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CNN Live Today

Martin Savidge Reports with 1st Battalion, 7th Marines

Aired March 26, 2003 - 10:19   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: Some breaking news now out of Iraq.
CNN's Martin Savidge is embedded with the 1st Battalion of the 7th Marines. He joins us now by videophone from Southern Iraq. Martin, we haven't heard from you in a couple of days. We can kind of see you now, but it's good to make out a faint image of you right now.

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula.

Good evening to you from southern Iraq here. We are just to the west of the Euphrates River.

And as you can tell, dusk is starting to set in. Soon we'll go to blackout conditions. We have just come out of what they call a media blackout, which we weren't able to communicate with you for a couple of days.

We're finally in the clear. We're not sure how long it's going to last. You caught us in our evening routine. We're with the Marines every night. Every time we stop, we must dig in. The holes got to be big enough for four of us. That's how many are in the crew, so we've just finished doing that, still setting up camp.

Let me tell you about what we faced last night, a critical mission for the 1st Marine Division. As you know, the supply lines, the logistics stretch all the way back to northern Kuwait. There are very tenuous supply lines that come into southern Iraq, everything, bullets, beans, band-aids, but above all, fuel. And the problem was, for the 1st Marine Division, they were running low on fuel. A critical issue came up.

Now getting the fuel in over those supply lines. Well, there are forces that are loyal to Saddam Hussein that have been sniping along those supply lines. They needed to get a quarter of a million gallons of diesel last night. And the 1st Battalion 7th Marines is a group that was tasked with keeping that supply line open. We were warned going in last night after that terrible dust storm, we would face being sniped at, shot at, RPGs, that is rocket-propelled grenades, and possibly even mortar along that line. You can imagine what that could have done to truckloads of fuel trying to get in.

Sure enough, the Marines went along that route, and we were hit last night. It was sniping, it was gunfire, and for many of these young Marines, the first time that they have ever faced hostile fire, and the first time that they have ever fired back, and they did plenty of that. It was almost pitch dark last night. Night vision goggles no use because of the conditions, and the fact it was so dark, the armored personnel carrier we were riding in slammed into a Humvee, and then we were hit by another armored personnel carrier, nearly knocked over on its side. And then to top that off, we ran into a house. Fortunately, nobody was inside the home. Nobody was injured. This was an engagement that went all night long. When daylight came up in the morning, you had a number of armored vehicles that were upended in huge craters, and ditches and moats that was in this terribly rough terrain. Everyone is all right. Nobody was injured.

And the best news of all, at least for the Marines, the fuel got through, the huge trucks came rolling in, and that means they can continue now after having to pause the push north, the push towards Baghdad -- Paula.

ZAHN: Martin, I know these troops train very hard to encounter these kind of situations. But can you give us any sense of what any of these Marines told you about their first real experience in combat, particularly given the kind of fire you were talking about?

SAVIDGE: Well, it's a couple of things that run through their minds. First of all, they hear the chatter on the radio from the advance units that are going in. So they brace themselves mentally. They know they're going to face fire and they have a fairly good idea what kind and from where.

But still, despite that training and advance information, there is nothing like suddenly seeing the muzzle flashes and watching an RPG. This is the second time an RPG nearly took out our broadcast jeep in about as many days. It cut between the armored vehicle and the jeep in front. So this is something where there is a moment of truth for the Marines, and initially, a split second hesitation, but then the training kicks in as they knew it would, and they open fire on the targets that they could identify, and that's something they stress. If they can't tell where the fire's coming from, they do not shoot indiscriminately.

As far as we know, there were no civilians hit in any of this fighting that took place. And as we say, the end result was the fuel got through, and that was mission success for the marines -- Paula.

ZAHN: And, Martin, in a personal sense, you had to go through some training yourself to be able to take this job as an imbed. Just describe to us what you were thinking. How automatic was any of that training?

SAVIDGE: Well, you know, I don't think, despite the amount of training we've gone through that we were prepared for sort of conditions we faced. You can't see me, which is probably a good thing, because we're absolutely filthy. We live in the dirt. That is the way that the Marines exist out here, and the conditions as far as when the gunfights break out, well, we've been through those before and other conflicts. So perhaps in some respects, we have more experience than many of the young men and women that are out here. There were some of those working the supply lines, driving the fuel trucks that actually broke down in tears, because they were so afraid of what they faced out there alone, keep in mind, in huge fuel trucks behind enemy lines, in the darkness.

And it wasn't until the Viper teams, which we're a part of, rode up on them said, we are here, be assured, you'll be safe as long as you follow our directs. The Marines were very precise about that. And as far as we witnessed, they were right -- Paula.

ZAHN: Martin, I'm still trying to put all of these pieces together and the descriptions you've just shared with us, when you're talking about basically being blinded by this fierce sandstorm. You talked about some of these pieces of equipment running into each other, others running into a house. Are you able to tell us, without compromising any of the plans and the Marines you're with, how it's possible that you were even to get in this quarter of a million gallons of diesel fuel?

SAVIDGE: Well, that's something like 25 truckloads. If you imagine the kind of fuel tankers that run down the highway, it's the same thing that was operating here.

And the problem is, of course, a bullet, an RPG, a rocket- propelled grenade, a mortar in the wrong place would send one of them up. It was vital that suppressing fire -- that's how the Marines refer to outgoing fire -- to protect the trucks, was ongoing. And that they actually had to shield these trucks and lay down a barrier with their own armored vehicles. It really was quite amazing that none of these vehicles were hit and the fuel did roll through. That's the critical job.

In fact, this is considered the priority mission last night for the Marine division. If the fuel didn't go through, then the Marines wouldn't go forward -- Paula.

ZAHN: All right, Martin, you've been keeping with a split screen image of the president and the first lady now arriving at McDill Air Force Base. What you've told us is remarkable.

