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Training for Battle
Aired December 12, 2005 - 13:31 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, the fires are still burning a day after a string of explosions shook the London area. Took of the new video we just got of an oil depot about 25 miles north of the British capital. Firefighters are still trying to put out these flames, which were sparked by exploding fuel tanks yesterday. Those blasts injured more than 40 people, they blew out windows and forced evacuations as toxic clouds of smoke filled the area. Police believe those blasts were accidental.
The need for U.S. troop presence in Iraq might continue long after this week's elections, and for that reason, the training of U.S. troops for battle must go on.
Let's go now to our Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr. She's been working this special.
Hi, Barbara.
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Kyra.
Well, indeed for the troops still going to Iraq, the training to deal with the insurgency has been stepped up. We went to have a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Take cover!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nobody's hit, right?
STARR (voice-over): These National Guard soldiers are headed to Iraq. On this day, they are first training in Mississippi, training like it's real.
COL. DAVE ELICERIO, MINNESOTA NATL. GUARD: We come out here and train as if we're in a forward-operating base in Iraq.
STARR (on camera): As part of the training, even CNN is searched by soldiers learning to check for suicide bombers.
(voice-over): The man in charge, Lieutenant General Russel Honore, last seen in New Orleans, back doing what he loves, training the troops.
LT. RUSSEL HONORE, COMMANDING GEN., FIRST ARMY: The idea is to train the soldier like they're going to fight. And the soldier must understand that there will be situations in dealing wit the civilians like you see in the background. right here. STARR: To disperse the upset Iraqis, actually civilians hired for the war game, the soldiers decide to use tear gas, fake, but they play it for real and put on gas masks. It's a bad decision. Troops are required to ask for permission to use tear gas, and commanders say in Iraq It's highly unlikely that the use of gas would ever be approved.
To teach a lesson, the trainers hit the soldiers with simulated mortars and rockets. Troops practice one of the most dangerous jobs they will face, escorting convoys, which often come under attack.
Training here focuses on the number-one killer of U.S. troops, improvised-explosive devices, IEDs.
(on camera): The solders in the approaching convoy are about to experience what could happen to them when they get to Iraq.
SGT. JOSHUA STINSON, MINNESOTA NATL. GUARD: The IEDs is what scares everybody the most probably.
HONORE: The IEDs are buried in the side of the road, and the detection from the eye is very hard to pick them up. So the use of binoculars, the ability to sense that there's nobody here. There's normally people at this location. So those are the techniques that the soldiers get to learn.
STARR (voice-over): Everyone is taught to survive the latest insurgent tactics.
SGT. JONATHAN BERKE, MINNESOTA NATL. GUARD: We have things we call daisy chain IEDs, and they set up one that looks very obvious, and then we get out of our vehicles, and then I see three or four right beside us.
HONORE: It's one of the most effective tools we have as a soldier, who's operating in the same area and who can distinguish signs and changes in patterns inside of an urban area.
STARR: Finally, there is a moment for a bit of morale building.
HONORE: Go home for Christmas.
Got your ticket?
UNIDENTIFIED SOLDIER: Hoo ah!
HONORE: Remember you can't drink it all in one night, all right?
(LAUGHTER)
STARR: And time for a group picture before the training for war in Iraq resumes.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
STARR: And, Kyra, commanders like General Honore say this stressful, high-paced training is really the best morale-builder for troops heading to Iraq. It gives them confidence ahead of time before they get there and have to face it for real on the battlefield -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Well, in addition to confidence, did any of these guys tell you, hey, there was something I definitely learned in this training I'll be able to take with me in Iraq that I really didn't expect to learn?
STARR: It is the IEDs. Indeed, all of the soldiers we talked to said that this is a subject very much on their minds. They are learning. They are being told a lot a about the IEDs, the improvised- explosive devices they expect to face in Iraq, and learning a lot of tactics and techniques on how to recognize them before they go off and kill the troops. It's really topic number one for them -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right, Barbara Starr from the Pentagon, thanks.
