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CNN Live Today

Interview With Member of 7th Cav

Aired March 27, 2003 - 10:27   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 have established contact with Walt Rodgers again whose live shot was interrupted by what seemed to be incoming fire.
What was it, Walt?

WALT RODGERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Paula, what we saw was two contrails up in the sky, night sky and looked like incoming Al Samoud missiles or incoming Scuds from Iraq. Everyone was told to dive for cover. We dived into tanks, I went into an armored fighting vehicle right beside me. The gates were closed. We waited a substantial period then they announced that there were two missiles launched. In point of fact; however, turned out to be friendly missiles, outgoing but no one here knew that or could tell it, all they saw was white contrails. I would like to go back to Sergeant Paul Wheatley, your reaction when you saw those?

SGT. PAUL WHEATLEY, U.S. ARMY: I caught it out of the corner of my eye and automatically went back to my tank to get into some cover and get all of my guys into their tanks.

RODGERS: You've been under fire for 72 hours pretty much, what was it like being under fire for 72 hours?

WHEATLEY: Kind of like what we just went through. It's unreal. It's unimaginable. You're constantly almost paranoid. You are paranoid about every turn, every building, or every person and it's a little nerve racking at times.

RODGERS: You sit atop the the Abrams tank, .50 caliber machine gun, you have used that a lot the last couple nights.

WHEATLEY: Yes sir,it's gotten its work.

RODGERS: Tell us what you were shooting at? What you saw? Particularly the first night ambush in the dark, tracers coming in.

WHEATLEY: I wasn't shooting .50 that night during the night. We picked up some RPG's coming at the convoy we were in, column we were in, and then our gunners with the thermal sites picked up dismounts on berms that's what we engaged.

RODGERS: Were you using 7.62 then?

WHEATLEY: Yes, sir.

RODGERS: What were you shooting at, what did you see? WHEATLEY: Just a blaze of tracers coming from both sides of the road and mainly from the left side of the road, and like I said, I went behind the sight with the gunner and we engaged everything we could engage.

RODGERS: Does it take courage to stick your head out of tank turret and start shooting in those conditions?

WHEATLEY: Yes sir, very much. For loaders and tank commanders.

RODGERS: Were the bullets dinging off your tank?

WHEATLEY: Yes sir.

RODGERS: What did it sound like?

WHEATLEY: It was almost like somebody was throwing rocks. But, against the side of a car when you kick up rocks. They were probably 150 meters away, so their AK-47s won't do too much damage to a tank but.

RODGERS: Does your training take over at that point? What happens? Is the adrenaline, you are sitting there on a main battle tank, they're firing at you in the dark, the tracers coming your way, you are pulling a trigger on 7.62 machine gun back at them, how many Iraqis did you take out do you think?

WHEATLEY: I wouldn't even begin to guess. Probably 30 to 35. During that one stretch of road.

RODGERS: And then the next day, when we were traveling up what is now called machine gun alley when they were coming at you from both sides of the road, broad daylight, but a sandstorm.

WHEATLEY: Yes sir.

RODGERS: What was that like, shooting blindly into a sandstorm?

WHEATLEY: We had all of our combat vehicles, we could see through thermal sites, you could see what was shooting at you, with our gun tube orientation, everybody kept their sector and we kept rolling and we engaged all the way through.

RODGERS: Isn't there something that tells you, like a turtle, pull your head back inside this tank, you'll be safe?

WHEATLEY: We were -- we had our head inside the tank at that point. You are in unless you have to reload your .50 or work on something on top of the tank, otherwise you are down.

RODGERS: But you're firing the whole time?

WHEATLEY: Yes, sir.

RODGERS: Mortars popping all around you.

WHEATLEY: Yes, sir.

RODGERS: What does it look like having rocket propelled grenade barreling right down your throat?

WHEATLEY: If you see it you're good. If you don't see it and just feel the percussion from it, not much is going to happen to me, but if you're hanging out of the hatch it could mess you up pretty bad.

RODGERS: And the previous night, the night before this, just 24 hours ago you were hanging out there north of the bridge, just above An-Najaf the radio was crackling, saying 1, 000 Iraqi vehicles coming that way. Did you hear the B-52s dropping bombs on them?

WHEATLEY: The wind was blowing bad and the storm was bad I heard they were coming in, I did hear some of the -- could you feel it more than hear it.

RODGERS: You were really hanging out alone last night, as we all were.

WHEATLEY: Yes, sir.

RODGERS: One question, when the reinforcements came up, how did you feel when you saw reinforcements? Cause for a while there you were only three tanks and two Bradleys facing an armored column?

WHEATLEY: Yes, sir, I did link up with the lieutenant with me on that checkpoint and two of the guys that showed up were good friends from previous units, I felt confident that they had our six.

RODGERS: Another question, as we came to the rear to refit we saw bodies of the Iraqi soldiers on the road that were shot perhaps by you or your solders, what did you think when you saw dead Iraqis there?

WHEATLEY: It was sad they were forced to fight against odds that they would never have a chance to overcome, shooting rifles at tanks. They are driving Toyota pickup trucks at Bradley's and tanks. I couldn't even explain it.

