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CNN Live At Daybreak

Troops in Training Getting Experience Facing Biological Weapons

Aired December 23, 2002 - 05:05   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.


CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: A large number of U.N. weapons inspectors were busy today in Iraq. They were scouring at least three sites for evidence of banned weapons. Now, Iraqi officials say a biological team visited a baby milk factory 16 miles west of Baghdad and also on the inspectors' agenda, an animal vaccination facility and an engineering company that was run by Iraq's military.
Meanwhile, U.S. troops training in Kuwait are getting experience in facing biological weapons.

And Alessio Vinci has more on that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALESSIO VINCI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Every training exercise for these U.S. troops in Kuwait includes the simulated release of a chemical agent. That's how concerned the Army is about the possibility Saddam Hussein will use chemical weapons if his country is attacked. The Army has stored, but not yet distributed, a new type of chemical suit, more lightweight and more resistant than the one shown here.

CAPT. JOSH WRIGHT, U.S. ARMY: This is what makes it difficult to train in, it's cause it's uncomfortable, not to wear or whatever, but if you have a mask on your face for any length of time it becomes uncomfortable. Normal functions of life become uncomfortable. Obviously you're in a suit, you know, you have concerns with normal daily bodily functions.

VINCI: Private First Class Jacob Pearcy is one of the nuclear, biological and chemical specialists of the U.S. Army Third Battalion, 15th Infantry Regiment, currently training in the Kuwaiti desert.

PFC. JACOB PEARCY, U.S. ARMY: My job is to ensure the company is in well protection, they have their equipment set up and are ready to do their job at hand if it comes down from Iraq.

VINCI (on camera): And you have a variety of gadgets here to be able to detect the level of contamination, the kind of chemicals used against you?

PEARCY: Yes, I do. This is our chemical detector M22. In the front here, it'll show two bars with two symbols on the side of it, G and H, representing the two different types of chemical that could be thrown at us in a time of war if we go into Iraq. The bars will show an orange flat and an orange color moving from one all the way up to eight and if it goes over four to eight seven bars, there's a high presence of a chemical in the area.

The next procedure would be to find a source where it came from or how wide of a spread it is. And this equipment that I would use would be the ICAM, Approved Chemical Agent Monitor. And we leave this out in the open and it will just sit there and detect the chemical around. You can use this and move to variations, parts of your perimeter or areas in the battlefield detect how far the vapor is, which way is it coming.

VINCI: Now, obviously your guys are trained militarily to withstand just about anything -- artillery, tank fire, whatever. But the release of a chemical weapon psychologically is a lot more difficult, right?

PEARCY: Yes, it is. It's very hard to be prepared for it. You don't know what's going to happen. It's out of the breeze and it just happens. It's also fearful to a soldier because it's un -- you can't taste it, you can't smell it, you know, and you can't see it moving around. So it's more fearful and it's more scared of.

WRIGHT: One of the risks, yes. That's right. But trained and ready, yes, they are. Should they have to do it, they will.

VINCI (voice-over): Alessio Vinci, CNN, with the U.S. forces in the Kuwaiti desert.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CALLAWAY: And you can follow the Iraq weapons inspections and events on our Web site. Just click onto cnn.com. The AOL keyword is CNN.

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




Weapons>


Aired December 23, 2002 - 05:05   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: A large number of U.N. weapons inspectors were busy today in Iraq. They were scouring at least three sites for evidence of banned weapons. Now, Iraqi officials say a biological team visited a baby milk factory 16 miles west of Baghdad and also on the inspectors' agenda, an animal vaccination facility and an engineering company that was run by Iraq's military.
Meanwhile, U.S. troops training in Kuwait are getting experience in facing biological weapons.

And Alessio Vinci has more on that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALESSIO VINCI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Every training exercise for these U.S. troops in Kuwait includes the simulated release of a chemical agent. That's how concerned the Army is about the possibility Saddam Hussein will use chemical weapons if his country is attacked. The Army has stored, but not yet distributed, a new type of chemical suit, more lightweight and more resistant than the one shown here.

CAPT. JOSH WRIGHT, U.S. ARMY: This is what makes it difficult to train in, it's cause it's uncomfortable, not to wear or whatever, but if you have a mask on your face for any length of time it becomes uncomfortable. Normal functions of life become uncomfortable. Obviously you're in a suit, you know, you have concerns with normal daily bodily functions.

VINCI: Private First Class Jacob Pearcy is one of the nuclear, biological and chemical specialists of the U.S. Army Third Battalion, 15th Infantry Regiment, currently training in the Kuwaiti desert.

PFC. JACOB PEARCY, U.S. ARMY: My job is to ensure the company is in well protection, they have their equipment set up and are ready to do their job at hand if it comes down from Iraq.

VINCI (on camera): And you have a variety of gadgets here to be able to detect the level of contamination, the kind of chemicals used against you?

PEARCY: Yes, I do. This is our chemical detector M22. In the front here, it'll show two bars with two symbols on the side of it, G and H, representing the two different types of chemical that could be thrown at us in a time of war if we go into Iraq. The bars will show an orange flat and an orange color moving from one all the way up to eight and if it goes over four to eight seven bars, there's a high presence of a chemical in the area.

The next procedure would be to find a source where it came from or how wide of a spread it is. And this equipment that I would use would be the ICAM, Approved Chemical Agent Monitor. And we leave this out in the open and it will just sit there and detect the chemical around. You can use this and move to variations, parts of your perimeter or areas in the battlefield detect how far the vapor is, which way is it coming.

VINCI: Now, obviously your guys are trained militarily to withstand just about anything -- artillery, tank fire, whatever. But the release of a chemical weapon psychologically is a lot more difficult, right?

PEARCY: Yes, it is. It's very hard to be prepared for it. You don't know what's going to happen. It's out of the breeze and it just happens. It's also fearful to a soldier because it's un -- you can't taste it, you can't smell it, you know, and you can't see it moving around. So it's more fearful and it's more scared of.

WRIGHT: One of the risks, yes. That's right. But trained and ready, yes, they are. Should they have to do it, they will.

VINCI (voice-over): Alessio Vinci, CNN, with the U.S. forces in the Kuwaiti desert.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CALLAWAY: And you can follow the Iraq weapons inspections and events on our Web site. Just click onto cnn.com. The AOL keyword is CNN.

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




Weapons>