Lieutenant Jason Smith has a wife who teaches special education and a brother in law who is mentally disabled. Lt. Smith, as anchor Maggie Rodriguez put it, "was unknowingly training for his mission for years." The story then ran footage of Smith nurturing the recovering Iraqi children and his wife offering words of praise for her deployed husband.
"That one mission made it completely worth it to me. The entire time he's gone, no matter how long it is. Just knowing that 24 children came out alive because of that one day, it was all worth it. No weapons had to be fired, nothing had -- everyone lived in the end. It was wonderful. And they all came out heroes."
The entire transcript is below.
MAGGIE RODRIGUEZ: A follow-up now on a story we brought you last week about American soldiers who rescued a group of Iraqi orphans. As "Early Show" national correspondent Tracy Smith reports, one soldier was unknowingly training for this mission for years.
TRACY SMITH: For the past three months, this is the only way Kara Smith's seen her husband, Lieutenant Jason Smith, as a small snapshot on her computer screen. But last week, there was Jason, big as life, on the "CBS Evening News." As Lara Logan reported, Jason's unit rescued 24 Iraqi orphans, special needs children found naked and starving to death. The soldiers brought them to a better orphanage, brought them supplies and toys, and brought them back to life.
LIEUTENANT JASON SMITH, USA: Hi, cutie.
TRACY SMITH: It was a mission Jason was uniquely prepared for. Back home, Kara's a special ed teacher. He would sometimes visit her class. But his real education came from a guy named Michael, a 25-year-old who's mentally challenged. He's Kara's big brother. Did you ever imagine that his experience with special needs kids, with your brother, would serve him in Iraq?
KARA SMITH: Who would have ever thought? But what a wonderful thing that it did.
TRACY SMITH: Ever since they met in high school, Jason watched the woman he loved care for her brother, doing little things like brushing his teeth. It's something she still does. It seems like such a simple act, brushing somebody's teeth.
KARA SMITH: It is, just that human to human contact they need so much.
TRACY SMITH: So when Jason visited the orphan boys, he knew just what to do. What do you think of that picture?
KARA SMITH: What's he doing to their teeth?
MICHAEL SMITH: Brushing their teeth.
KARA SMITH: Brushing their teeth.
TRACY SMITH: A soldier's wife rarely gets to see her husband in action, especially something like this.
KARA SMITH: That one mission made it completely worth it to me. The entire time he's gone, no matter how long it is. Just knowing that 24 children came out alive because of that one day, it was all worth it. No weapons had to be fired, nothing had -- everyone lived in the end. It was wonderful. And they all came out heroes.
TRACY SMITH: Tracy Smith, CBS News, Ft. Bragg.
MAGGIE RODRIGUEZ: We salute Jason this morning. The Iraqi government has opened two investigations in the case.
