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American Morning

Interview with U.S. Serviceman Injured in Iraq

Aired March 27, 2003 - 07:53   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: Twenty-four U.S. troops with battle- related injuries are being treated at a hospital in Landstuhl, Germany. Some of the wounded arrived earlier this week.
And this morning, one Marine and two soldiers offered their firsthand accounts of the fighting. One of them joins us now from Germany, Army Sergeant Charles Horgan.

Welcome.

SGT. CHARLES HORGAN, U.S. ARMY: Thank you.

ZAHN: First of all, thank you very much for joining us. How are you feeling?

HORGAN: I'm feeling pretty good right now. They've taken really excellent care of me, so I don't have a lot to complain about at the moment.

ZAHN: Tell us what happened to you.

HORGAN: Our two-vehicle scout section was supposed to check on some civilians that were supposedly on some bridges. It looked like about -- there were two bridges, one right after the other, and about a half-a-dozen of civilians on each one. As we pulled up to the bridges, I saw that the civilians -- I'm the gunner on the Humvee -- I saw the civilians were acting a little on edge. They seemed to not be behaving like the civilians we had previously encountered.

And so as I got up farther, we saw that the civilians were actually moving along the edge of the river through a trench line. That's what pretty much tipped me off that something was up. I orientated my weapon toward them to engage them on the trench line, and that's when our truck was hit by a wire-guided rocket.

ZAHN: Now, this is something you had been trained for to endure. Describe to us what it was like being under that kind of fire.

HORGAN: It was -- at first, you know, when we were driving through Iraq, it didn't really seem like we were in war yet. It definitely wasn't like how like the old movies make it seem where you're fighting right on the ground. But a lot of it was waiting, a lot of it was encountering people that weren't combatants. And once I heard that pop of the rocket going off, I knew that I was in the middle of it now.

And so as I watched it fly toward us, there was a million things that went through my head. At first, I thought, oh, you know, we're being shot at, this is the real deal now. And then I thought, am I going to die because I didn't realize it ahead of time? Or I couldn't do anything about it. And then I thought, no, it's going to hit the truck, I'm going to lose both of my legs, and I have to tell the guys inside of the vehicle.

And that's when I yelled, 'RPG,' and once I finished yelling that, it impacted on the vehicle and blew both Sergeant Villafane, my truck commander, out of the side and it blew me out of the top of the turret.

ZAHN: And how seriously injured were you?

HORGAN: At first, my legs were real numb. I couldn't really feel it. I didn't think I was hit that bad. I knew both of my legs were still there, so I was pretty relieved about that.

As I jumped out the side of the vehicle, I saw that I couldn't support my weight. I looked at my foot, and my boot was hanging off in a way I thought my foot was gone. But as it turns out, I just got some heavy shrapnel through the bottom. I still can't walk on it, and it's going to be a long time before that happens. But no, like, major tendon damage or fractures, believe it or not. So I came out of it really lucky.

ZAHN: Boy, you were lucky. How much pain are you in?

HORGAN: Well, right now I'm on a lot of Percocet, so I'm actually not in a great deal of pain, but at the moment after they had gotten me back to the hospitals, I was in like the most pain I've ever felt in my life. It was definitely like something I have never experienced.

ZAHN: Your story gives us a very good sense of what allied forces are up against. We heard at a briefing just now that the Iraqis are actually pulling children out of homes, telling their parents they will be executed if they don't join the fight. And as you know, a lot of those fighting are in civilian clothes.

Just, as we close out this interview, give our audience a sense of just how dangerous it is out there.

HORGAN: It's pretty bad. You know, the soldiers can't tell, like, who are really the combatants, and they're going to get -- I think -- I know I would feel jaded if I was out there, because if they are dressing as civilians, then you don't know who is the enemy anymore. And I definitely -- nobody, in my unit especially, wants to kill a civilian or kill somebody that's innocent, but they're going to make it really difficult for us to discern who is good or bad, and that's a shame, really it is.

ZAHN: Well, we hope you have a speedy recovery. I know your doctors say you're a strong fighter, and that you will battle back here.

When do you think you're going to be walking again? HORGAN: I don't think it's going to be for a couple of months still.

ZAHN: I'm sorry, I didn't hear your answer.

HORGAN: It's going to be quite a few months from now still.

ZAHN: Well, we wish you luck, and I know you're going to have to fight hard to win back your strength, but we salute your bravery. And thank you very much for sharing your story with us this morning.

