U.S. War Game's Target Looks a Lot Like Iraq
Nov. 1, 2002 -- A massive war game on the USS Harry S.Truman has 15,000 members of the U.S. military flexing their muscles for a possible confrontation with Iraq.
Although it is only a war game, the fiction is strikingly real. An oil-rich country has invaded its neighbor, and is defying United Nations resolutions.
All four branches of the military are involved, along with 60 planes, and a 12-ship battle group led by the USS Harry S.Truman aircraft carrier. The Harry S. Truman and a dozen ships come to the aid of an oil-rich country called "Kartuna," which has just been invaded.
U.S. Navy Lt. Cmdr. Len Remias, an officer on the deck of the Harry Truman, examined a battle plan.
"You have Corona, which is the aggressor country, against Kartuna," he explained, pointing out the details on a map that resembles the Persian Gulf.
An Eerily Familiar Enemy
The war games on the USS Harry S. Truman look like the real thing — and they are meant to. U.S. ships launch helicopters to search for enemy submarines, fighter jets patrol no-fly zones and bomb terrorist training camps. Although only an exercise, everyone on the aircraft carrier knew the real target.
"Iraq — that's the main country right now that we're focusing on," one war game player said. "So that's what I think about most of the time."
As war games play out, the U.S. continues to move toward a confrontation with Iraq. On Monday, the United States demanded that the United Nations disarm Iraq or watch the world's superpower do it on its own.
"The message from America is this," President Bush told Republican supporters.
"If the United Nations doesn't have the will or the courage to disarm [Iraqi leader] Saddam Hussein and Saddam Hussein will not disarm, the United States will lead a coalition and disarm Saddam Hussein," Bush said during aWestern-state political swing.
Ordered to ‘Be Ready’
Rear Admiral John Stufflebeem, commander of the Harry S.Truman carrier battle group, is a veteran fighter pilot who has been conducting the regular Pentagon briefings on the war on terrorism.
"I mean we got to be ready," Stufflebeam said. "That is the order the president gave us in late September, 'Be Ready.' And so there is an added amount of emphasis that you'll see in the faces and actions in the crew on board the ship, and all the ships of this battle group."
The exercise carries special weight. In December, the Truman battle group, which includes the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier and up to 12 surface ships and submarines, plus eight aircraft squadrons, will be heading to the Persian Gulf.
At the pilot briefings, the focus is squarely on Iraq, though the "targets" used for the exercise are our own bases, like the Marine Corps Air Station in Cherry Point, N.C.
"OK, what are we doing tonight?" one pilot said. "We're going out to destroy an Iraqi SCUD launcher and operations bunker, basically the BT-11 complex at Cherry Point."
Experts believe that if Saddam Hussein is attacked, he will retaliate with poison gas, so on the first day they say the United States will likely bomb air defenses, storage facilities and weapons of mass destruction.
Zero to 150 in 2.5 Seconds
Pilots say they are ready.
"Sure we practice for it, we train to it," said Marine Maj. Fred Saunders, who goes by the call sign "Mutha." "But hopefully in the event that we have to go in, [the hope is] that we can take out some of these weapons systems that he has … so we can mitigate that threat."
When launching off the aircraft carrier, the F-14 accelerates from zero to 150 mph in two and a half seconds. Due to the weather, now is the perfect time of year for an attack on Iraq, where pilots would be flying over a very flat, desert terrain, on which targets are easy to spot.
In the first days of a war, experts say U.S. pilots would try to paralyze Iraqi ground forces to protect U.S. troops in what is predicted to be a massive ground assault.
There is added pressure to take out gas launchers, Saunders said.
"Particularly as a Marine — our brethren are on the deck down there and we want to support our Marines down there on the deck," Saunders said.
Although they are ready to fight, most pilots say they would prefer peace.
Mixed Feelings on Iraq
"As far as going to war and that kind of thing, I don't know anyone who looks forward to war," said Lt. Johnnie Caldwell, who goes by the call sign "Cooter."
Some of the pilots who bombed al Qaeda in Afghanistan are not as enthused about striking Iraq.
"I think it's a little bit different, you know, the way al Qaeda came right after us and took it to us on our homeland and Iraq really hasn't done that, so it's not the same feeling for me personally," said Lt. Tim Henry, a Radio Intercept Officer who also goes by the name "AWOL."
He said that he doesn't have as much disdain for Saddam as for Osama bin Laden.
"I'm not saying I like Saddam Hussein," Henry said. "He hasn't really took it to the U.S. like al Qaeda did."
But for Cmdr. Marcus Hitchcock, a Marine who is a veteran of Desert Storm, attacking Saddam would be revenge.
"During Desert Storm one of my wingmen was shot down and killed, and left a family, so it was a very personal thing for me," Hitchcock said. He feels he lost a friend because of Saddam.
With war looming, the at-sea exercise is the last opportunity to work out the kinks before the real deployment begins.
"He landed on his nose gear," one aviator said, observing an S-3 Viking landing on the carrier's 4.5-acre flight deck.
"He stood a real good chance of breaking the jet there."
The whole battle group is getting ready for action, and the anticipation on board is palpable.
"They're taking this more serious than before, because we now know for a fact that we have been challenged," Stufflebeem said. "We have been stung and called into action for every deployment."
ABCNEWS' Max Culhane produced this story for Good Morning America.