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CNN Live At Daybreak
America Strikes Back: Look at Marine Forces
Aired October 29, 2001 - 08:53 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.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: When they say "send in the Marines," these are usually the first guys on the scene. They are called the Marine Expeditionary Unit, or MEU for short.
Our retired general here, Don Shepperd here with us.
General, good morning to you on a Monday.
DON SHEPPERD, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Good morning.
HEMMER: General, first of all, we have not heard much from the Marines just yet. When do you expect the to take a part, an active role in overseas.
The simple answer to that is, whenever General Franks, the commander-in-chief is ready, Bill. The Taliban have to be worried come off the ships they have reportedly been stationed right now. At any time, they could be moved in if we established a base, they could be moved in on their own, so they are a threat to the Taliban wherever they are.
HEMMER: I want to take a look, general, at some recent videotape, U.S. Marines practicing in an amphibious assault exercise in Southern California. Now all of these Marines here are special operations capable. We stress the word "capable,"because there is a distinction here.
SHEPPERD: They are not special operation forces. The special operations forces are in and out, seizures. The Marines go in, and they basically stay, although they can come out very quickly also. They are very much more heavily armed.
HEMMER: I want to get back to that in a moment, but first, I want to show you some animation here that we can take our Marines overseas, and specifically, if we look right down here on the right- hand corner of the Arabian Sea right here, as we put the animation in motion and fly it in, give you an idea of what's happening in the water there. Start with the Tarawa, an amphibious assault ship, part of a small fleet, carries about 2,000 Marines, tanks, helicopters, other things that you just mentioned, General, and again, as we move along here, the Austin class. This is an amphibious transport dock, and the Harpers Ferry Class. It's a landing ship dock.
But back to the assault ship first. Much like a mini aircraft carrier, a couple of things to point out right here. That's the C- Cobra, It's an attack helicopter. As that leaves the deck first, we move down and pinpoint the Harrier. This is the jump jet that can take off an land vertically, as that leaves the deck. The third piece of hardware here is the Seanaut, a massive helicopter with dual props. onboard. It can be used many times for heavy transport, like carrying vehicles, that we mentioned. Then the sea stallion here, the fourth item here, can fly Marines deep inland, behind enemy lines.
HEMMER: And as they leave the deck here, general, tell us what kind of firepower they've be carrying.
SHEPPERD: I think at least people as Naval infantry, self- contained Naval infantry. They take with them what they need. And when they go in, they have things such as LAVs -- light armored vehicles, with 25 mm guns. They have machine guns. They have mortars. They have 155 howitzers. They have tow anti-vehicle and anti-tank weapons, and the javelins as well. They are heavily armed. On the other hand, they are still light infantry, when you of think of a heavy division.
HEMMER: You talk about weaponry. As we're showing animation here, it's still a long distance from the Arabian Sea into Afghanistan. What kind of problems could that pose for this type of unit?
SHEPPERD: When we think of World War II, we think of Marine storming the beach at Iwo Jima and Tarawa and what have you. That's not what this is going to be. Remember, the beaches here are in Pakistan.
Remember that in Kosovo operation, they went through Greece, and then drove to seen of action. They can go by land. They can go by sea. They can go by air. A very flexible force, that is self- contained, and takes with them everything they need to defend themselves and do the military action against which they're targeting.
HEMMER: Very quickly, you mentioned the Tarawa and the other two ships we saw floating there. What service did they provide?
SHEPPERD: Well, basically, reportedly the ships there are the Pelalu (ph), the Comstock, and the Dubuque (ph). The Pelalu is the amphibious assault ship, a mini carrier, if you will, that contains the launch capability. The Comstock is a dock landing ship. And the Dubuque is a dock transport ship. Think of the other two as support ships that enable him to move things on land.
HEMMER: So a lot to keep track of. Thank you, general.
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