Well, a terror sweep in France nets two dozen suspects. Counterterroism agents say the sweep is intended to dismantle an alleged Islamic network that may be have been funding and plotting attacks. Those arrests took place in and around Paris.
Homes and Internet cafes were targeted, and reports indicate that most of those rounded up were Tunisian or Algerian. Authorities say that none of the suspects have been charges just yet and are just being questioned. France's tough anti-terror laws permit suspects to held up to four days without formal charges.
Well, a heartbreaking scene in Port Harcourt, Nigeria, as relatives and friends descend on the scene of a weekend airplane crash. One-hundred and seven people were killed in Saturday's crash. At least 58 were students from a Jesuit school in Abuja. The children, aged 10 to 18, Abuja Can be held up to four days without charges. Tragedy in port were headed home for the Christmas holidays. In addition to the emotional devastation, there is tremendous anger. This is the third fatal airline accident in Nigeria in the past two months. The cause of this crash remains unclear, but bad weather was reported at Port Harcourt at the time of that accident.
CNN's Jeff Koinange is in that area. We're going to check in with him a little later. in our show.
Airport security should keep you safe, but one football legend felt threatened when confronted by officers. We'll have his story next on LIVE FROM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Well, when federal air marshals shot and killed an airline passenger last week, it brought up a rarely-publicized problem. The behavior of some people with emotional or mental illness can suddenly put our security system and start a dangerous chain of events.
CNN's Tom Foreman has another man's story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Thirty-five years ago, John Mackey ran into history, catching a touchdown pass to help the Baltimore Colts win the Super Bowl. He went to the Hall of Fame. And in a condo outside Baltimore, he still talks about it.
JOHN MACKEY, FOOTBALL HALL OF FAMER: Well, I went 75 yards.
FOREMAN: Seventy-five yards?
J. MACKEY: I went to the Hall of Fame.
FOREMAN: Problem is, that's all he talks about. Four years ago, Mackey was diagnosed with frontal temporal dementia, a progressive illness that attacks the front of the brain and can cause behavior changes and socially inappropriate actions. It has made John highly protective of his possessions and suspicious of people who try to control him. So airport security is a nightmare, according to his wife, Sylvia, who is herself a flight attendant.
SYLVIA MACKEY, HUSBAND SUFFERS FROM DEMENTIA: The minute John turned that corner and saw those people all in uniform in one line, he was a different person.
FOREMAN: Earlier this year, she says, they were going to an autograph signing when John's football ring set off the metal detector. Guards moved in. He tried to run.
S. MACKEY: They grab him, one on each arm, he elbows the person in the chest. And then two others come out and it takes four people to bring him down to the ground, put his hands behind his back, and handcuff him. I thought, if these four people can't hold him and get him to the ground and he takes off running, they will shoot him dead.
J. MACKEY: No they won't, because this is what they'll get.
FOREMAN: At this point, John interrupts, pounding on the wall saying no one will shoot him. One of our assistants leads him away so Sylvia can finish.
(voice-over): So they put John in handcuffs? And you said he was slumped over in the chair? And you thought he was having a heart attack.
S. MACKEY: I screamed, don't kill him! Please don't kill him! And by that, I didn't mean shooting at that time, I just meant don't get him so upset that he'll have a heart attack and die.
FOREMAN: You thought he was going to have a heart attack, you thought he was
(CROSSTALK).
S. MACKEY: Right, right. FOREMAN (voice-over): John was sent to the hospital, not to jail.
S. MACKEY: Don't wave that thing. Difficult! Difficult!
(LAUGHTER)
FOREMAN: And he can't remember any of it, but his wife can't forget.
(voice-over): And what did you decide after that day?
S. MACKEY: I decided he will never fly again. That's it.
FOREMAN (voice-over): And after what happened in Miami this week it's the only decision she is convinced she and her husband can live with.
Tom Foreman, CNN, Baltimore.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Well, good news today for Hurricane Katrina evacuees. It's not checkout time just yet. A federal judge has extended FEMA's hotel program until February 7th, a month later than the agency had planned. The ruling follows a class action lawsuit on behalf of hurricane victims. The suit criticized FEMA's relief efforts as too weak and too slow. So the hotel program puts evacuees in rooms while they seek more permanent housing.
