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CNN Live Today

Interview with Rich Ecborg

Aired January 15, 2003 - 11:31   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.


DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: In Southern California today, seven ships filled with troops are getting ready to ship out for possible war duty.
Our national correspondent Frank Buckley is aboard the USS Bonhomme Richard in San Diego -- Frank, good morning.

FRANK BUCKLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn. This is one of the seven ships that will be transporting 10,000 Marines and sailors to the Persian Gulf region. They are deploying on Friday. We've all seen those scenes of the deployment day when -- the great emotional scenes.

There's a great deal of activity on this ship right now. Let me give you a quick tour of the ship, taking you upstairs first to the flight deck. On the flight deck of this ship, they will be carrying several helicopters and Harrier jets. These are the jets that are capable of doing vertical takeoff.

One deck below that is the hangar deck, and that's where you're seeing a great deal of activity right now. All kinds of material being loaded aboard, all kinds -- everything from food stuffs to some of the fun stuff like we've seen boom boxes and TVs and VCRs. This deployment expected to be several months long, so all kinds of things aboard, coming aboard this ship right now. Also aboard the ship right now is chief warrant officer Rich Ecbord (ph) -- Ecborg, chief warrant officer -- first, thanks for helping us to come aboard this ship.

RICH ECBORG, CHIEF WARRANT OFFICER: Welcome aboard, Frank.

BUCKLEY: Thank you. And give us a sense -- we are on the vehicle deck. As we walk through here, tell us about -- there's so much stuff loaded on this deck here, vehicles. It's not easy to get all this stuff aboard, is it?

ECBORG: No, it's not. In fact, there's a lot of detailed planning that goes into ending up with this end state where the vehicles are parked right now. What you're seeing are all these vehicles on the vehicle decks are the vehicles the battalion landing team group would use -- or need in any type of operation that they're called to take, to do.

What we do is we have a computer program, and then a bunch of people just sit together and do the math and figure out, how does everything fit. My job on the ship is to take the ship's constraints, and belay down on the ship and figure out how I'm going to make everything fit on here, and I have three good staff NCOs, gunnery sergeants that assist me in that endeavor, and then we have motivated Marines and sailors that work through the weekend to make all this happen. We have a good team, good team working on this.

BUCKLEY: Now, we're standing here in front of -- I believe it's called the well deck. Explain what this is, and how this is used to take material to shore.

ECBORG: The well deck, Frank, is used for recovering LCACS and LCU, Landing Craft Utilities. This ship is unique in that it can flood the well and bring another boat inside of it, and then we can load this equipment up and get it across the beach. And with the LCACs, we fly them in, and we park them, and then we on load and off load cargo and personnel.

BUCKLEY: And the LCACs are these hovercraft, the military hovercraft that we've seen. They can travel at great speeds to get -- and carry I guess 24 troops, five-man crew, and get to the beach quickly.

ECBORG: Yes, Frank. They can, I believe travel about 44 knots, and so we try to set up in a little ways off the beach to, you know, expedite the transfer from the ship to the beach and then back.

BUCKLEY: Let me ask you about just your personnel feelings. You're about to deploy again. You were part of the first Gulf War. You have a sense as an experienced Marine what to expect. What do you try to impart to the younger Marines as you're getting ready to deploy for what might be hostilities?

ECBORG: That's a good question, Frank. I think overall, just -- just sharing with them the experiences that I had as a corporal during that time frame, and just listening to them and answering their questions. Everybody's motivated. I think -- you know, I'm very proud to be associated with the crew, the sailors and the Marines that are on this ship, and I think they're ready to go whatever the nation asks them to do. We're all volunteers, and these kids, they're great, it is the best that America has to offer right here.

BUCKLEY: All right. Chief Warrant Officer Ecborg. Thank you very much for the tour. We are aboard the USS Bonhomme Richard, one of seven ships that will be deploying on Friday -- Daryn.

KAGAN: All right, Frank, and you wish those sailors the best of luck from us here in Atlanta as well.

