Leery Vet Shun Back Pay; Carnival "Splendor" Returns to Shore
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: And it's almost 10:00 a.m. on the East Coast, 7:00 a.m. out west. I'm Fredricka Whitfield in for Kyra Phillips. Here's a look at what has us talking in the NEWSROOM. Today is Veterans Day, a time to honor the generations of Americans who have served and sacrificed in the nation's military, but some of those veterans are not claiming money that's rightfully owed to them. And time is running out. CNN's Chris Lawrence will join us with more on that. And in Alaska, election officials have begun counting the write- in votes of the bitterly fought senate race. So far, nearly 90 percent of the ballots counted are considered clear votes for incumbent, Lisa Murkowski. Her opponent Joe Miller had filed a legal challenge over how accurate the voters' spelling had to be in writing Murkowski's name. And the crippled Carnival Splendor is now just about eight miles from San Diego and due to arrive this afternoon. An engine fire on Monday left the 4,500 people on board without air conditioning or hot water. No hot shower. Meantime, overseas, President Obama is in South Korea on this Veterans Day. He is remembering the so-called "forgotten war". The president praised members of the audience that fought in the Korean conflict and the U.S. troops who stand guard today at the border. There will be a full day of remembrances at Arlington National Cemetery in this country in Virginia. Later this morning, Vice President Joe Biden will lay a wreath at the tomb of the unknowns. And just outside the cemetery's walls, Americans are gathering at the Marine Corps Memorial. It's also known as the Iwo Jima Memorial because it celebrates the iconic photo of the flag raising there. All right. Believe it or not, there are many military veterans who are ignoring thousands of dollars in back pay that's rightfully owed to them and time is running out. CNN Pentagon correspondent, Chris Lawrence has that story.</s>CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: It's like a winning lotto ticket that's about to expire. The government has half a billion dollars to give away but can't find enough troops to claim it.</s>IAN SMITH, THE MISSION CONTINUES: I was immediately suspicious about it. It seemed like another scam that a lot of people prey on soldiers with.</s>LAWRENCE: But it's not. Ian smith earned that money, so did other soldiers and marines. When their enlistment was up, the Pentagon forced them to stay in.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You have orders to report to the first brigade.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not me. I'm getting out today.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're leaving on the 22nd, shipping you back to Iraq.</s>CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): ... enlistment was up, the Pentagon forced them to stay in.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You have orders to report to the first brigade.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not me. I'm getting out today.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You are leaving on the 22nd. We're sending you back to Iraq. You have stop lost.</s>LAWRENCE: Like the fictional soldier in "Stop Loss," Ian Smith finished his enlistment including a brutal tour in Iraq.</s>IAN SMITH, THE MISSION CONTINUES: I could not bring myself to acknowledge all of the horrors. We had daily memorial services for people that were dying in atrocious ways.</s>LAWRENCE: Ian works at a veterans outreach center in St. Louis but still remembers when the Army told him you're going back to Iraq. (on camera): And they weren't just saying, stay another month?</s>SMITH: Or 60 days. Right. It's a surge tour, it's going to be 15 months instead of 12. It was probably the worst news that I could have heard at the time.</s>LAWRENCE (voice-over): Troops like Ian put off schools and new jobs and some lost relationships, so Congress authorized $500 for any month they were held over. In Ian's case, it was nearly $7,000. But thousands of veterans forgot to fill out paper work or just thought it was too good to be true.</s>BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: As your commander in chief, I am here to tell you that this is no gimmick or trick.</s>LAWRENCE: Even after the president implored vets to get their money, there is still nearly $300 million unclaimed, and vets must apply by December 3rd. (on camera): Did you ever think it would be this hard to give away money.</s>LERNES HEBERT, SR. PENTAGON PERSONNEL OFFICIAL: Well, if you can imagine that someone coming to you and telling you that without any strings attached that they are going to pay you thousands of dollars.</s>LAWRENCE (voice-over): The Pentagon Lernes Hebert says the VA did direct mailings, and the Pentagon advertised it on every web site it could, but even without that outreach veteran Mike Pereira is rushing to finish his paperwork in time.</s>MIKE PEREIRA, THE MISSION CONTINUES: I hope that I don't miss out on the opportunity especially if I had known sooner then I would have been able to prep a little better.</s>LAWRENCE: In just a few weeks, it will be too late.</s>HEBERT: If anybody even suspects that they might be eligible for this payment, we want them to apply.</s>FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Chris Lawrence joining us now from our Washington bureau. So Chris, if these vets are just hearing about this right now, how are they supposed to scrounge up their paper work in just a matter of weeks to meet that deadline?</s>LAWRENCE: Well, Fred, all they got to do is go to defense.gov and get the application in by December 3rd. There are a ton of folks who are available to work out the kinks from that point on. You know, like we said, I mean Congress set aside $530 million for these troops. More than half of that is still sitting out there. And so I asked the Pentagon, why are we so wedded to this December 3rd. If you end up, on that date, you still got 50,000, 60,000 people out there who might still be eligible, do we just pull the money away? I mean, this really is not a lottery ticket. They earned that money. He says Congress is keeping a close eye on the proceedings, how many people are filing and how many claims are getting paid. So perhaps there is a little bit of wiggle room in that lame duck session if enough people are still out there that maybe, maybe, they bump that date up again.