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CNN Live At Daybreak
America's New War: American Troops Mobilizing for War
Aired September 25, 2001 - 08:26 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: American troops are ready to move into action again. In fact, some are already mobilizing.
CNN's Jeff Flock is with us this morning. He joins us from the 126th Air Refueling Wing at Scott Air Force Base in Belleville, Illinois -- good morning, Jeff.
JEFF FLOCK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Paula.
Perhaps you can see the sun coming up here at Scott Air Force Base, and I am joined by a senior commander of the 126th Air Refueling Wing, Illinois National Guard.
You folks are at the ready now, aren't you?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE, NATIONAL GUARD: We always are, and this is just another day in southern Illinois, getting ready to do today's missions.
FLOCK: Now, what are we looking at here? We're surrounded by aircraft . What are these aircraft?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE, NATIONAL GUARD: This is a KC-135, the original name was a stratotanker, and it is a refueling aircraft.
FLOCK: These are the ones that go up and are essentially a mobile gas station.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE, NATIONAL GUARD: Right. This airplane holds about 36,000 gallons of gas, and we can give it away to receivers of NATO countries or our own nation, as well as use it to get from point A to point B.
FLOCK: Now, we are all -- CNN is all around the country this day and this week looking at the various assets of the military.
Give me a sense of what we're looking at here. We're right here in the tail section of this aircraft. And is this -- what is this, the boom here that comes out?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE, NATIONAL GUARD: Right, this actually the business section of the airplane, and this is where we actually do the offloading of the fuel. And the boom operator will lay down on a couch in a recline position and extend the boom down and out. And the receivers will come up and get their fuel that way.
FLOCK: Now, you're looking through -- we've got windows here that you're looking out of?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE, NATIONAL GUARD: This is called a sighting window, and the boom operator will actually pull that out of the way, and he'll lay down and actually extend the boom with controls and do that. So you'll get a clear view of the aircraft you're refueling.
FLOCK: Can you essential refuel any aircraft? You're talking B- 2s, B-1, B-52s.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE, NATIONAL GUARD: There's very few that we can't refuel. There's a mere handful, so just about everything designed today, and over the last 40 years, is refuelable.
(CROSSTALK)
FLOCK: And you're going to take us up on one your training missions this morning, correct?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE, NATIONAL GUARD: That's correct.
FLOCK: And what are we going to see?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE, NATIONAL GUARD: I believe you're going to see F-16s today, which is a common-used fighter both in the Air and National Guard, and around the world in NATO countries.
FLOCK: Before we get away here, I need to ask you what's going through your mind now? You're on the list to mobilize. You're not mobilizing yet.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE, NATIONAL GUARD: That's correct.
FLOCK: How do you prepare?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE, NATIONAL GUARD: Well, preparation is a part of the -- is the name of the game for any Guard member. So right now at home, everybody is preparing, you know, in case we do get called up and talking to their employers, talking to their families and just getting mentally focused on what we have to do.
We train on a day-to-day basis to do exactly what we're going to do in war or like as in now, in peacetime for us, because our mission is, as you know, we haven't been mobilized yet. So that's how we prepare.
FLOCK: OK. Sir, I appreciate the time.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE, NATIONAL GUARD: My pleasure.
FLOCK: Thanks very much for it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE, NATIONAL GUARD: Thank you. FLOCK: Paula, as we said, we are going to get aboard this aircraft here in about -- I think it's about two hours' time. And then we'll be back later in the day on CNN to let you know how it all turned out and show you up close and personal how these folks make a living -- back to you.
ZAHN: All right. Fly safely -- thanks, Jeff -- appreciate that report.
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