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Will Kerry's Military Records on the Web Put to Rest Controversy Over Whether His Medals Were All Deserved?
Aired April 22, 2004 - 14:30 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: A Texas-sized homecoming celebration after a year of service in Iraq. Thousands of troops with the 4th Infantry Division returned to Fort Hood, Texas today. They were greeted by crowds of cheering family members, of course.
Disaster on the rails of North Korea. South Korea media say two trains carrying flammable materials exploded today at a train station northwest of the capital Pyongyang. According to reports, a large number of people were killed in that explosion.
Attorneys for singer Michael Jackson say he will plead not guilty after being indicted by a California grand jury. The exact charges of the indictment are unclear. In January, Jackson pleaded innocent to seven felony counts of lewd or lascivious counts.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Now, that Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry's military records are on the Web, do they put to rest controversy over whether his medals were all deserved? CNN national correspondent Kelly Wallace takes a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KELLY WALLACE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): On the campaign Web site more than 100 pages of documents which Kerry's advisers say put to rest any questions about whether Kerry deserved three Purple Hearts for his Vietnam service.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: John Kerry has a record in the military that he's running on not running from.
WALLACE: A Purple Heart, military experts say, is awarded to a soldier wounded by enemy fire. The documents provide details of the injuries which earned Kerry his second and third Purple Hearts. Shrapnel wounds when he came under fire, more shrapnel wounds and contusions when a mine detonated in another incident.
But regarding his first Purple Heart, Kerry's military records don't specify his injuries or how he was wounded. His former commanding officer told the Boston Globe he had questioned whether Kerry's boat had taken enemy fire.
The campaign showed CNN what it called a sick call treatment record from Kerry's personal files describing a shrapnel wound to his left arm. KERRY: Those of us who were there know what happened. It hasn't been questioned in 35 years. Obviously in presidential races politics are politics and I understand that but I'm proud of my service.
WALLACE: The documents are filled with praise one superior saying in combat Kerry was unsurpassed. He was awarded the Bronze Star for saving a fellow soldier's life and the Silver Star, one of the highest honors for battle.
(on camera): And when he came home, he protested the war. Thursday marks 33 years since he spoke out before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, actions that angered many of the same Vietnam veterans who are most vigorously questioning the awards Kerry received.
Kelly Wallace, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Close-up pictures of Princess Diana the night she died in that car crash go prime time here in the U.S. A lot of people are furious.
O'BRIEN: Legal troubles piling up for Michael Jackson. A former spiritual adviser to the King of Pop, or so he claims, shares his perspective.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Well, the homecoming celebration for troops in Fort Hood is being compared to Woodstock. Some A-list celebrities are taking time to welcome soldiers back into form. Rapper Ludacris is standing for the troops today. He joins us live from Fort Hood, Texas. Ludacris, good to see you.
LUDACRIS, RAPPER: Good to see you, too.
PHILLIPS: All right, well first of all, tell me what you're going to perform tonight?
LUDACRIS: You know I have three whole albums. So I might do a little collaboration of all of them. You never know with me, you know? Life is a surprise.
But I'm just here for the family, I'm here to show my support for all the troops. And, of course, the troops that are still over there. And that's what I'm doing here, you know, for the people that risk their lives for the country.
And it's feeling real good right now, taking pictures, signing autographs, doing whatever I have to do. You know? People seeing another side of me.
But they think it's another side of me. This is just how I am all the time. They don't realize that. PHILLIPS: You know what, that's exactly what I was going to say. I was shocked when I heard that I was going to have a chance to interview you and that you were there performing because I followed some of your music. We've been talking about you today.
So why don't you tell us about that other side of you. Are you patriotic? Tell me why you're in support of these men and women.
LUDACRIS: Yes, I'm definitely patriotic. I'm in support of anything positive. You know my music has a lot of versatility to it. You know a lot of it is real. And it's just displaying real life and what goes on in neighborhoods.
But today I'm just here in support, like I said. And that's something that -- I have a non-profit organization Called the Ludacris Foundation which is geared towards helping kids help themselves. And just being here in the midst of all these families, it feels good. So, you know, there you have it.
PHILLIPS: Did the soldiers come up to you, Ludacris, and say, you know what? You gave me a time that your music over there in Iraq where I can just sort of compartmentalize, get away from everything and just listen to the lyrics.
