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American Morning

Three False Scud Alarms for 101st Airborne Division

Aired March 20, 2003 - 07:42   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: Our own Ryan Chilcote, who is embedded with the 101st Airborne, I guess is hearing the same kind of siren call. The motto of the 101st Airborne: "Ready to move, ready to fight."
Ryan -- what's the latest from there?

RYAN CHILCOTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Paula, we just had a -- first, I have to apologize. I'm talking to you through a gas mask. We just had our third Scud alarm go off, the third Scud alarm sound in just a few -- just about three hours. It just sounded about I guess two, three minutes ago. We're all now in our gas masks. The soldiers and the journalists that are traveling with the 101st Airborne are waiting further instructions of whether we can take our masks off. Usually about five minutes after the initial alarm, another alarm sounds saying "all clear."

There have already been two missile attacks. We are told they were SSM, or surface-to-surface, missile attacks, and we were alerted to both of those by these alarms -- Paula.

ZAHN: What else can you tell us happened overnight?

CHILCOTE: Well, actually things were pretty calm, quite frankly, until the first of those alarms went off. I mean, we'd never actually heard one of these alarms go off for real. A couple of weeks ago at Camp New Jersey there had been a rehearsal, a dress rehearsal if you will, where they tested three different kinds of alarms that the U.S. military uses to indicate threats to the soldiers. But this was the first time I think that any of these soldiers had actually heard this alarm, the alarm indicating a Scud attack actually used for real, and it was a real wake-up call I think for all of us.

ZAHN: A wake-up call indeed. Ryan Chilcote joining us from Kuwait alongside members of the 101st Airborne Division.

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 - 07:42   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Our own Ryan Chilcote, who is embedded with the 101st Airborne, I guess is hearing the same kind of siren call. The motto of the 101st Airborne: "Ready to move, ready to fight."
Ryan -- what's the latest from there?

RYAN CHILCOTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Paula, we just had a -- first, I have to apologize. I'm talking to you through a gas mask. We just had our third Scud alarm go off, the third Scud alarm sound in just a few -- just about three hours. It just sounded about I guess two, three minutes ago. We're all now in our gas masks. The soldiers and the journalists that are traveling with the 101st Airborne are waiting further instructions of whether we can take our masks off. Usually about five minutes after the initial alarm, another alarm sounds saying "all clear."

There have already been two missile attacks. We are told they were SSM, or surface-to-surface, missile attacks, and we were alerted to both of those by these alarms -- Paula.

ZAHN: What else can you tell us happened overnight?

CHILCOTE: Well, actually things were pretty calm, quite frankly, until the first of those alarms went off. I mean, we'd never actually heard one of these alarms go off for real. A couple of weeks ago at Camp New Jersey there had been a rehearsal, a dress rehearsal if you will, where they tested three different kinds of alarms that the U.S. military uses to indicate threats to the soldiers. But this was the first time I think that any of these soldiers had actually heard this alarm, the alarm indicating a Scud attack actually used for real, and it was a real wake-up call I think for all of us.

ZAHN: A wake-up call indeed. Ryan Chilcote joining us from Kuwait alongside members of the 101st Airborne Division.

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