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Troops Undergo Screening, Immunizations
Aired February 13, 2003 - 14:03 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.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Now, CNN's David Mattingly live from Fort Campbell -- David.
DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, this mobilization station is where troops come in, about 20,000 of them before all is said and done, to take care of all that personal business they have to take care of before they deploy. First and foremost are the shots right now. They have got a lot of immunizations to take. Some of the unlucky soldiers are probably going to have to take as many as a dozen shots before they actually get out of here, so a lot of sore arms here at Fort Campbell right now.
But so much has been learned from the Gulf War about what the needs of the soldiers are in terms of financial and for family support that this is what you see going on back here. And with us right now is Chief Warrant Officer Shawn Hickey. You're in charge of all of this operation. It seems to be going smoothly. But what exactly -- what sort of services are you providing for troops now that weren't available 10 years ago?
LT. SHAWN HICKEY, 101ST AIRBORNE: We're providing a mental survey that helps the soldier understand if his family members and loved ones are prepared, as far as them deploying. We realized in Desert Storm that we didn't really have those capabilities. So what we did was we implemented the mental health survey, and it talks to the soldier in reference to asking him is his family prepared, is he prepared, and his loved ones prepared.
MATTINGLY: We have a picture of that right here. This is the survey that you're talking about. There is just this one question right here, do you believe you are adequately, psychologically, emotionally, and financially prepared for deployment? The Army never asked that question before. Why is it so important now?
HICKEY: Because they realized that as soldiers deploy, they have families that's left in the rear. And if they're not taken care of, then the soldiers that's defending the country is going to be more nervous. They're not going to be able to perform their duties because they're worried about their loved ones back home.
MATTINGLY: And one of those soldiers that is here trying take care of some of those personal (UNINTELLIGIBLE), Sergeant Darcela Barlow. What did you want to come here and take care of? You have children you're leaving behind?
SGT. DARCELA BARLOW, 101ST AIRBORNE: Yes, I do. I wanted to come here and make sure if something happens to me in harm's way that my kids back home are taken care of.
MATTINGLY: There are stations here for financial things, banking to make sure your bills are paid on time?
BARLOW: That's correct.
MATTINGLY: Also a legal station for power of attorney, also for wills.
BARLOW: That's correct.
MATTINGLY: What was most important to you to get taken care of?
BARLOW: Today I needed to come here. I am going to have someone take care of my utilities for my house, so it is important that I had a power of attorney to have my utilities paid for, for someone to come in in my place and pay for my utilities while I'm away.
MATTINGLY: All right. Thank you very much. So many individual needs to take care of, and the Army is trying to take care of them before the troops move out of here. And right now, we go to John Zarrella in Florida where the equipment for this unit is now being loaded -- John.
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN MIAMI BUREAU CHIEF: That's right, David. Much of the equipment that is needed over in the Persian Gulf war, the 101st "Screaming Eagles" is being loaded here onto giant cargo ships. This is the U.S. Navy ship Dahl. There are six decks on this ship capable of carrying 394,000 square feet of equipment. It is an enormous ship built in 1999.
Now, this ship is really a response to the Persian Gulf War, where it took something like six months to move the equipment needed over to the Persian Gulf region. Now they can move the equipment they need in 60 days. Loading is being underway right now. We can see from one of our other camera vantage points, an enormous amount of road-grading equipment. We have got some half tracks, we have got front loaders and bulldozers, earth movers all lined up down here now, ready to be loaded onto the Dahl for the journey overseas.
Now, we have also got what you can see are shrink-wrapped helicopters out there. And those helicopters were all flown in here last week, shrink wrapped for protection, and also for security measures.
Now, we had a chance to talk yesterday with a couple of the mechanics that work on these helicopters, and as with any of these military toys, these folks, these guys have their own favorite weapons of choice.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm very partial to the 30 Mike, the 30 millimeter gun that's on there. That's something that you tend to need to get up close and personal, and to see a 10-round burst or a 20-round burst, it just lights it all up. (END VIDEO CLIP)
ZARRELLA: Now, the ship is expected to leave here in a couple of days, several others following that. And what you can see right now are one of those zodiac Coast Guard fast boats. They are providing security, along with a Coast Guard cutter for the loading operations here on board the Dahl and on the U.S. Navy ship, the Bob Hope, an identical ship to this one.
And again, these ships should be heading out here in the next couple of days. It takes roughly three weeks to get across the pond. Exact whereabouts and where the U.S. Army's 101st Screaming Eagles are going to be setting up base is being kept a pretty closely guarded secret -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right. John Zarrella live from Florida.