LUDACRIS: I'm getting a lot of support from all these soldiers. You know, it's overwhelming right now. And of course, all the kids and all the families.
But I talked to a lot of the soldiers. And it uplifts them the same way they're uplifting and protecting the country. So I feel as if I'm doing my part and I'm happy about that.
PHILLIPS: Well they give you the freedom to do what your doing, yes?
LUDACRIS: Yes. See, music is all about emotion. So if I can motivate them emotionally to do anything, then I feel good about it.
PHILLIPS: I got to ask you before we let you go. What do you think of Saddam Hussein?
LUDACRIS: Let's just say I'm happy that he's captured. And that's all that needs to be known.
PHILLIPS: I'm waiting for the next rap song.
Ludacris, you have fun tonight. I know a lot of the soldiers are exciting about seeing you perform.
LUDACRIS: Yes, man, I'm excited about performing also. Thanks for having me.
PHILLIPS: You bet. Take care.
O'BRIEN: Well, they help save lives on the front lines in Iraq, but you rarely see them in the spotlight. We'll change all that after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: News around the world for you now. Outrage after photographs of a dying Princess Diana show up on CBS' "48 Hours" British Prime Minister Tony Blair calls them distasteful, British tabloids describe them as horrific. A CBS spokeswoman says pictures of Diana being treated by a doctor in the back set of her car are appropriate.
An art theater in Tel Aviv plans to show Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ." It's a controversial film everywhere, especially in Israel. Some Knesset members had considered banning it, but the theater director made a concession. The showing will be followed by a discussion of claims that the film is anti-Semitic.
PHILLIPS: Some advice for Michael Jackson. It comes from an Orthodox rabbi who once says he was Jackson's closest spiritual adviser. Rabbi Shmuley Boteach talked about the grand jury indictment and more with CNN's Bill Hemmer.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RABBI SHMULEY BOTEACH, JACKSON'S FORMER SPIRITUAL ADVISER: The shock came after the arrest. When you see someone you're very, you know, you care about and you were once close to being taken away in handcuffs, I don't think it gets more shocking than that.
The real shocking thing to me is that Michael's life is in serious decline, even without this indictment. And that he has not sort of gotten that there has to be major changes. Because even if Michael, god willing, is completely exonerated from this, it's not as if he's suddenly going to be taken back into the bosom of America.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: If I could, back to the point coming out of California already. You have repeatedly said that you don't believe he's a pedophile.
BOTEACH: I'm a critic of Michael.
HEMMER: You're a critic of him?
BOTEACH: My criticism of Michael is his self-absorption, the whole celebrity thing where he needs to feel like he's worshipped. But I
have never seen anything that would lead me to believe that Michael is a pedophile. In fact, the more I read in newspapers about these details coming out, I find them so shocking and so difficult to believe. But, you know, what can I tell you? A man is presumed innocent.
My advice to someone like Benjamin Brafman especially would be is that Michael really needs help. I mean to get his life together. And if there is any truth to this -- and I truly hope there is not. And he, of course, retains the presumption of innocence. But don't even go to trial, you know, because, as I said, exoneration in the courtroom does not mean exoneration in the wider life.
HEMMER: You're saying settle out of court, is what you're saying? Or just get ready to (UNINTELLIGIBLE)?
BOTEACH: If they believe there is any truth to this whatsoever, Michael's got to get his life together. This is very sad, you know, because I care about him. A lot of people care about him. But Michael's life is not in a healthy state.
But I still don't believe he's a pedophile. I've never seen anything to lead me to believe that he's a pedophile.
HEMMER: You last spoke to him in the summer of 2001, right?
BOTEACH: Correct.
HEMMER: And you have not spoken to him since, right?
BOTEACH: Correct.
HEMMER: It makes me wonder how close the two of you are.
BOTEACH: Well, we're not close now. We were once extremely close. But I can't stand by and watch someone I care about so deteriorate. My influence was totally negated. I'm not a groupie. I'm not going to just be a hanger on. I mean anyone who looks at Michael's life, if he's not going to seek counsel and really make changes, he will discredit anyone who's in his circle. And I couldn't let that happen. We exchange messages to each other.
