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American Morning

Talk with Lt. Mike Billello

Aired March 20, 2003 - 08:33   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.


PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: We're going to head back to the desert, where Dr. Sanjay Gupta is standing by on duty with members of a MASH unit. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, you've had a bit of a harrowing morning. You've suffered through a number of sirens. Why don't you tell us what's going on now and backtrack a little and tell us what you witnessed over the last four, five hours.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, absolutely, Paula, it has been a harrowing day, no question about it. It started about 10:28 this morning, people were walking around, just waking up some of them, and all of a sudden, we saw something and heard something, saw something moving very fast, heard something very loud about 300 feet off the deck. We got a little bit of a look at it. It was a grayish green. It looked like a missile, had three yellow stripes on it, went over our heads, moving very quickly.

We are in the northern desert of Kuwait. This traveled over our heads.

Shortly after that, we heard a boom and it was south of us. We also heard bunker, bunker, bunker, gas, gas, gas, that is the call that the Marines know so well to put on their instrumentation, their helmets, and their kevlar and their gas masks and run into these bunkers over here.

Since that attempt, there have been five of these such bunker calls, some of them lasting over an hour long with the gas masks on. Besides that one missile sighting, there had been no others, but the Marines had confirmed that more than one, possibly two missiles were fired. One was probably knocked down by patriot missiles. There are NBC teams actually dispatched to the scene. That stands for nuclear, biological and chemical teams, and they have found no evidence of chemical munitions -- Paula.

ZAHN: I know you say forces there have been trained to go through this exercise time and time again. You have worked in many operating rooms around the country, you're a guy who's supposed to deal with emergencies and shock and all that. Just on a personal level, what was the experience like?

GUPTA: I tell you, I've never experienced anything like that, and certainly for the Marines here, I have one lieutenant, Mike Billello with me. They've had a lot of drills up until now, but this was the first real-life experience. Let me just backtrack for one second. Before the first bunker call today, everyone heard about the attacks on Baghdad overnight. You guys have been sitting here in the desert for a long time potential waiting. How did the mood change this morning?

LT. MIKE BILLELLO, U.S. MARINES: The mindset, as the time taken down was to expect that, but you never expect the first one, and I was inches from you when it happened. But the first one is always a shock, but our training kicks in, and we react, and I think you saw that. But that's part of being a Marine, it's part of our job, and it's to adapt to the environment you're in, and get your job done.

GUPTA: Do you think people feel protected? People in New York are asking, are people feeling confident in the gear you have and training that you have, missiles flying overhead?

BILLELLO: We're very confident in the gear we've been issued. It's been inspected. We've trained with it on several occasions, we've put trust in the medical personnel we receive here, we receive here in support of us and the meds we've been given. From a medical standpoint, doctor, I think we're pretty well protected.

GUPTA: Shock and awe, that's a term that we keep hearing again. Have you seen it from here?

BILLELLO: I haven't seen it from here. That means you can't see very far over the berms or in the bunker. We spent a lot of time in the bunker today, but I'm sure the response will be just as the president said, and we'll just wait on that.

GUPTA: Paula, five such bunker calls today. At times, we're in the gas mask for up to an hour. People do feel very confident, that is the one thing that struck me. People feel confident waiting in the bunkers with the gas masks on. People are understandably anxious, but I didn't have a sense of -- over-reading of scared -- Paula.

ZAHN: Sanjay, before we let you go, we're going to try to bring Major General Don Shepherd into the conversation, who joins us from Atlanta right now, formerly of the Air Force.

General Shepherd, fire away.

MAJ. GEN. DON SHEPHERD, (RET.) CNN MILITARY ANALYST: I remember in Vietnam, we used to get so many rocket and mortar attacks, we got complacent. I was just wondering from the lieutenant if he sees anybody getting complacent as they run in and out of the bunkers and really nothing has happened yet -- Paula.

GUPTA: Yes, Lieutenant Billello, Major General Don Shepperd is asking a question, which is that with so many bunkers calls, do you think that there is a concern, or have people already started to become somewhat complacent with this? Do you think that's a risk.

BILLELLO: Good afternoon, sir.

I would say that complacency will get Marines killed, and we are told that in training, so there will no complacent Marines here. We're swift in any drill.

GUPTA: I think clear answer there, Major General Shepperd. SHEPHERD: You bet, I press on to him to stay that way all the way on to Baghdad.

GUPTA: Yes, and he passes on stay that way all the way to Baghdad.

Again, Lieutenant Mike Billello, joining me here in the northern desert of Kuwait -- Paula.

