Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live Today

Body of Special Forces Soldier Heads Back to United States

Aired May 20, 2002 - 14:34   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: The body of a special forces soldier killed in Afghanistan being flown back to the U.S. Sergeant Gene Arden Vance Jr. killed on Sunday patrolling in eastern Afghanistan. Our Pentagon correspondent, Barbara Starr, joins us with more on the information that we continue to gather on this tragic end. Barbara, good afternoon.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Good afternoon, Bill. Well, the formal identification of Sergeant Gene Arden Vance Jr. of Morgantown, West Virginia was just made by the Pentagon about an hour ago. He, of course, was killed Sunday in eastern Afghanistan, his patrol coming under heavy enemy gunfire. His body now on its way back to the United States. We are told that his body has arrived in Ramstein in Germany on a midway stop on its way back to his family. You can see it here arriving in Ramstein on its way back to his family in Morgantown, West Virginia.

Vance was part of this patrol that is part of Operation Mountain Lion in eastern Afghanistan, all part of a massive reconnaissance effort on the part of the coalition to find any Taliban or al Qaeda holdouts in that region. At the Pentagon today, they talked about his mission.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEN. GREGORY S. NEWBOLD, OPERATIONS DIRECTOR, JOINT STAFF: We had a mounted patrol operating in the area. It was Afghanistan military forces with U.S. special forces. As they move through an area they were surveilling, they were taken under fire and rounds struck the vehicle, hitting the soldier and one of the Afghan soldiers at the same time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STARR: Now officials believe that they have through this surveillance operation made a lot of progress in disrupting the Taliban and al Qaeda inside Afghanistan. But as far as the al Qaeda is concerned, the Pentagon, like the rest of the administration, remains very concerned that there could be another terrorist attack being planned at this time.

According to reports from his hometown in Morgantown, West Virginia, the sergeant was a newlywed when his National Guard unit was called up just after the September 11 attacks. He is survived by a wife and daughter.

HEMMER: Barbara, speaking with Mike Boettcher, who is on the ground there in Kabul at the air base at Bagram, north of capital city, about what he is able to learn about how many Taliban elements or al Qaeda elements may be in that region. Is there any firm guidance that you're getting through officials at the Pentagon that may indicate a number or a possible roundabout number?

STARR: No, and there is a very good reason why. These groups that they do believe are in the area are constantly, they believe, moving back and forth across the Afghan/Pakistan border. We were told today that they believe there are small groups, perhaps threes and fours, and larger groups, but just a dozen at a time.

The reason it is so tough for them to figure out is ever since Operation Anaconda this past winter, the al Qaeda seemed to have learned their lesson. They are no longer in these large groups. They are in very small groups. They are moving back and forth across the border. And they are also, in some cases, hiding in plain sight. There is a lot of villages and local communities along that border region that remain sympathetic to them and have allowed them to blend back into those communities. So it is very tough to figure out exactly who's who and how many of them there are.

HEMMER: Got it, Barbara. That effort continues, clearly. Barbara Starr at the Pentagon, thanks.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com