Navy queries The 24 crew members of the Navy EP-3 Aries II surveillance plane have been undergoing lengthy debriefing sessions behind the protected confines of the Pacific Fleet's command headquarters at Makalapa since arriving here yesterday.
plane’s crew
The 24-member crew
By Gregg K. Kakesako
leaves for its home base
tomorrow morning
Star-BulletinFor the second day the American crew met with dozens of military investigators who questioned them about their aircraft's collision with a Chinese fighter jet April 1.
This morning before their briefings began, Admiral Thomas Fargo gave the crew letters of support and goodwill that the Navy had received from around the country
The crew was described by Navy officials as "very tired, but in good spirits with great appetites."
"They see themselves as uniformed members out doing their job," a Navy official said. "And this was just an unfortunate accident."
The Navy said the crew seemed to be in "good health" and anxious to return home. The crew asked for Internet and e-mail access from the Navy.
They told the Navy that the only newspaper they were allowed to see while in captivity was the China Daily and that they were not aware that seven Americans and nine Vietnamese had been killed in Vietnam as the group from Joint Task Force-Full Accounting prepared for another mission to recover MIA remains."The American crew after reading news clippings about the incident said they felt a sense of loss," the Navy official said.
Navy officials said the crew had cokes and a daily diet of rice and "a lot other starchy food." Crew members said they were able to do limited amounts of exercise to stay fit by doing push-ups and sit-ups in their rooms in China.
A gala homecoming is planned at their home base on Whidbey Island outside of Seattle tomorrow. The EP-3 crew left Whidbey Feb. 28 and the deployment was supposed to end June 5.
For their last dinner in Hawaii the crew were to be offered grilled steaks and mahimahi.
The Americans -- 21 men and three women -- will leave at 7:30 a.m. tomorrow after completing a 26-hour detailed debriefing here, the last leg of their mission, which began April 1. The crew will leave Hickam Air Force Base on a C-9, the military's version of a DC-9.
After their arrival here yesterday morning, the crew received a call from President Bush, the Navy said. In his conference call, Bush told the crew: "As an old F-102 pilot, Shane (Osborn), you did one heck of a job. The nation is proud of you."
Osborn is the 26-year-old pilot and mission commander who is credited with pulling the EP-3 from a 5,000 to 8,000 feet dive and making an emergency landing on Hainan island.
Since their arrival at Hickam yesterday morning, the 22 Navy and one Air Force personnel and one Marine have been assigned a room each at Hale Alii, Navy's bachelor officers' quarters at the Pearl Harbor Naval Station. Each room is air-conditioned and equipped with a small color television, small refrigerator, VCR and microwave oven.
A Navy official who spoke to the crew said the crew members each had cell phones waiting for them in their rooms when they checked in, to keep in contact with their families. They also were given news clippings about their ordeal.
Sandra White of Fort Worth, Texas, decided to meet Technician 1st Class Josef Edmunds of California in Whidbey after he proposed by phone during a five-hour layover in Guam.
The Navy is picking up the cost of flying the families to Whidbey.
The Navy picked up the crew's personal belongings from their deployment station, Misawa Air Force Base in Japan, and had those items, including clean flight suits, in their rooms on Guam.
On the chartered Continental Airlines flight from China to Guam, the crew was given the option of a trout or chicken for their meals. They also saw the movie "Men of Honor," starring Cuba Goodings Jr., about a black Navy diver who has to overcome a handicap to qualify and stay in the service.
From Guam to Hawaii, the crew flew on a C-17 military jet transport. Each of the 22 Navy crew members has a personal escort from the Patrol and Reconnaissance Force, Pacific, stationed at Kaneohe Bay. The EP-3 Whidbey crew falls under the command of Rear Adm. Michael Holmes at Kaneohe.
After landing at Hickam at 6:30 a.m., the crew was taken in white 15-passenger Navy vans to Fargo's headquarters for a series of 12 briefings ranging from the cause of the collision to psychological and intelligence evaluations.
They also are being asked about the military's survival, escape, resistance and evasion techniques they have been taught.
"The majority of the briefs are designed to gather information," a Navy official said.
There will be several debriefers working with each crew member.
There also will be sessions when the parts of the crew will be debriefed together as a group. The Navy official described the room where these debriefing sessions are held from 10 a.m. to about 10:30 p.m. each day as "comfortable."
Some of the debriefings are classified because of the nature of the material, the crew's mission and the equipment on board, the official said.
The crew has completed a modified flight physical at one of Pearl Harbor's two medical clinics. They all have been granted 30 days' leave to be with their families.
Following their leave the squadron will report back to Whidbey and a determination will be made whether to send them back to Japan to complete their deployment.
However, Navy officials said its unlikely at this time that the crew will be sent back to Asia.