ZAHN: Thanks so much, Sanjay.

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 March 20, 2003 - 08:33   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: We're going to head back to the desert, where Dr. Sanjay Gupta is standing by on duty with members of a MASH unit. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, you've had a bit of a harrowing morning. You've suffered through a number of sirens. Why don't you tell us what's going on now and backtrack a little and tell us what you witnessed over the last four, five hours.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, absolutely, Paula, it has been a harrowing day, no question about it. It started about 10:28 this morning, people were walking around, just waking up some of them, and all of a sudden, we saw something and heard something, saw something moving very fast, heard something very loud about 300 feet off the deck. We got a little bit of a look at it. It was a grayish green. It looked like a missile, had three yellow stripes on it, went over our heads, moving very quickly.

We are in the northern desert of Kuwait. This traveled over our heads.

Shortly after that, we heard a boom and it was south of us. We also heard bunker, bunker, bunker, gas, gas, gas, that is the call that the Marines know so well to put on their instrumentation, their helmets, and their kevlar and their gas masks and run into these bunkers over here.

Since that attempt, there have been five of these such bunker calls, some of them lasting over an hour long with the gas masks on. Besides that one missile sighting, there had been no others, but the Marines had confirmed that more than one, possibly two missiles were fired. One was probably knocked down by patriot missiles. There are NBC teams actually dispatched to the scene. That stands for nuclear, biological and chemical teams, and they have found no evidence of chemical munitions -- Paula.

ZAHN: I know you say forces there have been trained to go through this exercise time and time again. You have worked in many operating rooms around the country, you're a guy who's supposed to deal with emergencies and shock and all that. Just on a personal level, what was the experience like?

GUPTA: I tell you, I've never experienced anything like that, and certainly for the Marines here, I have one lieutenant, Mike Billello with me. They've had a lot of drills up until now, but this was the first real-life experience. Let me just backtrack for one second. Before the first bunker call today, everyone heard about the attacks on Baghdad overnight. You guys have been sitting here in the desert for a long time potential waiting. How did the mood change this morning?

LT. MIKE BILLELLO, U.S. MARINES: The mindset, as the time taken down was to expect that, but you never expect the first one, and I was inches from you when it happened. But the first one is always a shock, but our training kicks in, and we react, and I think you saw that. But that's part of being a Marine, it's part of our job, and it's to adapt to the environment you're in, and get your job done.

GUPTA: Do you think people feel protected? People in New York are asking, are people feeling confident in the gear you have and training that you have, missiles flying overhead?

BILLELLO: We're very confident in the gear we've been issued. It's been inspected. We've trained with it on several occasions, we've put trust in the medical personnel we receive here, we receive here in support of us and the meds we've been given. From a medical standpoint, doctor, I think we're pretty well protected.

GUPTA: Shock and awe, that's a term that we keep hearing again. Have you seen it from here?

BILLELLO: I haven't seen it from here. That means you can't see very far over the berms or in the bunker. We spent a lot of time in the bunker today, but I'm sure the response will be just as the president said, and we'll just wait on that.

GUPTA: Paula, five such bunker calls today. At times, we're in the gas mask for up to an hour. People do feel very confident, that is the one thing that struck me. People feel confident waiting in the bunkers with the gas masks on. People are understandably anxious, but I didn't have a sense of -- over-reading of scared -- Paula.

ZAHN: Sanjay, before we let you go, we're going to try to bring Major General Don Shepherd into the conversation, who joins us from Atlanta right now, formerly of the Air Force.

General Shepherd, fire away.

MAJ. GEN. DON SHEPHERD, (RET.) CNN MILITARY ANALYST: I remember in Vietnam, we used to get so many rocket and mortar attacks, we got complacent. I was just wondering from the lieutenant if he sees anybody getting complacent as they run in and out of the bunkers and really nothing has happened yet -- Paula.

GUPTA: Yes, Lieutenant Billello, Major General Don Shepperd is asking a question, which is that with so many bunkers calls, do you think that there is a concern, or have people already started to become somewhat complacent with this? Do you think that's a risk.

BILLELLO: Good afternoon, sir.

I would say that complacency will get Marines killed, and we are told that in training, so there will no complacent Marines here. We're swift in any drill.

GUPTA: I think clear answer there, Major General Shepperd. SHEPHERD: You bet, I press on to him to stay that way all the way on to Baghdad.

GUPTA: Yes, and he passes on stay that way all the way to Baghdad.

Again, Lieutenant Mike Billello, joining me here in the northern desert of Kuwait -- Paula.

ZAHN: Thanks so much, Sanjay.

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