But I'll tell you the truth, I mean my great fear, to be honest, and why I felt I had to be distanced from Michael is I never believed he would be arrested as a pedophile. My fear was that he would not live long. My fear was that Michael's life would be cut short.
HEMMER: What are you suggesting?
BOTEACH: Well, I'm suggesting that when you have no ingredients of a healthy life, when you are totally detached from that which is normal and when you are a super celebrity, you, god forbid, end up like Janis Joplin, like Elvis. Elvis was Michael's father-in-law, let's remember. And Michael is headed in that direction.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Jackson's family has denied his life is in any way unhealthy. They say he's doing well, especially for someone who is under so much pressure.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(MARKET UPDATE)
O'BRIEN: Next, the military men and women who don't always get the glory for their war effort.
PHILLIPS: A star studded party at Fort Hood today for the 4th Infantry Division just back from Iraq. We'll go there live.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Getting medical supplies. U.S. troops in Iraq can mean the difference between life and death. So CNN's Beth Nissen takes us behind the scenes of a major supply center with an inside look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BETH NISSEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The United States Army material center in Germany is 3,000 miles from the fighting in Fallujah and Najaf. But those who work here say they are a vital part of U.S. operations in Iraq.
MAJ. BRAD SNOW, CHIEF OF DISTRIBUTION AND TRANSPORTATION: This is an important part of the battlefield as far as we're concerned. When we see the reports about another soldier injured or something, we know that the medical supplies that those guys are being treated with came out of here.
NISSEN: The material center handles medical supplies for U.S. military services throughout Europe, Asia and parts of Africa. But it is the field hospitals, battalion aid stations and combat medics in Iraq that are foremost on everyone's mind.
COL. JETTAKA SIGNAIGO, COMMANDER, USAMMCE: Our failure to deliver could mean the difference between life and death. If you have got a young 18-year-old who has been traumatically injured out in the middle of the desert, the minute that surgeon turns to a nurse or a medic and says, hand me this, and they say, we don't have that, I don't want to be on the end where I've got to knock on that mother's door to tell her that her son didn't make it because we didn't have a simple product for them in the desert.
NISSEN: The center can send any of 40,000 medical products to doctors and medical officer and medics down range in Iraq.
LT. COM. BYRON OWENS, CHIEF CUSTOMER SUPPORT: They can range anywhere from batteries that are used in medical equipment to medical gloves, pharmaceutical, narcotics. Just about anything that deals with the medical world, we pretty much carry.
NISSEN: The center's 400 Army, Air Force and Navy troops and U.S. and German civilians fill as many 4,000 supply orders a day, are working night shifts to assemble medical kits, including combat lifesaver bags carried by combat medics. Controllers try to adjust production and shipping to anticipate battlefield needs. But it is more art than science.
OWENS: Once they're on the ground and they start receiving casualties, that's when we find out what it is they really need.
NISSEN: Emergency orders can be shipped in 24 hours if requested supplies are among the 9,000 in warehouse stock. SNOW: They call us up and say, look, I gotta have this in X hours or else I'm going to lose this patient, we want them to have the confidence that, when they call us, we're going to make it happen.
NISSEN: With every escalation in fighting, demand for medical supplies spikes. The center's command says that, on one Saturday this month, workers processed 586 high-priority requests for trauma supplies, more than they normally process in a month. They have to work fast, concentrate, carefully pack and check thousands of items, from pressure bandages to temperature-sensitive medications.
MAJ. THOMAS WIECZOREK, CHIEF OF RECEIVING AND STORAGE: We have things that require special handling. Things have to be double- checked before we ship it. Sending the wrong item could mean literally the difference between life and death.
NISSEN: So can getting the right items from the warehouse by cargo plane and convoy to the troops in the sand.
SIGNAIGO: There are never enough transportation resources. The toughest mile is always the last mile to the unit in the front lines to get the materiel forward.
NISSEN: Those in support operation far from the forward lines get little glory. They shrug off colleagues who refer to them somewhat dismissively as the box kickers.
SPC. TYRONE VERBELL, U.S. ARMY: We're not looked at as what people see on the TV and, oh, they're heroes, they're doing this and they're doing that. We're in the background.
SNOW: We don't get a lot of recognition. People kind of take it for granted that the food, fuel, beans and Band-Aids are always going to be there.
NISSEN: In the right quantity, in the right place, at the right time.
