Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Live Sunday
101st Airborne Division Gets Into Position
Aired March 09, 2003 - 15:31 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.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: More signs of the looming showdown with Iraq. It's heading into a dramatic new phase. The convoy of Humvees and other vehicles from the 101st Airborne Division are rolling into position near the Kuwaiti-Iraqi border. CNN's Ryan Chilcote joins us with the 101st. Hi, Ryan.
RYAN CHILCOTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good afternoon, good afternoon. The 101st Airborne of the Screaming Eagles, as the soldiers of the 101st are known as, they have been on the ground here in Kuwait for a bit more than a week. But as you said, even for a light infantry unit, they've been pretty limited without those vehicles, pretty limited without their vehicles and equipment in what they can do. That's now changing, as you said.
The first of several convoys -- I have now seen two myself today -- rolled into Camp New Jersey, convoys of Humvees pulling into Camp New Jersey out here in the middle of the Kuwaiti desert. Those vehicles coming off of a ship, the USS Dahl, that pulled into a port yesterday. On board it, some 1,400 of the division vehicles. Also on board that ship that you don't see in these pictures, more than 100 helicopters.
Now, the 101st Airborne appropriately has the largest amount of helicopters in the U.S. Army, more than anybody else. Among them they have the Apache attack helicopter. If we have some animation of that, I can show you, it's a two-man helicopter, basically the gunship of the U.S. Army. It's used to light things up, as the Army likes to put it, to destroy targets on the horizon.
Also, the Blackhawk helicopter. It's called the UH-64 in the Army. It's used to move infantry to and from the front. And lastly, of course, there is the Chinook helicopter from the Vietnam era. It is also a troop mover, but very importantly, it is a heavy mover, and you can sling things like those Humvees to the front with that Chinook.
Now, all of this equipment is basically what gives the 101st its ability to accomplish or to do its forte, which is to go, as they like to put it, further and faster and with more combat power than any other division in the U.S. Army, behind enemy lines, air assaults, to move its troops, some 18,000 troops behind enemy lines, as far as hundreds of miles so they can attack already from behind enemy lines.
Now, the soldiers, I actually ought to add, that if you were looking for a milestone in the buildup to war, this is one of them, the 101st, very few people thought that this war, should there be a war, that this war would start without the 101st, and of course, if the 101st is going to be involved, if there is going to be some kind of military action in Iraq, they certainly wouldn't start without their equipment.
So this is obviously a very significant event.
Meanwhile, soldiers back here at Camp New Jersey have been acclimating to the desert. We have a tape of some soldiers playing football. That was something that we taped yesterday. These soldiers are far from green to desert warfare, should they be called to fight in Iraq. Most of the soldiers here are from the 187 Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne, and they saw combat, many of them in Afghanistan. In fact, they just arrived back in Kentucky, a little bit more than six months ago from Afghanistan, so they're used to the desert, but they still need to get acclimated. Obviously, we're eight hours ahead of Kentucky here, and the weather is quite a bit different than the cold and rainy weather they were experiencing, and snowy weather, of course, in Kentucky. Back to you.
WHITFIELD: All right, and we know they're going to be acclimating faster than most. Ryan, thanks very much.
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 March 9, 2003 - 15:31 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: More signs of the looming showdown with Iraq. It's heading into a dramatic new phase. The convoy of Humvees and other vehicles from the 101st Airborne Division are rolling into position near the Kuwaiti-Iraqi border. CNN's Ryan Chilcote joins us with the 101st. Hi, Ryan.
RYAN CHILCOTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good afternoon, good afternoon. The 101st Airborne of the Screaming Eagles, as the soldiers of the 101st are known as, they have been on the ground here in Kuwait for a bit more than a week. But as you said, even for a light infantry unit, they've been pretty limited without those vehicles, pretty limited without their vehicles and equipment in what they can do. That's now changing, as you said.
The first of several convoys -- I have now seen two myself today -- rolled into Camp New Jersey, convoys of Humvees pulling into Camp New Jersey out here in the middle of the Kuwaiti desert. Those vehicles coming off of a ship, the USS Dahl, that pulled into a port yesterday. On board it, some 1,400 of the division vehicles. Also on board that ship that you don't see in these pictures, more than 100 helicopters.
Now, the 101st Airborne appropriately has the largest amount of helicopters in the U.S. Army, more than anybody else. Among them they have the Apache attack helicopter. If we have some animation of that, I can show you, it's a two-man helicopter, basically the gunship of the U.S. Army. It's used to light things up, as the Army likes to put it, to destroy targets on the horizon.
Also, the Blackhawk helicopter. It's called the UH-64 in the Army. It's used to move infantry to and from the front. And lastly, of course, there is the Chinook helicopter from the Vietnam era. It is also a troop mover, but very importantly, it is a heavy mover, and you can sling things like those Humvees to the front with that Chinook.
Now, all of this equipment is basically what gives the 101st its ability to accomplish or to do its forte, which is to go, as they like to put it, further and faster and with more combat power than any other division in the U.S. Army, behind enemy lines, air assaults, to move its troops, some 18,000 troops behind enemy lines, as far as hundreds of miles so they can attack already from behind enemy lines.
Now, the soldiers, I actually ought to add, that if you were looking for a milestone in the buildup to war, this is one of them, the 101st, very few people thought that this war, should there be a war, that this war would start without the 101st, and of course, if the 101st is going to be involved, if there is going to be some kind of military action in Iraq, they certainly wouldn't start without their equipment.
So this is obviously a very significant event.
Meanwhile, soldiers back here at Camp New Jersey have been acclimating to the desert. We have a tape of some soldiers playing football. That was something that we taped yesterday. These soldiers are far from green to desert warfare, should they be called to fight in Iraq. Most of the soldiers here are from the 187 Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne, and they saw combat, many of them in Afghanistan. In fact, they just arrived back in Kentucky, a little bit more than six months ago from Afghanistan, so they're used to the desert, but they still need to get acclimated. Obviously, we're eight hours ahead of Kentucky here, and the weather is quite a bit different than the cold and rainy weather they were experiencing, and snowy weather, of course, in Kentucky. Back to you.
WHITFIELD: All right, and we know they're going to be acclimating faster than most. Ryan, thanks very much.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