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







Aired January 15, 2003 - 11:31   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: In Southern California today, seven ships filled with troops are getting ready to ship out for possible war duty.
Our national correspondent Frank Buckley is aboard the USS Bonhomme Richard in San Diego -- Frank, good morning.

FRANK BUCKLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn. This is one of the seven ships that will be transporting 10,000 Marines and sailors to the Persian Gulf region. They are deploying on Friday. We've all seen those scenes of the deployment day when -- the great emotional scenes.

There's a great deal of activity on this ship right now. Let me give you a quick tour of the ship, taking you upstairs first to the flight deck. On the flight deck of this ship, they will be carrying several helicopters and Harrier jets. These are the jets that are capable of doing vertical takeoff.

One deck below that is the hangar deck, and that's where you're seeing a great deal of activity right now. All kinds of material being loaded aboard, all kinds -- everything from food stuffs to some of the fun stuff like we've seen boom boxes and TVs and VCRs. This deployment expected to be several months long, so all kinds of things aboard, coming aboard this ship right now. Also aboard the ship right now is chief warrant officer Rich Ecbord (ph) -- Ecborg, chief warrant officer -- first, thanks for helping us to come aboard this ship.

RICH ECBORG, CHIEF WARRANT OFFICER: Welcome aboard, Frank.

BUCKLEY: Thank you. And give us a sense -- we are on the vehicle deck. As we walk through here, tell us about -- there's so much stuff loaded on this deck here, vehicles. It's not easy to get all this stuff aboard, is it?

ECBORG: No, it's not. In fact, there's a lot of detailed planning that goes into ending up with this end state where the vehicles are parked right now. What you're seeing are all these vehicles on the vehicle decks are the vehicles the battalion landing team group would use -- or need in any type of operation that they're called to take, to do.

What we do is we have a computer program, and then a bunch of people just sit together and do the math and figure out, how does everything fit. My job on the ship is to take the ship's constraints, and belay down on the ship and figure out how I'm going to make everything fit on here, and I have three good staff NCOs, gunnery sergeants that assist me in that endeavor, and then we have motivated Marines and sailors that work through the weekend to make all this happen. We have a good team, good team working on this.

BUCKLEY: Now, we're standing here in front of -- I believe it's called the well deck. Explain what this is, and how this is used to take material to shore.

ECBORG: The well deck, Frank, is used for recovering LCACS and LCU, Landing Craft Utilities. This ship is unique in that it can flood the well and bring another boat inside of it, and then we can load this equipment up and get it across the beach. And with the LCACs, we fly them in, and we park them, and then we on load and off load cargo and personnel.

BUCKLEY: And the LCACs are these hovercraft, the military hovercraft that we've seen. They can travel at great speeds to get -- and carry I guess 24 troops, five-man crew, and get to the beach quickly.

ECBORG: Yes, Frank. They can, I believe travel about 44 knots, and so we try to set up in a little ways off the beach to, you know, expedite the transfer from the ship to the beach and then back.

BUCKLEY: Let me ask you about just your personnel feelings. You're about to deploy again. You were part of the first Gulf War. You have a sense as an experienced Marine what to expect. What do you try to impart to the younger Marines as you're getting ready to deploy for what might be hostilities?

ECBORG: That's a good question, Frank. I think overall, just -- just sharing with them the experiences that I had as a corporal during that time frame, and just listening to them and answering their questions. Everybody's motivated. I think -- you know, I'm very proud to be associated with the crew, the sailors and the Marines that are on this ship, and I think they're ready to go whatever the nation asks them to do. We're all volunteers, and these kids, they're great, it is the best that America has to offer right here.

BUCKLEY: All right. Chief Warrant Officer Ecborg. Thank you very much for the tour. We are aboard the USS Bonhomme Richard, one of seven ships that will be deploying on Friday -- Daryn.

KAGAN: All right, Frank, and you wish those sailors the best of luck from us here in Atlanta as well.

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