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Sand Storms Halt 101st
Aired March 25, 2003 - 13:19 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.
JUDY WOODRUFF, ANCHOR: We try to take you to our reporters as soon as we're able to get to them. Our Ryan Chilcote is near Nasiriyah and he's with us now on the phone -- Ryan.
RYAN CHILCOTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, with the 101st Airborne at a forward operating base. Actually, not so close to Nasiriyah as much as I am in southern Iraq.
WOODRUFF: And, Ryan, tell us about the scene. What's going on where you are right now?
CHILCOTE: Well, actually, it's just begun to rain, which is very good news here. Because with the rain, perhaps the sand will get a little bit more packed down and we won't have the vicious sandstorms we've been seeing for the last, really, 36 hours here. 101st Airborne's entire helicopter fleet has been grounded.
And a lot of the helicopters that were actually out flying missions when the sandstorm kicked off -- because it kicked off so violently, so quickly, they had to come down, land, wherever they were, whether that was a secure area or not secure.
So, really, very difficult time here. A lot of helicopters have, over the last 36 hours, at various points in time, been sitting on the ground in completely hostile areas, guarded by their pilots and crews, and even some soldiers have been sent out from the base to take care of them.
So really here, the weather -- and I hate to lead with the weather -- has been dictating what's been going on. The 101st Airborne has pretty much been paralyzed in terms of its offensive capability in this war -- Judy.
WOODRUFF: Ryan, you don't have to apologize for talking about the weather, because that is a huge part of any battlefront. Ryan, when you say the 101st has been all but paralyzed, what has it been able to do? I mean, one assumes that they are trying to make the location secure, but just how vulnerable are they right now?
CHILCOTE: Well, what they've been focusing on is -- just a couple days ago, they referred to the FARP, and that means forward area rearming and refueling point, basically a giant gas station for helicopters.
They've been focusing on transforming that FARP that they established literally three days ago, into a forward operating base. In other words, the 101st has been focusing on establishing a proper base inside of Iraq, where it has positioned -- It has been positioning, with a lot of effort, as much of its combat power as possible, so that when it wants to send helicopters on missions it doesn't have to send them, for example, from Kuwait, where they were deployed before Iraq. It can send them from this forward operating base.
And it can have all troops here as well, or as many of its troops as possible, so that they can run missions from here. It's a -- really a milestone in the build up inside Iraq. That's what they've been focusing on, bringing in more troops, bringing in more helicopters, maintaining those helicopters, all the more important because -- particularly because of the bad weather. And that's really what they've been focusing on.
But in terms of offensive operations, using Apache attack helicopters or assault helicopters, they pretty much -- you can forget about it because the weather has been so intense.
WOODRUFF: Ryan Chilcote, I'm going to have to interrupt you. Thanks very much. Describing a very difficult situation there for the 101st.
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 25, 2003 - 13:19 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JUDY WOODRUFF, ANCHOR: We try to take you to our reporters as soon as we're able to get to them. Our Ryan Chilcote is near Nasiriyah and he's with us now on the phone -- Ryan.
RYAN CHILCOTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, with the 101st Airborne at a forward operating base. Actually, not so close to Nasiriyah as much as I am in southern Iraq.
WOODRUFF: And, Ryan, tell us about the scene. What's going on where you are right now?
CHILCOTE: Well, actually, it's just begun to rain, which is very good news here. Because with the rain, perhaps the sand will get a little bit more packed down and we won't have the vicious sandstorms we've been seeing for the last, really, 36 hours here. 101st Airborne's entire helicopter fleet has been grounded.
And a lot of the helicopters that were actually out flying missions when the sandstorm kicked off -- because it kicked off so violently, so quickly, they had to come down, land, wherever they were, whether that was a secure area or not secure.
So, really, very difficult time here. A lot of helicopters have, over the last 36 hours, at various points in time, been sitting on the ground in completely hostile areas, guarded by their pilots and crews, and even some soldiers have been sent out from the base to take care of them.
So really here, the weather -- and I hate to lead with the weather -- has been dictating what's been going on. The 101st Airborne has pretty much been paralyzed in terms of its offensive capability in this war -- Judy.
WOODRUFF: Ryan, you don't have to apologize for talking about the weather, because that is a huge part of any battlefront. Ryan, when you say the 101st has been all but paralyzed, what has it been able to do? I mean, one assumes that they are trying to make the location secure, but just how vulnerable are they right now?
CHILCOTE: Well, what they've been focusing on is -- just a couple days ago, they referred to the FARP, and that means forward area rearming and refueling point, basically a giant gas station for helicopters.
They've been focusing on transforming that FARP that they established literally three days ago, into a forward operating base. In other words, the 101st has been focusing on establishing a proper base inside of Iraq, where it has positioned -- It has been positioning, with a lot of effort, as much of its combat power as possible, so that when it wants to send helicopters on missions it doesn't have to send them, for example, from Kuwait, where they were deployed before Iraq. It can send them from this forward operating base.
And it can have all troops here as well, or as many of its troops as possible, so that they can run missions from here. It's a -- really a milestone in the build up inside Iraq. That's what they've been focusing on, bringing in more troops, bringing in more helicopters, maintaining those helicopters, all the more important because -- particularly because of the bad weather. And that's really what they've been focusing on.
But in terms of offensive operations, using Apache attack helicopters or assault helicopters, they pretty much -- you can forget about it because the weather has been so intense.
WOODRUFF: Ryan Chilcote, I'm going to have to interrupt you. Thanks very much. Describing a very difficult situation there for the 101st.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