HORGAN: Thank you.

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 - 07:53   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Twenty-four U.S. troops with battle- related injuries are being treated at a hospital in Landstuhl, Germany. Some of the wounded arrived earlier this week.
And this morning, one Marine and two soldiers offered their firsthand accounts of the fighting. One of them joins us now from Germany, Army Sergeant Charles Horgan.

Welcome.

SGT. CHARLES HORGAN, U.S. ARMY: Thank you.

ZAHN: First of all, thank you very much for joining us. How are you feeling?

HORGAN: I'm feeling pretty good right now. They've taken really excellent care of me, so I don't have a lot to complain about at the moment.

ZAHN: Tell us what happened to you.

HORGAN: Our two-vehicle scout section was supposed to check on some civilians that were supposedly on some bridges. It looked like about -- there were two bridges, one right after the other, and about a half-a-dozen of civilians on each one. As we pulled up to the bridges, I saw that the civilians -- I'm the gunner on the Humvee -- I saw the civilians were acting a little on edge. They seemed to not be behaving like the civilians we had previously encountered.

And so as I got up farther, we saw that the civilians were actually moving along the edge of the river through a trench line. That's what pretty much tipped me off that something was up. I orientated my weapon toward them to engage them on the trench line, and that's when our truck was hit by a wire-guided rocket.

ZAHN: Now, this is something you had been trained for to endure. Describe to us what it was like being under that kind of fire.

HORGAN: It was -- at first, you know, when we were driving through Iraq, it didn't really seem like we were in war yet. It definitely wasn't like how like the old movies make it seem where you're fighting right on the ground. But a lot of it was waiting, a lot of it was encountering people that weren't combatants. And once I heard that pop of the rocket going off, I knew that I was in the middle of it now.

And so as I watched it fly toward us, there was a million things that went through my head. At first, I thought, oh, you know, we're being shot at, this is the real deal now. And then I thought, am I going to die because I didn't realize it ahead of time? Or I couldn't do anything about it. And then I thought, no, it's going to hit the truck, I'm going to lose both of my legs, and I have to tell the guys inside of the vehicle.

And that's when I yelled, 'RPG,' and once I finished yelling that, it impacted on the vehicle and blew both Sergeant Villafane, my truck commander, out of the side and it blew me out of the top of the turret.

ZAHN: And how seriously injured were you?

HORGAN: At first, my legs were real numb. I couldn't really feel it. I didn't think I was hit that bad. I knew both of my legs were still there, so I was pretty relieved about that.

As I jumped out the side of the vehicle, I saw that I couldn't support my weight. I looked at my foot, and my boot was hanging off in a way I thought my foot was gone. But as it turns out, I just got some heavy shrapnel through the bottom. I still can't walk on it, and it's going to be a long time before that happens. But no, like, major tendon damage or fractures, believe it or not. So I came out of it really lucky.

ZAHN: Boy, you were lucky. How much pain are you in?

HORGAN: Well, right now I'm on a lot of Percocet, so I'm actually not in a great deal of pain, but at the moment after they had gotten me back to the hospitals, I was in like the most pain I've ever felt in my life. It was definitely like something I have never experienced.

ZAHN: Your story gives us a very good sense of what allied forces are up against. We heard at a briefing just now that the Iraqis are actually pulling children out of homes, telling their parents they will be executed if they don't join the fight. And as you know, a lot of those fighting are in civilian clothes.

Just, as we close out this interview, give our audience a sense of just how dangerous it is out there.

HORGAN: It's pretty bad. You know, the soldiers can't tell, like, who are really the combatants, and they're going to get -- I think -- I know I would feel jaded if I was out there, because if they are dressing as civilians, then you don't know who is the enemy anymore. And I definitely -- nobody, in my unit especially, wants to kill a civilian or kill somebody that's innocent, but they're going to make it really difficult for us to discern who is good or bad, and that's a shame, really it is.

ZAHN: Well, we hope you have a speedy recovery. I know your doctors say you're a strong fighter, and that you will battle back here.

When do you think you're going to be walking again? HORGAN: I don't think it's going to be for a couple of months still.

ZAHN: I'm sorry, I didn't hear your answer.

HORGAN: It's going to be quite a few months from now still.

ZAHN: Well, we wish you luck, and I know you're going to have to fight hard to win back your strength, but we salute your bravery. And thank you very much for sharing your story with us this morning.

HORGAN: Thank you.

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