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CNN Saturday Morning News
82nd, 101st Airborne Divisions Will be Among First on Ground
Aired March 08, 2003 - 09:15 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.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Well, Heidi, if there is a war, the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions will be among the first soldiers to hit the ground. They've come in by parachute or helicopter. Their goal, to seize airfields and destroy key targets like command and control facilities.
For more on these specialized forces, the challenges they could face in Iraq, we are joined now by our military analyst, Brigadier General David Grange.
General, thanks very much for being with us.
BRIG. GEN. DAVID GRANGE (RET.), U.S. ARMY: Good morning.
COOPER: So 101st, Screaming Eagles, the 82nd, I think they're -- they call themselves America's Guard of Honor, they're going to be the first one for -- to have boots on the ground?
GRANGE: They may not be the first ones that have boots on the ground. It'll be simultaneously, I believe, with some heavy units that come out of the south. But these units will go deep and hit critical targets, whether it be bridge sites, airfields, command and control facilities, oil fields. But they are essential to success in this operation and provide the ground commander with tremendous flexibility.
COOPER: Obviously these are sites that would not be hit by the air beforehand.
GRANGE: Well, they may be. It may be a site that it's partially destroyed by air, or softened up by air before these units go in. So it's a combination. And it depends on the type of objective that they're going in after. It may be underground bunkers that, after they do air strikes, they have to go in to verify who, in fact, was destroyed, what equipment, if there's a WMD site, or it may be just to knock out enemy units that may impede the insertion of these airborne and air assault forces.
COOPER: It also may be seizing an airfield to allow larger planes to come in as sort of a forward operating base.
GRANGE: Exactly. Forward-operating bases are critical in western Iraq, in northern Iraq, and northern Iraq especially if Turkey doesn't support ground movement across their borders. But even in the south, some key facilities these units may be used for, and it gives the commander, again, this combination of -- this three-dimensional combination of air and ground synchronized together, a great capability on the -- for the -- any mission on the ground.
COOPER: You know, anyone who knows anything about the U.S. military, you know, knows the name of the 101st Airborne, 82nd Airborne. They're storied units, I think 82nd Airborne goes all the way back to World War I. Tell us a little bit about each one, their MO, how they work, and maybe a little bit about their history. Let's start with the 82nd Airborne.
GRANGE: Sure. The 82nd, you probably remember Sergeant York, the Medal of Honor winner, World War I. At that time, of course, it wasn't an airborne division, it was a regular infantry division, ground division. But the -- these -- that force really came historically to the forefront in World War II, in North Africa and Sicily, in northern Europe, D-Day.
So a lot of history, a lot of missions with the 82nd Airborne under their belt. And it's the only division left that's totally airborne. And right now you have a brigade's worth, about 4,500 troopers' worth, in the region to provide the commander an airborne insertion capability.
COOPER: Well, it's interesting, I was just reading on their Web site, and they very proudly say everyone from the cook to the computer specialist, everyone is, you know, capable of jumping out of a plane, even our equipment, everything is airborne, air mobile.
Let's talk a little bit about the 101st.
GRANGE: And the 101st, lot of airborne experience, especially in World War II. They -- the movie "The Band of Brothers" highlights one of those units, the 506th Infantry, parachute infantry. It -- they're -- they are the only division in the United States Army that is true air mobile, in other words, they have the air assault capability to move things by helicopter.
And they can move approximately a brigade, which is about 4,500 soldiers, at one time 100 miles deep with all that combat equipment. And that's not only individual shooters but also artillery to fire indirect fire and (UNINTELLIGIBLE) tank weapons and things like that.
So they're critical to get key objectives early on before, let's say, an armored ground force may link up to cross a bridge, to get to an airfield, as an example, or the oil field.
So again, great flexibility for the commander.
