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CNN Saturday Morning News

National Guardsmen Prepare to Secure the Nation's Airports

Aired October 06, 2001 - 10:48   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: We have the first of dozens of states using National Guard troops to patrol airports, guardsmen armed with M-16 rifles and highly trained to protect the American public. And soon, you'll see the same type of armed soldiers at the nine commercial airports in Georgia.

But before these guardsmen take their posts on Sunday, they had to go through intense training, not only with their weapons but on proper arrest procedures -- efforts to build just one more safety element to protect everyone getting on an airplane in the United States.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS (voice-over): It's 06:00 in Savannah, Georgia at the National Guard combat readiness training center ....

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Lock and load.

PHILLIPS: Within this fog will emerge a very clear mission. It's called Operation Sky Guard, 5,000 National Guard troops across the country, armed and on duty at American airports.

1ST SGT. MIKE HURNDON, OPERATION SKY GUARD: The thing that has been impressed upon these guardsmen, soldiers and airmen is this is a real world mission. This is not training, we're going to perform a service to the United States of America, a very valuable service. They are serious, they are dialed in and mission-focused.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Proceed back up range.

PHILLIPS: Staff Sergeant Shawn Lewis, a trained Army Ranger and paratrooper is just one of the 150 guardsmen here in Georgia who volunteered to put his day job on hold and get ready for this security detail that President George Bush has asked every U.S. governor to support.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Once you are done scoring your target, both shooter and scorer stand and face me.

PHILLIPS: Primary marksmanship instruction provides preventative maintenance, so that these soldiers can eliminate any airport weak link and prevent disaster. SGT. SHAWN LEWIS, OPERATION SKY GUARD: Anything that people could sneak through to cause harm, be the homemade bomb, pipebomb, weapons, real weapons or homemade weapons, zip guns, knives hidden in makeup or anything else, we've got to be prepared to identify it and then stop it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Always see yourself winning the situation in the plan. Get a survival mind-set should something go very wrong.

PHILLIPS: And that means discipline, and more importantly understanding use of force in carrying out the mechanics of arrest.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's real easy to forget the rules of engagement when the adrenaline starts going, or if something happens in the airport. So that's one thing that they've been saying over and over, is we're not there to beat people up, we're not there to arrest people. We're not law enforcement officers, we're just there to help and be able to react to situations as they arise.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You grab in here, and grab up here, OK?

PHILLIPS: Lewis and his fellow soldiers are in the survival mind-set on a mission now to restore the confident mind-set of America's flying public.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're a huge deterrent, because there is going to be bunch of us running around the airport. That's more guns, that's more able bodies and it is more people that know how to react to situations, which the bad guys hopefully will see that as a threat to themselves and go elsewhere.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: A huge deterrent, his words.

PHILLIPS: Key word is deterrent.

HEMMER: How long deployment?

PHILLIPS: Well, they have been talking about six months, but I think that we can say time -- you really can't judge how long this war to combat terrorism will go on and how long the guards will be in the airports.

HEMMER: In the state of Georgia specifically, when will they be there at places like Atlanta and elsewhere?

PHILLIPS: All nine commercial airports in Georgia, starting Sunday.

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