Beth Nissen, CNN, Pirmasens, Germany.
(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 April 22, 2004 - 14:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: A Texas-sized homecoming celebration after a year of service in Iraq. Thousands of troops with the 4th Infantry Division returned to Fort Hood, Texas today. They were greeted by crowds of cheering family members, of course.
Disaster on the rails of North Korea. South Korea media say two trains carrying flammable materials exploded today at a train station northwest of the capital Pyongyang. According to reports, a large number of people were killed in that explosion.
Attorneys for singer Michael Jackson say he will plead not guilty after being indicted by a California grand jury. The exact charges of the indictment are unclear. In January, Jackson pleaded innocent to seven felony counts of lewd or lascivious counts.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Now, that Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry's military records are on the Web, do they put to rest controversy over whether his medals were all deserved? CNN national correspondent Kelly Wallace takes a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KELLY WALLACE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): On the campaign Web site more than 100 pages of documents which Kerry's advisers say put to rest any questions about whether Kerry deserved three Purple Hearts for his Vietnam service.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: John Kerry has a record in the military that he's running on not running from.
WALLACE: A Purple Heart, military experts say, is awarded to a soldier wounded by enemy fire. The documents provide details of the injuries which earned Kerry his second and third Purple Hearts. Shrapnel wounds when he came under fire, more shrapnel wounds and contusions when a mine detonated in another incident.
But regarding his first Purple Heart, Kerry's military records don't specify his injuries or how he was wounded. His former commanding officer told the Boston Globe he had questioned whether Kerry's boat had taken enemy fire.
The campaign showed CNN what it called a sick call treatment record from Kerry's personal files describing a shrapnel wound to his left arm. KERRY: Those of us who were there know what happened. It hasn't been questioned in 35 years. Obviously in presidential races politics are politics and I understand that but I'm proud of my service.
WALLACE: The documents are filled with praise one superior saying in combat Kerry was unsurpassed. He was awarded the Bronze Star for saving a fellow soldier's life and the Silver Star, one of the highest honors for battle.
(on camera): And when he came home, he protested the war. Thursday marks 33 years since he spoke out before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, actions that angered many of the same Vietnam veterans who are most vigorously questioning the awards Kerry received.
Kelly Wallace, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Close-up pictures of Princess Diana the night she died in that car crash go prime time here in the U.S. A lot of people are furious.
O'BRIEN: Legal troubles piling up for Michael Jackson. A former spiritual adviser to the King of Pop, or so he claims, shares his perspective.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Well, the homecoming celebration for troops in Fort Hood is being compared to Woodstock. Some A-list celebrities are taking time to welcome soldiers back into form. Rapper Ludacris is standing for the troops today. He joins us live from Fort Hood, Texas. Ludacris, good to see you.
LUDACRIS, RAPPER: Good to see you, too.
PHILLIPS: All right, well first of all, tell me what you're going to perform tonight?
LUDACRIS: You know I have three whole albums. So I might do a little collaboration of all of them. You never know with me, you know? Life is a surprise.
But I'm just here for the family, I'm here to show my support for all the troops. And, of course, the troops that are still over there. And that's what I'm doing here, you know, for the people that risk their lives for the country.
And it's feeling real good right now, taking pictures, signing autographs, doing whatever I have to do. You know? People seeing another side of me.
But they think it's another side of me. This is just how I am all the time. They don't realize that. PHILLIPS: You know what, that's exactly what I was going to say. I was shocked when I heard that I was going to have a chance to interview you and that you were there performing because I followed some of your music. We've been talking about you today.
So why don't you tell us about that other side of you. Are you patriotic? Tell me why you're in support of these men and women.
LUDACRIS: Yes, I'm definitely patriotic. I'm in support of anything positive. You know my music has a lot of versatility to it. You know a lot of it is real. And it's just displaying real life and what goes on in neighborhoods.
But today I'm just here in support, like I said. And that's something that -- I have a non-profit organization Called the Ludacris Foundation which is geared towards helping kids help themselves. And just being here in the midst of all these families, it feels good. So, you know, there you have it.
PHILLIPS: Did the soldiers come up to you, Ludacris, and say, you know what? You gave me a time that your music over there in Iraq where I can just sort of compartmentalize, get away from everything and just listen to the lyrics.