</s>WHITFIELD: All right. Chris Lawrence in Washington, appreciate that. The greatest generation is passing on its memories of World War II to the next generation. Students are getting a living history lesson from the people who were actually on the front lines. In about 30 minutes from now, we're talking to an 85-year-old vet and a sixth grader spending this Veterans Day together in New Orleans. And that crippled "Carnival Splendor" is now just about eight miles from San Diego. And it's due to arrive this afternoon. Images right there. An engine fire on Monday left the 4,500 people on board without air conditioning or hot water. Senior producer Paul Vercammen is in San Diego who is joining us live. So a few hours way, they are inching ever so closer thanks to those tug vessels. Give me an idea what awaits them.</s>PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN SENIOR PRODUCER: Well, here's what we're expecting right now, Fredricka. In just a little while, maybe as soon as half hour - don't forget the "Carnival Splendor" is a pretty massive ship and it's going to peek its head, if your will, right over my shoulder over there in San Diego Bay and perhaps sort of fitting that all of use are glued together because just behind you can see Coronado Island and that is where the USS Ronald Reagan is stationed. Of course, the military helped out with a lot of the "Splendor's" issues, the Reagan delivered supplies to the "Splendor" and aboard that ship, it was quite an ordeal over the last few days. It was supposed to be a seven-day cruise to the Mexican Riviera, and just as they got under way, the engine fire, what the passengers have described to us lately here at CNN, "long lines for the toilet and long lines for food as you can imagine, they have all been getting a little bit antsy because usually on this cruise, you have various shore stops, and people sort of get off and get out and about and get on land and enjoy the vacation. So it's been tough, but again relief came via the USS Ronald Reagan, and of course, the Coast Guard has done a good job supporting and helping the ship. So we expect to see the ship in just about a half hour coming into San Diego Bay. Fredricka.</s>WHITFIELD: Wow! Family members of a lot of the passengers, they're not there in San Diego, or are they?</s>VERCAMMEN: They're not here yet because this was quite a twist. You may recall that yesterday afternoon, the people with "Carnival" was saying midday, midday. Everything was pointing to midday. We have not seen the first trickle of those family members yet but we anticipate once they get word of this very early arrival, this was quite a surprise, they said earlier this morning. Then we'll start to see family members come on in, and what "Carnival" has done - you may have heard at one point they were talking about going into Ensenada, Mexico. They felt like there were more hotels to choose from logistically in San Diego because they need to put up the passengers who came from other parts of the country. They will fly them out of San Diego as well, put their families up. They're going to pay for that as well as, of curse, refund their money and book them on another cruise in the future.</s>WHITFIELD: Boy, ultimately this costs "Carnival" hundreds of thousands. I don't know, maybe even millions of dollars. Paul Vercammen, thanks so much. Of course, we'll get a tally, I'm sure. "Carnival" will share that with us as soon as they calculate all of those numbers. Paul Vercammen, thanks so much. All right. Turning to politics now, nine days after the election, and we still have one undecided Senate race, in Alaska. The latest count of write-in votes appears encouraging for incumbent Lisa Murkowski and quite troubling for her opponent Joe Miller. CNN political producer Shannon Travis joins us now from Juneau. So Travis, where do things stand?</s>SHANNON TRAVIS, CNN POLITICAL PRODUCER: Well, where they stand are that Senator Murkowski is probably very happy this morning with the way things and her opponent Joe Miller is probably hoping to still have the last laugh. We are here in the room in Juneau where the vote counting will continue today. There was a lot of furious activity yesterday but let's check through some of the numbers of, the final unofficial numbers that we got yesterday at the close of the counting. Out of 19,000 write-in ballots that they counted, just over 19,000, Senator Murkowski is pulling 89 percent, just over 89 percent of them that are confirmed, clear, unambiguous votes for her. Now, these are unofficial. They are not being added to her actual vote tally. They are being sorted, basically being put in a stack, if you will, to say, hey these are clear votes for her. About eight percent, just over eight percent, almost eight and half are votes being counted for her but being challenged, again, just being sorted into a box, if you will, saying, "hey, these are votes for her." Basically, what this means is about 97 percent of these votes are being sorted in her favor and that looks really, really positive for the senator.</s>WHITFIELD: OK. So Shannon, give me an idea because there's a legal challenge here that Jim Miller is launching. Where does that fight go?</s>TRAVIS: Yes, I mean, it's a big legal challenge. Basically, Joe Miller is saying hey the state is evaluating voter intent. If a ballot is marked incorrectly, it says Lisa Murkowski but misspells her name or maybe it says Lisa M., an official here is voting sometimes that that counts for her. Joe Miller wants that to stop and he has filed a lawsuit. But yesterday, he sought an injunction to stop those ballots from being counted. The judge, the court wouldn't issue that but is going to hear some arguments next week. So we don't know where this thing is going to go next. It could be a protracted legal battle. Only time will tell, Fred.</s>WHITFIELD: All right. Shannon Travis, thanks so much from Juneau, Alaska. Appreciate that. All right. Performer Kanye West tweeting about his "Today" show interview, and he's not happy with Matt Lauer. We're getting the lowdown in our showbiz update.