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 26, 2003 - 10:19   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Some breaking news now out of Iraq.
CNN's Martin Savidge is embedded with the 1st Battalion of the 7th Marines. He joins us now by videophone from Southern Iraq. Martin, we haven't heard from you in a couple of days. We can kind of see you now, but it's good to make out a faint image of you right now.

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula.

Good evening to you from southern Iraq here. We are just to the west of the Euphrates River.

And as you can tell, dusk is starting to set in. Soon we'll go to blackout conditions. We have just come out of what they call a media blackout, which we weren't able to communicate with you for a couple of days.

We're finally in the clear. We're not sure how long it's going to last. You caught us in our evening routine. We're with the Marines every night. Every time we stop, we must dig in. The holes got to be big enough for four of us. That's how many are in the crew, so we've just finished doing that, still setting up camp.

Let me tell you about what we faced last night, a critical mission for the 1st Marine Division. As you know, the supply lines, the logistics stretch all the way back to northern Kuwait. There are very tenuous supply lines that come into southern Iraq, everything, bullets, beans, band-aids, but above all, fuel. And the problem was, for the 1st Marine Division, they were running low on fuel. A critical issue came up.

Now getting the fuel in over those supply lines. Well, there are forces that are loyal to Saddam Hussein that have been sniping along those supply lines. They needed to get a quarter of a million gallons of diesel last night. And the 1st Battalion 7th Marines is a group that was tasked with keeping that supply line open. We were warned going in last night after that terrible dust storm, we would face being sniped at, shot at, RPGs, that is rocket-propelled grenades, and possibly even mortar along that line. You can imagine what that could have done to truckloads of fuel trying to get in.

Sure enough, the Marines went along that route, and we were hit last night. It was sniping, it was gunfire, and for many of these young Marines, the first time that they have ever faced hostile fire, and the first time that they have ever fired back, and they did plenty of that. It was almost pitch dark last night. Night vision goggles no use because of the conditions, and the fact it was so dark, the armored personnel carrier we were riding in slammed into a Humvee, and then we were hit by another armored personnel carrier, nearly knocked over on its side. And then to top that off, we ran into a house. Fortunately, nobody was inside the home. Nobody was injured. This was an engagement that went all night long. When daylight came up in the morning, you had a number of armored vehicles that were upended in huge craters, and ditches and moats that was in this terribly rough terrain. Everyone is all right. Nobody was injured.

And the best news of all, at least for the Marines, the fuel got through, the huge trucks came rolling in, and that means they can continue now after having to pause the push north, the push towards Baghdad -- Paula.

ZAHN: Martin, I know these troops train very hard to encounter these kind of situations. But can you give us any sense of what any of these Marines told you about their first real experience in combat, particularly given the kind of fire you were talking about?

SAVIDGE: Well, it's a couple of things that run through their minds. First of all, they hear the chatter on the radio from the advance units that are going in. So they brace themselves mentally. They know they're going to face fire and they have a fairly good idea what kind and from where.

But still, despite that training and advance information, there is nothing like suddenly seeing the muzzle flashes and watching an RPG. This is the second time an RPG nearly took out our broadcast jeep in about as many days. It cut between the armored vehicle and the jeep in front. So this is something where there is a moment of truth for the Marines, and initially, a split second hesitation, but then the training kicks in as they knew it would, and they open fire on the targets that they could identify, and that's something they stress. If they can't tell where the fire's coming from, they do not shoot indiscriminately.

As far as we know, there were no civilians hit in any of this fighting that took place. And as we say, the end result was the fuel got through, and that was mission success for the marines -- Paula.

ZAHN: And, Martin, in a personal sense, you had to go through some training yourself to be able to take this job as an imbed. Just describe to us what you were thinking. How automatic was any of that training?

SAVIDGE: Well, you know, I don't think, despite the amount of training we've gone through that we were prepared for sort of conditions we faced. You can't see me, which is probably a good thing, because we're absolutely filthy. We live in the dirt. That is the way that the Marines exist out here, and the conditions as far as when the gunfights break out, well, we've been through those before and other conflicts. So perhaps in some respects, we have more experience than many of the young men and women that are out here. There were some of those working the supply lines, driving the fuel trucks that actually broke down in tears, because they were so afraid of what they faced out there alone, keep in mind, in huge fuel trucks behind enemy lines, in the darkness.

And it wasn't until the Viper teams, which we're a part of, rode up on them said, we are here, be assured, you'll be safe as long as you follow our directs. The Marines were very precise about that. And as far as we witnessed, they were right -- Paula.

ZAHN: Martin, I'm still trying to put all of these pieces together and the descriptions you've just shared with us, when you're talking about basically being blinded by this fierce sandstorm. You talked about some of these pieces of equipment running into each other, others running into a house. Are you able to tell us, without compromising any of the plans and the Marines you're with, how it's possible that you were even to get in this quarter of a million gallons of diesel fuel?

SAVIDGE: Well, that's something like 25 truckloads. If you imagine the kind of fuel tankers that run down the highway, it's the same thing that was operating here.

And the problem is, of course, a bullet, an RPG, a rocket- propelled grenade, a mortar in the wrong place would send one of them up. It was vital that suppressing fire -- that's how the Marines refer to outgoing fire -- to protect the trucks, was ongoing. And that they actually had to shield these trucks and lay down a barrier with their own armored vehicles. It really was quite amazing that none of these vehicles were hit and the fuel did roll through. That's the critical job.

In fact, this is considered the priority mission last night for the Marine division. If the fuel didn't go through, then the Marines wouldn't go forward -- Paula.

ZAHN: All right, Martin, you've been keeping with a split screen image of the president and the first lady now arriving at McDill Air Force Base. What you've told us is remarkable.

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