RODGERS: Sergeant Paul Wheatley thank you very much, Sergeant Paul Wheatley Tank Commander, 7th Apache troop U.S. Calvary, in a very lonely position last night, standing watch against what might have been overwhelming odds. Back to you, Paula.

ZAHN: We just heard what a well-trained Marine does when he has to react to what looks like the prospect of Iraqi fire coming in and describe what you're thinking is as you were reporting life on TV and you're in this dicey situation?

RODGERS: Are you asking me?

ZAHN: Yes, I'm asking you. I know you have seen a lot in your war coverage over the years, did it shake you up at all? RODGERS: Sure, a little. You are nervous. You don't panic. You do your job. You know, our job is like a soldier's job. You have to be absolutely focused. You have to narrate what is going on around you. You have to narrate that you hear a mortar popping off to your left 30 yards away, you hear shrapnel falling,you can hear the bullets dinging off the armored vehicles.

One of the interesting things that happened yesterday Paula, we were taking fire in our vehicle as we were moving up the road, did not -- were not aware how close it was. Then two Air Force liaison personnel in a vehicle two or three behind us, came up and asked show us the side of your vehicle, show us your bullet holes, we said what bullet holes? we didn't know we had been hit. We were right behind you we saw the machine guns kicking up the dirt right beside you.

You always feel better learning that after the event than during the event. It would have been a lot more nerve wracking at the time. Some of the closest calls we've had in the past 72 hours have been related to us after the event, that is other people say do you realize how close it was when that RPG went over you? Or do you realize how close it was when machine gun bullets kicking up the dirt or do you realize how fortunate you were that the tank gunner on Captain Lyle's tank took out that guy crawling in a ditch 20 feet way from you with a Kalishnakov ready to shoot you? Always nice to find out about that afterwards, rather than at that very moment, that way you can do your job more easily. Let me put it this way, Winston Churchill once said, "there is nothing more exhilarating than being shot at and missed" and fortunately we've been missed.

ZAHN: You certainly gave us a scare watching. Walt Rodgers, I'm glad we able to re-establish contact with you and Bill, if there is any skepticism that exists about the embedding process and whether the view viewers are getting is sanitized or not, that was clearly a moment where no one could make that charge. That was a dicey moment, here you see Walt interviewing a member of 3-7th Cav they hear something and then we saw, even before Walt did, because his back was to the sky, those twin contrails streaking across the sky and then he said they retreated to turtle mode. The men in the tanks ducked into tanks and Walt dived behind a tank.

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 27, 2003 - 10:27   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: We have established contact with Walt Rodgers again whose live shot was interrupted by what seemed to be incoming fire.
What was it, Walt?

WALT RODGERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Paula, what we saw was two contrails up in the sky, night sky and looked like incoming Al Samoud missiles or incoming Scuds from Iraq. Everyone was told to dive for cover. We dived into tanks, I went into an armored fighting vehicle right beside me. The gates were closed. We waited a substantial period then they announced that there were two missiles launched. In point of fact; however, turned out to be friendly missiles, outgoing but no one here knew that or could tell it, all they saw was white contrails. I would like to go back to Sergeant Paul Wheatley, your reaction when you saw those?

SGT. PAUL WHEATLEY, U.S. ARMY: I caught it out of the corner of my eye and automatically went back to my tank to get into some cover and get all of my guys into their tanks.

RODGERS: You've been under fire for 72 hours pretty much, what was it like being under fire for 72 hours?

WHEATLEY: Kind of like what we just went through. It's unreal. It's unimaginable. You're constantly almost paranoid. You are paranoid about every turn, every building, or every person and it's a little nerve racking at times.

RODGERS: You sit atop the the Abrams tank, .50 caliber machine gun, you have used that a lot the last couple nights.

WHEATLEY: Yes sir,it's gotten its work.

RODGERS: Tell us what you were shooting at? What you saw? Particularly the first night ambush in the dark, tracers coming in.

WHEATLEY: I wasn't shooting .50 that night during the night. We picked up some RPG's coming at the convoy we were in, column we were in, and then our gunners with the thermal sites picked up dismounts on berms that's what we engaged.

RODGERS: Were you using 7.62 then?

WHEATLEY: Yes, sir.

RODGERS: What were you shooting at, what did you see? WHEATLEY: Just a blaze of tracers coming from both sides of the road and mainly from the left side of the road, and like I said, I went behind the sight with the gunner and we engaged everything we could engage.

RODGERS: Does it take courage to stick your head out of tank turret and start shooting in those conditions?

WHEATLEY: Yes sir, very much. For loaders and tank commanders.

RODGERS: Were the bullets dinging off your tank?

WHEATLEY: Yes sir.

RODGERS: What did it sound like?

WHEATLEY: It was almost like somebody was throwing rocks. But, against the side of a car when you kick up rocks. They were probably 150 meters away, so their AK-47s won't do too much damage to a tank but.

