this up fnfolded in total silen. top cap cabinet members standing next to him and the transfer caskets were transferred. the president talked a lot about grief in his public life and we don t know the content of the conversations he had with families publicly, the president talked about his own experience with grief and these service members making that ultimate sacrifice. also expressing pride in the mission they under took in being able in the last week and a half to get out over 100,000 people evacuated from kabul but so young, ranging in age from 20 to just 31 and we also heard the secretary of state today describing these deaths as a punch in the gut. one thing to keep in mind, pam, there is still a serious terrorist threat in kabul. that is something the president, top white house officials and secretary of state made clear
for him but something he very much wanted to do. he is very understanding of the message he is sending by allowing this to be filmed. what you are not seeing on this camera angle, of course, are the family members of the fallen who are standing, as we see those transfer caskets begin to be taken off the plane. we are not allowed, of course, to intrude on their privacy. they stand in a particular spot that our cameras cannot see for their moment of very private grief. we ve seen the president travel to dover. this will be a very solemn moment. you are about to see these transfer caskets. you are about to see the flag-draped caskets come off the plane and honors be rendered to these fallen. and just a reminder, too, this is cody patterson, private first class, it was his second
years old. a ranger, too, based in ft. benning, killed in afghanistan. two of the four soldiers coming back today were killed by an ied during combat operations on sunday. obviously a very emotional time for families there waiting for these bodies to come back. what you saw as well, entering the aircraft there, of course, secretary of defense, chuck hagel, who was leading the troops there and this is one of the ceremonies for the cargo jet arrives with the remains, they have transfer caskets. they are met by military officials and the family members and service members who wear white gloves to carry the coffins covered with the flags to a white van that takes them to the armed forces, a medical examiner. i want to bring in our barbara st starr to walk us through what