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 February 13, 2003 - 14:03 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Now, CNN's David Mattingly live from Fort Campbell -- David.
DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, this mobilization station is where troops come in, about 20,000 of them before all is said and done, to take care of all that personal business they have to take care of before they deploy. First and foremost are the shots right now. They have got a lot of immunizations to take. Some of the unlucky soldiers are probably going to have to take as many as a dozen shots before they actually get out of here, so a lot of sore arms here at Fort Campbell right now.
But so much has been learned from the Gulf War about what the needs of the soldiers are in terms of financial and for family support that this is what you see going on back here. And with us right now is Chief Warrant Officer Shawn Hickey. You're in charge of all of this operation. It seems to be going smoothly. But what exactly -- what sort of services are you providing for troops now that weren't available 10 years ago?
LT. SHAWN HICKEY, 101ST AIRBORNE: We're providing a mental survey that helps the soldier understand if his family members and loved ones are prepared, as far as them deploying. We realized in Desert Storm that we didn't really have those capabilities. So what we did was we implemented the mental health survey, and it talks to the soldier in reference to asking him is his family prepared, is he prepared, and his loved ones prepared.
MATTINGLY: We have a picture of that right here. This is the survey that you're talking about. There is just this one question right here, do you believe you are adequately, psychologically, emotionally, and financially prepared for deployment? The Army never asked that question before. Why is it so important now?
HICKEY: Because they realized that as soldiers deploy, they have families that's left in the rear. And if they're not taken care of, then the soldiers that's defending the country is going to be more nervous. They're not going to be able to perform their duties because they're worried about their loved ones back home.
MATTINGLY: And one of those soldiers that is here trying take care of some of those personal (UNINTELLIGIBLE), Sergeant Darcela Barlow. What did you want to come here and take care of? You have children you're leaving behind?
SGT. DARCELA BARLOW, 101ST AIRBORNE: Yes, I do. I wanted to come here and make sure if something happens to me in harm's way that my kids back home are taken care of.
MATTINGLY: There are stations here for financial things, banking to make sure your bills are paid on time?
BARLOW: That's correct.
MATTINGLY: Also a legal station for power of attorney, also for wills.
BARLOW: That's correct.
MATTINGLY: What was most important to you to get taken care of?
BARLOW: Today I needed to come here. I am going to have someone take care of my utilities for my house, so it is important that I had a power of attorney to have my utilities paid for, for someone to come in in my place and pay for my utilities while I'm away.
MATTINGLY: All right. Thank you very much. So many individual needs to take care of, and the Army is trying to take care of them before the troops move out of here. And right now, we go to John Zarrella in Florida where the equipment for this unit is now being loaded -- John.
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN MIAMI BUREAU CHIEF: That's right, David. Much of the equipment that is needed over in the Persian Gulf war, the 101st "Screaming Eagles" is being loaded here onto giant cargo ships. This is the U.S. Navy ship Dahl. There are six decks on this ship capable of carrying 394,000 square feet of equipment. It is an enormous ship built in 1999.
Now, this ship is really a response to the Persian Gulf War, where it took something like six months to move the equipment needed over to the Persian Gulf region. Now they can move the equipment they need in 60 days. Loading is being underway right now. We can see from one of our other camera vantage points, an enormous amount of road-grading equipment. We have got some half tracks, we have got front loaders and bulldozers, earth movers all lined up down here now, ready to be loaded onto the Dahl for the journey overseas.
Now, we have also got what you can see are shrink-wrapped helicopters out there. And those helicopters were all flown in here last week, shrink wrapped for protection, and also for security measures.
Now, we had a chance to talk yesterday with a couple of the mechanics that work on these helicopters, and as with any of these military toys, these folks, these guys have their own favorite weapons of choice.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm very partial to the 30 Mike, the 30 millimeter gun that's on there. That's something that you tend to need to get up close and personal, and to see a 10-round burst or a 20-round burst, it just lights it all up. (END VIDEO CLIP)
ZARRELLA: Now, the ship is expected to leave here in a couple of days, several others following that. And what you can see right now are one of those zodiac Coast Guard fast boats. They are providing security, along with a Coast Guard cutter for the loading operations here on board the Dahl and on the U.S. Navy ship, the Bob Hope, an identical ship to this one.
And again, these ships should be heading out here in the next couple of days. It takes roughly three weeks to get across the pond. Exact whereabouts and where the U.S. Army's 101st Screaming Eagles are going to be setting up base is being kept a pretty closely guarded secret -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right. John Zarrella live from Florida.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
