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CNN Saturday Morning News

A Look at How U.S. Troops Prepare for Battle

Aired March 09, 2002 - 07:11   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: Let's go now to the war zone for a look at U.S. servicemen on the front lines of Operation Anaconda.

Our Martin Savidge gives us a look at American troops preparing for battle, as well as a look back at how one brave Navy SEAL lost his life.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Before they head out for what most of them will be their first time in combat, they will carry a piece of paper tucked into a pocket.

UNIDENTIFIED SERVICEMAN: There's a letter that they'll have in their right pocket. It's a normally a love letter or a last statement letter. And we put it in their right cargo pocket just in case, you know, something unfortunate happens. And that's their last words to their loved one, and it's the loved one's right, really, to have something like that.

SAVIDGE: These men have studied the maps, but maps are not enough. So as they load into the large Chinook helicopters for the hour trip to the front, they will lock a picture in their minds of where the enemy is waiting.

UNIDENTIFIED SERVICEMAN: We're coming in from the south, heading north. When we get out -- and when you get out of the bird you'll be facing south. You're going to be facing towards the enemy. There will be enemy about a click south of you, OK? Everybody understand?

SAVIDGE: The aircraft are vulnerable in this terrain, no forest to keep them out of the enemy's sights, just a barren landscape and the caves and crevices from which al Qaeda forces can take aim.

At 3:00 in the morning on Monday, that aim proves deadly accurate. A Chinook is hit by rocket-propelled grenades as it touches down. The pilot quickly takes off again, veering sharply up and away. Thirty-two-year-old Navy SEAL Neil Roberts falls out of the back of the chopper to the ground. It's not clear if the force of the grenades or the escape maneuver caused the fall.

His comrades don't realize he's missing until a head count is taken minutes later. Soon an unmanned Predator surveillance aircraft will circle the area, allowing U.S. commanders to watch live pictures of three al Qaeda fighters dragging Roberts away.

UNIDENTIFIED SERVICEMAN: When that happened and we were able to put some platforms in the air that could image that, that individual had been captured by three al Qaeda members, and we knew exactly where they were when the insertion went on.

SAVIDGE: A few miles away, Roberts' comrades land their Chinook. Another U.S. chopper then flies back to the scene of Roberts' capture. The men on board do not know whether they are on a mission to rescue him or to recover his body.

Around dawn, two other U.S. choppers filled with dozens of special forces are also sent near the spot where Roberts was captured. Both drop off their men. But one is hit and grounded. What followed was the most violent battle of the war in Afghanistan.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: And you can watch Martin's report on Operation Anaconda in its entirety later this morning. It airs in just more than two hours from now at 9:30 a.m. Eastern, 6:30 Pacific. It's a definite must-see.

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