CBS News anchorman Dan Rather does a live broadcast in front of a crowd of 11th Aviation Regiment headquarters company soldiers from Illesheim, Germany, at Camp Udairi, Kuwait. (Dean Thurmond / U.S. Army)
CBS News anchorman Dan Rather does a live broadcast in front of a crowd of 11th Aviation Regiment headquarters company soldiers from Illesheim, Germany, at Camp Udairi, Kuwait. (Dean Thurmond / U.S. Army)
CBS News anchorman Dan Rather talks with Chief Warrant Officer 4 Jim Deppen, an Apache Longbow attack helicopter pilot from the 6th Squadron, 6th Cavalry Regiment from Illesheim, Germany. Deppen flew one of the Army's new Longbows for the network's camera crews this week. (Dean Thurmond / U.S. Army)
CAMP UDAIRI, Kuwait — The big guns are here.
Not the tanks or artillery. The network TV news anchors.
Dan Rather and crew stopped by Camp Udairi to meet troops, film an AH-64A Apache helicopter from the V Corps’ 11th Aviation Regiment, and broadcast live for the CBS Morning Show on Wednesday. CNN’s Aaron Brown shot a news report there late last week, too. NBC’s Tom Brokaw chatted with soldiers in the food court at Camp Doha and dropped in on a Patriot missile battery at Camp New Jersey on Tuesday.
“The war must be getting close,” joked Chief Warrant Officer 3 Mike Wade, an Apache pilot in the 2nd Squadron, 6th Aviation Regiment. “They’re sending in the big guys.”
Crowds of soldiers gathered around the anchors to watch them work. Many posed for photos and asked for autographs. Some of the 11th Aviation soldiers who met Rather said he reminded them of their normal lives back home.
“It’s almost like a tease, seeing civilization again,” said Spc. Jason Nomo, 22, of Stockton, Calif.
Unlike some anchors, Rather is an experienced war correspondent who won awards for his reporting from the front during the Vietnam War. Now, as a famous anchorman, he travels with his own army of producers with a fleet of rented civilian Humvees and many of the trappings of a celebrity. But he said that doesn’t hamper him in engaging with troops.
“There are some differences, but the fundamentals of reporting are the same,” Rather said. “I was, am and always will be a reporter.”
He enjoys talking to soldiers.
“In the field, with military personnel, they take your measure right away,” Rather said.
He praised the Department of Defense for its promise to embed reporters with military units, unescorted, if the crisis with Iraq turns to war. He said that represents a promising reversal of DOD’s steadily diminishing access for the media to U.S. forces in wartime since Vietnam.
“Somebody, somewhere very high has finally listened and allowed us access to the troops,” Rather said. “This will allow us to do Ernie Pyle reporting. … This is much better for the Army, much better for the military. The Army had a great story to tell in Afghanistan, and it didn’t get told.”
As he was preparing for his CBS Morning News broadcast, Rather learned that troops at Camp Udairi have only the most limited access to telephones. His staff quickly set up three phones, allowing a number of soldiers from the regiment’s headquarters company to call loved ones for free.
The visit gave a quick morale boost to 11th Aviation troops before they returned to their usual desert duties.
“It’s cool seeing someone famous,” said Pfc. Jason Knight, 21, of Beverly, Mass., just before walking over to shake Rather’s hand.
“But then it’s back to the details.”