COOPER: All right. Brigadier General David Grange. Appreciate you joining us. We are going to be looking at this issue of the U.S. military all throughout the day. David Grange will be joining us probably later on throughout the day, and we appreciate him joining us right now. Thanks very much. GRANGE: My pleasure.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Ground>
Aired March 8, 2003 - 09:15 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Well, Heidi, if there is a war, the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions will be among the first soldiers to hit the ground. They've come in by parachute or helicopter. Their goal, to seize airfields and destroy key targets like command and control facilities.
For more on these specialized forces, the challenges they could face in Iraq, we are joined now by our military analyst, Brigadier General David Grange.
General, thanks very much for being with us.
BRIG. GEN. DAVID GRANGE (RET.), U.S. ARMY: Good morning.
COOPER: So 101st, Screaming Eagles, the 82nd, I think they're -- they call themselves America's Guard of Honor, they're going to be the first one for -- to have boots on the ground?
GRANGE: They may not be the first ones that have boots on the ground. It'll be simultaneously, I believe, with some heavy units that come out of the south. But these units will go deep and hit critical targets, whether it be bridge sites, airfields, command and control facilities, oil fields. But they are essential to success in this operation and provide the ground commander with tremendous flexibility.
COOPER: Obviously these are sites that would not be hit by the air beforehand.
GRANGE: Well, they may be. It may be a site that it's partially destroyed by air, or softened up by air before these units go in. So it's a combination. And it depends on the type of objective that they're going in after. It may be underground bunkers that, after they do air strikes, they have to go in to verify who, in fact, was destroyed, what equipment, if there's a WMD site, or it may be just to knock out enemy units that may impede the insertion of these airborne and air assault forces.
COOPER: It also may be seizing an airfield to allow larger planes to come in as sort of a forward operating base.
GRANGE: Exactly. Forward-operating bases are critical in western Iraq, in northern Iraq, and northern Iraq especially if Turkey doesn't support ground movement across their borders. But even in the south, some key facilities these units may be used for, and it gives the commander, again, this combination of -- this three-dimensional combination of air and ground synchronized together, a great capability on the -- for the -- any mission on the ground.
COOPER: You know, anyone who knows anything about the U.S. military, you know, knows the name of the 101st Airborne, 82nd Airborne. They're storied units, I think 82nd Airborne goes all the way back to World War I. Tell us a little bit about each one, their MO, how they work, and maybe a little bit about their history. Let's start with the 82nd Airborne.
GRANGE: Sure. The 82nd, you probably remember Sergeant York, the Medal of Honor winner, World War I. At that time, of course, it wasn't an airborne division, it was a regular infantry division, ground division. But the -- these -- that force really came historically to the forefront in World War II, in North Africa and Sicily, in northern Europe, D-Day.
So a lot of history, a lot of missions with the 82nd Airborne under their belt. And it's the only division left that's totally airborne. And right now you have a brigade's worth, about 4,500 troopers' worth, in the region to provide the commander an airborne insertion capability.
COOPER: Well, it's interesting, I was just reading on their Web site, and they very proudly say everyone from the cook to the computer specialist, everyone is, you know, capable of jumping out of a plane, even our equipment, everything is airborne, air mobile.
Let's talk a little bit about the 101st.
GRANGE: And the 101st, lot of airborne experience, especially in World War II. They -- the movie "The Band of Brothers" highlights one of those units, the 506th Infantry, parachute infantry. It -- they're -- they are the only division in the United States Army that is true air mobile, in other words, they have the air assault capability to move things by helicopter.
And they can move approximately a brigade, which is about 4,500 soldiers, at one time 100 miles deep with all that combat equipment. And that's not only individual shooters but also artillery to fire indirect fire and (UNINTELLIGIBLE) tank weapons and things like that.
So they're critical to get key objectives early on before, let's say, an armored ground force may link up to cross a bridge, to get to an airfield, as an example, or the oil field.
So again, great flexibility for the commander.
COOPER: All right. Brigadier General David Grange. Appreciate you joining us. We are going to be looking at this issue of the U.S. military all throughout the day. David Grange will be joining us probably later on throughout the day, and we appreciate him joining us right now. Thanks very much. GRANGE: My pleasure.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Ground>