RODGERS: Does your training take over at that point? What happens? Is the adrenaline, you are sitting there on a main battle tank, they're firing at you in the dark, the tracers coming your way, you are pulling a trigger on 7.62 machine gun back at them, how many Iraqis did you take out do you think?

WHEATLEY: I wouldn't even begin to guess. Probably 30 to 35. During that one stretch of road.

RODGERS: And then the next day, when we were traveling up what is now called machine gun alley when they were coming at you from both sides of the road, broad daylight, but a sandstorm.

WHEATLEY: Yes sir.

RODGERS: What was that like, shooting blindly into a sandstorm?

WHEATLEY: We had all of our combat vehicles, we could see through thermal sites, you could see what was shooting at you, with our gun tube orientation, everybody kept their sector and we kept rolling and we engaged all the way through.

RODGERS: Isn't there something that tells you, like a turtle, pull your head back inside this tank, you'll be safe?

WHEATLEY: We were -- we had our head inside the tank at that point. You are in unless you have to reload your .50 or work on something on top of the tank, otherwise you are down.

RODGERS: But you're firing the whole time?

WHEATLEY: Yes, sir.

RODGERS: Mortars popping all around you.

WHEATLEY: Yes, sir.

RODGERS: What does it look like having rocket propelled grenade barreling right down your throat?

WHEATLEY: If you see it you're good. If you don't see it and just feel the percussion from it, not much is going to happen to me, but if you're hanging out of the hatch it could mess you up pretty bad.

RODGERS: And the previous night, the night before this, just 24 hours ago you were hanging out there north of the bridge, just above An-Najaf the radio was crackling, saying 1, 000 Iraqi vehicles coming that way. Did you hear the B-52s dropping bombs on them?

WHEATLEY: The wind was blowing bad and the storm was bad I heard they were coming in, I did hear some of the -- could you feel it more than hear it.

RODGERS: You were really hanging out alone last night, as we all were.

WHEATLEY: Yes, sir.

RODGERS: One question, when the reinforcements came up, how did you feel when you saw reinforcements? Cause for a while there you were only three tanks and two Bradleys facing an armored column?

WHEATLEY: Yes, sir, I did link up with the lieutenant with me on that checkpoint and two of the guys that showed up were good friends from previous units, I felt confident that they had our six.

RODGERS: Another question, as we came to the rear to refit we saw bodies of the Iraqi soldiers on the road that were shot perhaps by you or your solders, what did you think when you saw dead Iraqis there?

WHEATLEY: It was sad they were forced to fight against odds that they would never have a chance to overcome, shooting rifles at tanks. They are driving Toyota pickup trucks at Bradley's and tanks. I couldn't even explain it.

RODGERS: Sergeant Paul Wheatley thank you very much, Sergeant Paul Wheatley Tank Commander, 7th Apache troop U.S. Calvary, in a very lonely position last night, standing watch against what might have been overwhelming odds. Back to you, Paula.

ZAHN: We just heard what a well-trained Marine does when he has to react to what looks like the prospect of Iraqi fire coming in and describe what you're thinking is as you were reporting life on TV and you're in this dicey situation?

RODGERS: Are you asking me?

ZAHN: Yes, I'm asking you. I know you have seen a lot in your war coverage over the years, did it shake you up at all? RODGERS: Sure, a little. You are nervous. You don't panic. You do your job. You know, our job is like a soldier's job. You have to be absolutely focused. You have to narrate what is going on around you. You have to narrate that you hear a mortar popping off to your left 30 yards away, you hear shrapnel falling,you can hear the bullets dinging off the armored vehicles.

One of the interesting things that happened yesterday Paula, we were taking fire in our vehicle as we were moving up the road, did not -- were not aware how close it was. Then two Air Force liaison personnel in a vehicle two or three behind us, came up and asked show us the side of your vehicle, show us your bullet holes, we said what bullet holes? we didn't know we had been hit. We were right behind you we saw the machine guns kicking up the dirt right beside you.

You always feel better learning that after the event than during the event. It would have been a lot more nerve wracking at the time. Some of the closest calls we've had in the past 72 hours have been related to us after the event, that is other people say do you realize how close it was when that RPG went over you? Or do you realize how close it was when machine gun bullets kicking up the dirt or do you realize how fortunate you were that the tank gunner on Captain Lyle's tank took out that guy crawling in a ditch 20 feet way from you with a Kalishnakov ready to shoot you? Always nice to find out about that afterwards, rather than at that very moment, that way you can do your job more easily. Let me put it this way, Winston Churchill once said, "there is nothing more exhilarating than being shot at and missed" and fortunately we've been missed.

ZAHN: You certainly gave us a scare watching. Walt Rodgers, I'm glad we able to re-establish contact with you and Bill, if there is any skepticism that exists about the embedding process and whether the view viewers are getting is sanitized or not, that was clearly a moment where no one could make that charge. That was a dicey moment, here you see Walt interviewing a member of 3-7th Cav they hear something and then we saw, even before Walt did, because his back was to the sky, those twin contrails streaking across the sky and then he said they retreated to turtle mode. The men in the tanks ducked into tanks and Walt dived behind a tank.

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