Still ahead on LIVE FROM, some women really go for the strong, silent type, and in this case, maybe just silent. One women's weird way of coping with a spouse in the service. Hey, at least he never talks back. We'll explain.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: It's a dilemma shared by many a military spouse, how to while away the lonely hours while your loved one is far away. Well, one Georgia woman has found something that works for her.
Lindy Thackston has the story from WTLV, our affiliate in Jacksonville, Florida. And just remember: absence may, indeed, make the heart grow fonder, but notice the saying never mentions what it might do to your mind.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LINDY THACKSTON, WTLV REPORTER (voice-over): Suzy Walker loves to share a meal with her husband, despite the strange looks.
SUZY WALKER, NAVY WIFE: I think if they knew what I was doing, they would probably enjoy it.
THACKSTON: She says she stands by her man because he's a doll -- no, really, he's a doll, a mannequin that eerily resembles her husband, a sailor out to sea.
WALKER: When I put the moustache on him, I could not believe the resemblance. It's incredible.
THACKSTON: It's the newlyweds' first separation and Walker was looking for a way to get threw the alone time.
WALKER: I was surfing obey and I saw "Sailor For Sale." One day he was used for a photo shoot in Washington. And I was the high bidder.
THACKSTON: She bought her stand-in man for $200 and she takes him everywhere: to buy Lottery tickets, to see movies. And the couple attracts lots of attention.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, how cute. That's great.
WALKER: Well, thank you.
THACKSTON: After the meal is over, a friend helps her get her doll home, where she'll tuck him in for the night.
WALKER: It helps me pass the time while he's gone and knowing that I'm making him a photo album so he really will know where I've been gives me a good feeling.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Well, time and decorum prevent us from mentioning all the comments that come to mind, so feel free to just insert your own punchline right here.
Well, King Kong is a legend. There's nothing this big ape can't do except maybe impress his peers. Jeanne Moos reports on monkey business when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: This time of year they're usually relegated to a supporting role in the local living nativity, but this flock wasn't at all sheepish about horning in on the holiday spotlight.
Move aside jingle cats and shush you singing dogs, it's time for these "Baarmy Sheep" from England's Lake District to have their 15 minutes of fame. Of course, if these loud mouth lambs had been holding forth in Bethlehem the wisemen may not have gone near the place, but if you don't mind being fleeced their tunes are available to be downloaded.
(WEATHER REPORT)
PHILLIPS: A money making monster returns to the silver screen on Wednesday. CNN's Jeanne Moos recently gave a screening of the new King Kong movie to some apes at the zoo.
Brace yourself for one of the grossest movie reviews you'll probably ever see.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: These days King Kong can do no wrong. There's the remake, the video game, the Lotto named after him. There's the King Kong costume that even dogs like.
The giant ape's popularity has rubbed off on chimps. Sharper Image is selling a $150 interactive chimp, but it's the movie that's generating the buzz.
Who better to review it. Who better than the Siskel and Ebert of gorillas, while Siskel may be gone, but Layla and Keyosha (ph) are alive and well thanks to the conservation society at the Bronx Zoo.
"King Kong" seemed to be a real nail-biter though it's tough to trust movie critics who seemed to enjoy the film just as much in rewind. Since there was no concession stand they made due with regurgitating and re-eating past meals.
MOOS (on camera): It's not exactly popcorn.
JASON ROWE, SR. KEEPER, BRONX ZOO: Bringing it back to enjoy it all over again.
MOOS (voice over): What does it mean when your movie critic starts licking the glass during pivotal scenes.
Our visit coincided with one by the actor who played King Kong, sort of. Andy Serkis also did expressions in motion capture for Gollum in "Lord of the Rings."
For Kong, Serkis studied the gorillas at the London Zoo. One female got so attached to him that when Serkis' real wife showed up, the jealous ape tossed a plastic bottle.
LORRAINE ASHBOURNE, ANDY SERKIS' WIFE: She just leapt and squished all the juice all over us.
