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CNN Live At Daybreak
Mission in Iraq: Troop Rotation
Aired January 29, 2004 - 05:39 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.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And the U.S. Army is using emergency authority to temporarily add 30,000 troops to its forces for four years.
Our Karl Pinhole is in Iraq with details on a massive effort to rotate troops and equipment.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): U.S. Marines back in Iraq. A trickle now, but soon it'll be a flood.
These are some of the planners paving the way for the big switch- out.
At this base in Iraq's guerrilla heartland, around 6,050 Marines will arrive for a year, so that some 4,000 paratroopers, here since September, can go home.
It's a battle, not a bullet, but logistics.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The easiest part is just getting our people here. It's easy to fly them in and we can get people here very quickly. But it's the support that goes along with that. The communications, for example. The vehicles....
PENHAUL (on camera): The Pentagon says roughly a quarter of a million troops are involved in the rotation across Iraq -- roughly half of those arriving while the other half leave -- hundreds of thousands of tons of equipment and tens of thousands of trucks like these.
(voice-over): Planning the move may not be a surgical operation like this one Marines watched on a tour of base medical facilities, but it does demand precision, calculating everything from food and water to how many portable toilets are needed.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our business is all about sustaining the momentum from (ph) that operation. So when you do it well, then it's not front-page news. And that's OK.
PENHAUL: Getting it wrong could leave troops without the tools to fight insurgents in the surrounding Sunni Triangle.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I feel (UNINTELLIGIBLE) again. Why? Because even though, like I said, the Army has done a good job already, but we're still got a lot of - a lot of work to do. PENHAUL: Tactics may change when the switch-out is complete. The Marines say they may be able to step community building, thanks to the Army's success in cracking down on the guerrilla insurgency.
But the pace of events on the battlefield that lies beyond this Howitzer emplacement will dictate exactly when the guns will finally silent.
With perhaps still two months to go before they see family and loved ones again, these soldiers aren't getting too excited just yet. But that doesn't stop some, like Private 1st Class Ismeralda Mendez (ph) dreaming about the first thing she's going to do.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's the first thing I'm going to do. (UNINTELLIGIBLE), sit on my couch and watch a couple movies.
PENHAUL: Time now for Marine Sergeant Nunez (ph) to take care of little things, salvaging unguarded plywood to make his desk.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are procreating.
PENHAUL: Karl Penhaul, CNN, near Fallujah, Iraq.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
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 January 29, 2004 - 05:39 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And the U.S. Army is using emergency authority to temporarily add 30,000 troops to its forces for four years.
Our Karl Pinhole is in Iraq with details on a massive effort to rotate troops and equipment.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): U.S. Marines back in Iraq. A trickle now, but soon it'll be a flood.
These are some of the planners paving the way for the big switch- out.
At this base in Iraq's guerrilla heartland, around 6,050 Marines will arrive for a year, so that some 4,000 paratroopers, here since September, can go home.
It's a battle, not a bullet, but logistics.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The easiest part is just getting our people here. It's easy to fly them in and we can get people here very quickly. But it's the support that goes along with that. The communications, for example. The vehicles....
PENHAUL (on camera): The Pentagon says roughly a quarter of a million troops are involved in the rotation across Iraq -- roughly half of those arriving while the other half leave -- hundreds of thousands of tons of equipment and tens of thousands of trucks like these.
(voice-over): Planning the move may not be a surgical operation like this one Marines watched on a tour of base medical facilities, but it does demand precision, calculating everything from food and water to how many portable toilets are needed.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our business is all about sustaining the momentum from (ph) that operation. So when you do it well, then it's not front-page news. And that's OK.
PENHAUL: Getting it wrong could leave troops without the tools to fight insurgents in the surrounding Sunni Triangle.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I feel (UNINTELLIGIBLE) again. Why? Because even though, like I said, the Army has done a good job already, but we're still got a lot of - a lot of work to do. PENHAUL: Tactics may change when the switch-out is complete. The Marines say they may be able to step community building, thanks to the Army's success in cracking down on the guerrilla insurgency.
But the pace of events on the battlefield that lies beyond this Howitzer emplacement will dictate exactly when the guns will finally silent.
With perhaps still two months to go before they see family and loved ones again, these soldiers aren't getting too excited just yet. But that doesn't stop some, like Private 1st Class Ismeralda Mendez (ph) dreaming about the first thing she's going to do.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's the first thing I'm going to do. (UNINTELLIGIBLE), sit on my couch and watch a couple movies.
PENHAUL: Time now for Marine Sergeant Nunez (ph) to take care of little things, salvaging unguarded plywood to make his desk.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are procreating.
PENHAUL: Karl Penhaul, CNN, near Fallujah, Iraq.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
