sandra: fox news alert. we are awaiting the arrival of president george h.w. bush aboard air force one, which has been temporarily renamed special mission 41. let s go to rick leventhal. special airlift mission 41 has completed its flyover of college station where bush 41 will be laid to rest tomorrow afternoon. it s on its way here. should be touching down here at about 30 minutes. i can tell you there s a large crowd gathered to my right. we can t show them big because there s a lot in the way. it includes family, friends, and some invited guests, including houston texans and houston astros. the president was a big fan in front of the teams. also members of a couple area high schools and the the administrations of a couple area hospitals for an arrival ceremony that will mirror the departure ceremony we saw on moy with the 77th army band.
national guard. and the casket was carried out this morning by current and former members and, then the group. that s a 36-mile journey to ellington field where hundreds of more friends gathered. and as the 77th army band from fort sill alabama played hail to the chief and cannons fired 21 rounds, a joint military honor guard handled that movement of the president s casket to air force one for a special air 41. we heard from the president s son, neil, yesterday, who said
houston, as they fire up the four engines on that big 747. some final observances today? it was on the honor for us to be here as well, john. i want to mention, some of the military. that included the 77th army band from fort sill, oklahoma. who played hail to the chief. we heard a 21 gun salute here as as well, with members of the bush family. as he mentioned, among those walked onto this plane, after president george h.w. bush s casket was removed by the honor guard and then carried to the waiting air force one, which is now, of course, special air mission 41. the engines are up, they will begin taxiing shortly. and then take off, here, from arlington field. the reserve base here at the joint installation.
they are with their own families. the president is writing his own script and now playing golf at the trump international golf club. thank you so much for that. joining me from orlando, a former army commanding general in europe and 7th army and a cnn military analyst and here with me in studio is retired admiral john kirby, a spokesman for the state department and the pentagon. a cnn military and diplomatic analyst. as someone who spent years in combat throughout your career who commanded tens of thousands of troops in iraq, when a president calls or visits, what do you want to hear or expect to hear that was so different from what we heard today? first i would say i was proud of the five different leaders he talked to from each one of the
statement. mcraven should have found osama bin lauden sooner, he said, the mcraven s special operation did the getting. they moved within days of president obama giving the order. from orlando florida, the former af former army commander general for the 7th army. general, good to see you. good to see you, john. here s the response from admiral mcraven. i didn t back hillary clinton or anyone else. i am a fan of president obama and george w. bush both of whom i worked for. i admire all candidates who uphold the dignity of the office and use the office to bring the nation together in challenging times. but at the same time the republican nation at committee put this statement out on twitter. retired admiral william mcraven was reportedly on hillary clinton s short list for vice-president in 2016. he s been critical of president donald trump, even dating back to the 2016 campaign. he s hardly a nonpolitical