
SAN MIGUEL: Ashley, did -- were you watching the news while all this was going on and thinking about your dad and wondering, you know, how he was? How was that -- what was going through your mind when you would read -- see these reports on TV?
ASHLEY GOWER, DAUGHTER: I was just really, really scared, and making sure it wasn't him.
SAN MIGUEL: And when you found out about that. And now that your dad is back home, I mean, tell me how happy you are about -- to have Dad.
ASHLEY GOWER: Very, very happy. Like I came and (UNINTELLIGIBLE), that's how happy I am.
SAN MIGUEL: And I guess one of the first things that you had him do was jump on the trampoline with you. We're showing video of a little bit of R&R back there, back home in Fort Campbell, Kentucky. Looks like you guys are having a lot of fun.
Mark, I've got to ask you, were you able to keep up with the political debate that was going on over here, while you were over there, some of the protests, some of the opposition from some of the people that are running for president? What did you think, and how does that affect the troops over there?
MARK GOWER: Well, as far as the political debate, I didn't hear too much about it or know any opposition. All we was hearing that the United States, the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) people were behind us, and when President Bush showed up in Baghdad, you know, that lifted a lot of our spirits and let us know that our president is behind us 100 percent.
So as far as the political debate, we didn't follow that too much and didn't get too much news on that.
SAN MIGUEL: We are so happy, as I'm sure your family is as well, to have you home safe and sound. Thanks so much for joining us, Sergeant Mark Gower, wife Tammy, and daughter Ashley. We'll let you guys get back to jumping up and down on the trampoline in the back yard there.
TAMMY GOWER: Thank you.
SAN MIGUEL: Thank you so much for joining us, and welcome home.
MARK GOWER: Thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