LUDACRIS: I'm getting a lot of support from all these soldiers. You know, it's overwhelming right now. And of course, all the kids and all the families.
But I talked to a lot of the soldiers. And it uplifts them the same way they're uplifting and protecting the country. So I feel as if I'm doing my part and I'm happy about that.
PHILLIPS: Well they give you the freedom to do what your doing, yes?
LUDACRIS: Yes. See, music is all about emotion. So if I can motivate them emotionally to do anything, then I feel good about it.
PHILLIPS: I got to ask you before we let you go. What do you think of Saddam Hussein?
LUDACRIS: Let's just say I'm happy that he's captured. And that's all that needs to be known.
PHILLIPS: I'm waiting for the next rap song.
Ludacris, you have fun tonight. I know a lot of the soldiers are exciting about seeing you perform.
LUDACRIS: Yes, man, I'm excited about performing also. Thanks for having me.
PHILLIPS: You bet. Take care.
O'BRIEN: Well, they help save lives on the front lines in Iraq, but you rarely see them in the spotlight. We'll change all that after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: News around the world for you now. Outrage after photographs of a dying Princess Diana show up on CBS' "48 Hours" British Prime Minister Tony Blair calls them distasteful, British tabloids describe them as horrific. A CBS spokeswoman says pictures of Diana being treated by a doctor in the back set of her car are appropriate.
An art theater in Tel Aviv plans to show Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ." It's a controversial film everywhere, especially in Israel. Some Knesset members had considered banning it, but the theater director made a concession. The showing will be followed by a discussion of claims that the film is anti-Semitic.
PHILLIPS: Some advice for Michael Jackson. It comes from an Orthodox rabbi who once says he was Jackson's closest spiritual adviser. Rabbi Shmuley Boteach talked about the grand jury indictment and more with CNN's Bill Hemmer.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RABBI SHMULEY BOTEACH, JACKSON'S FORMER SPIRITUAL ADVISER: The shock came after the arrest. When you see someone you're very, you know, you care about and you were once close to being taken away in handcuffs, I don't think it gets more shocking than that.
The real shocking thing to me is that Michael's life is in serious decline, even without this indictment. And that he has not sort of gotten that there has to be major changes. Because even if Michael, god willing, is completely exonerated from this, it's not as if he's suddenly going to be taken back into the bosom of America.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: If I could, back to the point coming out of California already. You have repeatedly said that you don't believe he's a pedophile.
BOTEACH: I'm a critic of Michael.
HEMMER: You're a critic of him?
BOTEACH: My criticism of Michael is his self-absorption, the whole celebrity thing where he needs to feel like he's worshipped. But I
have never seen anything that would lead me to believe that Michael is a pedophile. In fact, the more I read in newspapers about these details coming out, I find them so shocking and so difficult to believe. But, you know, what can I tell you? A man is presumed innocent.
My advice to someone like Benjamin Brafman especially would be is that Michael really needs help. I mean to get his life together. And if there is any truth to this -- and I truly hope there is not. And he, of course, retains the presumption of innocence. But don't even go to trial, you know, because, as I said, exoneration in the courtroom does not mean exoneration in the wider life.
HEMMER: You're saying settle out of court, is what you're saying? Or just get ready to (UNINTELLIGIBLE)?
BOTEACH: If they believe there is any truth to this whatsoever, Michael's got to get his life together. This is very sad, you know, because I care about him. A lot of people care about him. But Michael's life is not in a healthy state.
But I still don't believe he's a pedophile. I've never seen anything to lead me to believe that he's a pedophile.
HEMMER: You last spoke to him in the summer of 2001, right?
BOTEACH: Correct.
HEMMER: And you have not spoken to him since, right?
BOTEACH: Correct.
HEMMER: It makes me wonder how close the two of you are.
BOTEACH: Well, we're not close now. We were once extremely close. But I can't stand by and watch someone I care about so deteriorate. My influence was totally negated. I'm not a groupie. I'm not going to just be a hanger on. I mean anyone who looks at Michael's life, if he's not going to seek counsel and really make changes, he will discredit anyone who's in his circle. And I couldn't let that happen. We exchange messages to each other.
But I'll tell you the truth, I mean my great fear, to be honest, and why I felt I had to be distanced from Michael is I never believed he would be arrested as a pedophile. My fear was that he would not live long. My fear was that Michael's life would be cut short.