MOOS: No wonder the ape fell for him, listen to how he speaks.
MOOS (on camera): In gorilla, how's that go?
ANDY SERKIS, ACTOR "KING KONG": In gorilla? (Roars) Like that.
MOOS: He's a beast.
MOOS (voice over): Our critic's interest in "King Kong" tended to wander, and what do gestures like this mean?
MOOS (on camera): Yoo-hoo. Thumbs up, thumbs down. Thumbs up, Thumbs down?
(voice over): Was Layla literally trying to knock the film?
These aren't the first apes to watch videos. Casey (ph) at the New Orleans Zoo is famous for watching gorilla porn. The inexperienced bachelor was shown tapes of gorilla courtship and mating in hopes he'd catch on.
Zoo officials don't know if it helped. After watching the tapes over and over for a couple weeks, Casey got bored.
As for "King Kong," maybe it didn't get two thumbs up or four stars, but it did get four licks.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The beast looked upon the face of beauty.
MOOS: Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Almost top of the hour now, we're talking about security, tight in Iraq today as election week begins. Early voting is under way for a national assembly that is to lead Iraq in a democracy.
On Thursday, election day, the U.S. trained Iraqi armed forces are to cover polling stations as the country tests its ability to stand on its own two feet. CNN's Nic Robertson reports from the insurgent stronghold of Ramadi.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Iraqi T-55 tanks rumble into Ramadi, reconditioned relics of Saddam Hussein's old army sent in by Iraq's new government to help bring calm before elections later this week.
(on camera): It's a show of strength the Iraqi army hopes will teach the insurgents that they intend to be here, and they intend to stay. They want people, they say, to come out and vote in the elections.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If someone has a wound where it isn't cut off, we put a bandage on it.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): But bringing a more lasting peace to the country's most violent city means training its army.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tie the knot on top of the wound.
ROBERTSON: For this Iraqi army platoon about, to go out on their first patrol without U.S. marines, perhaps their most important lesson of all.
ROBERT ASZTALOS, SENIOR CHIEF PETTY OFFICER: To have an aggressive fighting force, you have to know that if you're hit, if you're injured, that there's going to be somebody there who can take care of you.
ROBERTSON: Before the trainee soldiers leave the safety their base, one last chance to practice the tactics that could save their lives.
CAPT. TWAIN HICKMAN, U.S. MARINE CORPS: They've been training for probably two full months now with us integrated. And most of the time, up until this point, we've been integrated with them, moving along the streets. This time, this will be their first time that they've gone completely by themselves under our overwatch and our security.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dropped those off slightly in the wrong spot, but ROP (ph) is right now here.
ROBERTSON: Out on the streets with the marines training Iraqi troops, things are not going quite according to plan. They're supposed to secure a house and oversee the Iraqis' first solo patrol, but both the Marines and the Iraqis get dropped off in the wrong place.
LT. JOHN REED, U.S. MARINE CORPS: It's difficult. It's difficult. Everybody is getting to know the area pretty well, though, so it's getting a lot of easier.
Hey, Corporal Vega (ph), we're going to break it down. They got dropped off one street to the East.
ROBERTSON: They move off to another house. The training session continues. The marines are waiting in the building here. The plan is for the Iraqi army to come down the street. It's hands-off training, and it's happening in the middle of a war zone. A few minutes later, the Iraqi troops arrive, patrolling, just as they did on base.
REED: I'd rate them -- if you're going to go like A to D average, I'd say that they are probably B-plus, because they communicated well, they patrolled well.
ROBERTSON: Already one Iraqi battalion has taken control of the city, with good results, according to U.S. commanders. How long before they can run the rest of Ramadi depends a large part on training.
BRIG. GEN. JAMES WILLIAMS, U.S. MARINE CORPS: So that could take some time. That could be done in a year, could be done in two years, might take three years.
ROBERTSON: For this Iraqi army platoon, training seems almost complete.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Bush, very good. Good, very good.
ROBERTSON: Nic Robertson, CNN, Ramadi, Iraq.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
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