HEMMER: What are you suggesting?
BOTEACH: Well, I'm suggesting that when you have no ingredients of a healthy life, when you are totally detached from that which is normal and when you are a super celebrity, you, god forbid, end up like Janis Joplin, like Elvis. Elvis was Michael's father-in-law, let's remember. And Michael is headed in that direction.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Jackson's family has denied his life is in any way unhealthy. They say he's doing well, especially for someone who is under so much pressure.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(MARKET UPDATE)
O'BRIEN: Next, the military men and women who don't always get the glory for their war effort.
PHILLIPS: A star studded party at Fort Hood today for the 4th Infantry Division just back from Iraq. We'll go there live.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Getting medical supplies. U.S. troops in Iraq can mean the difference between life and death. So CNN's Beth Nissen takes us behind the scenes of a major supply center with an inside look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BETH NISSEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The United States Army material center in Germany is 3,000 miles from the fighting in Fallujah and Najaf. But those who work here say they are a vital part of U.S. operations in Iraq.
MAJ. BRAD SNOW, CHIEF OF DISTRIBUTION AND TRANSPORTATION: This is an important part of the battlefield as far as we're concerned. When we see the reports about another soldier injured or something, we know that the medical supplies that those guys are being treated with came out of here.
NISSEN: The material center handles medical supplies for U.S. military services throughout Europe, Asia and parts of Africa. But it is the field hospitals, battalion aid stations and combat medics in Iraq that are foremost on everyone's mind.
COL. JETTAKA SIGNAIGO, COMMANDER, USAMMCE: Our failure to deliver could mean the difference between life and death. If you have got a young 18-year-old who has been traumatically injured out in the middle of the desert, the minute that surgeon turns to a nurse or a medic and says, hand me this, and they say, we don't have that, I don't want to be on the end where I've got to knock on that mother's door to tell her that her son didn't make it because we didn't have a simple product for them in the desert.
NISSEN: The center can send any of 40,000 medical products to doctors and medical officer and medics down range in Iraq.
LT. COM. BYRON OWENS, CHIEF CUSTOMER SUPPORT: They can range anywhere from batteries that are used in medical equipment to medical gloves, pharmaceutical, narcotics. Just about anything that deals with the medical world, we pretty much carry.
NISSEN: The center's 400 Army, Air Force and Navy troops and U.S. and German civilians fill as many 4,000 supply orders a day, are working night shifts to assemble medical kits, including combat lifesaver bags carried by combat medics. Controllers try to adjust production and shipping to anticipate battlefield needs. But it is more art than science.
OWENS: Once they're on the ground and they start receiving casualties, that's when we find out what it is they really need.
NISSEN: Emergency orders can be shipped in 24 hours if requested supplies are among the 9,000 in warehouse stock. SNOW: They call us up and say, look, I gotta have this in X hours or else I'm going to lose this patient, we want them to have the confidence that, when they call us, we're going to make it happen.
NISSEN: With every escalation in fighting, demand for medical supplies spikes. The center's command says that, on one Saturday this month, workers processed 586 high-priority requests for trauma supplies, more than they normally process in a month. They have to work fast, concentrate, carefully pack and check thousands of items, from pressure bandages to temperature-sensitive medications.
MAJ. THOMAS WIECZOREK, CHIEF OF RECEIVING AND STORAGE: We have things that require special handling. Things have to be double- checked before we ship it. Sending the wrong item could mean literally the difference between life and death.
NISSEN: So can getting the right items from the warehouse by cargo plane and convoy to the troops in the sand.
SIGNAIGO: There are never enough transportation resources. The toughest mile is always the last mile to the unit in the front lines to get the materiel forward.
NISSEN: Those in support operation far from the forward lines get little glory. They shrug off colleagues who refer to them somewhat dismissively as the box kickers.
SPC. TYRONE VERBELL, U.S. ARMY: We're not looked at as what people see on the TV and, oh, they're heroes, they're doing this and they're doing that. We're in the background.
SNOW: We don't get a lot of recognition. People kind of take it for granted that the food, fuel, beans and Band-Aids are always going to be there.
NISSEN: In the right quantity, in the right place, at the right time.
Beth Nissen, CNN, Pirmasens, Germany.
(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
