Tiger Woods Back On The Course
FEYERICK: And dramatic new video from May's deadly tornado in Joplin, Missouri. Cameras at Joplin high school recorded the terrifying moments as the storm just blasted its way across the campus. The tapes are just now being released. The storm heavily damaged the school and destroyed a big part of the city of Joplin and it killed more than 150 people, including several students from that school. Reynolds Wolf joins us now. And Reynolds, the heat -- we're moving away from tornadoes -- but the heat right now really the big story.</s>REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Absolutely. Heat is a tremendous story. Unfortunately, I've got to just jump right back and get back into tornados, because believe it or not, I know -- this just popped up a second ago. Part of this boundary you see here, this warm front will</s>FEYERICK: And heat is so hard, because you can't really -- every time you go out you can't escape it. There's no wind. There's no breeze.</s>WOLF: Precisely, absolutely.</s>FEYERICK: It's like walking in soup. All right. Reynolds Wolf, thank you so much. Really appreciate that.</s>WOLF: You bet.</s>FEYERICK: Thank you. We are now going to turn to our breaking news story, which is that helicopter in Afghanistan that crashed. Barbara Starr, our Pentagon correspondent, on the phone. It's a tragic day for coalition forces in Afghanistan; a U.S. official saying that more than two dozen U.S. troops killed when that copter went down. Barbara, what are you hearing?</s>BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Deborah, at this point, the U.S. Military is absolutely reeling at the news. Several U.S. government officials now tell CNN that the majority of those killed in this incident are believed to be U.S. Navy SEALs. That's U.S. Navy Special Forces, the very types of troops that, of course, conducted that raid against Osama bin Laden. One official saying this is a big loss for the U.S. Navy. The information is that it is Navy SEALs, of course, could not be more sensitive, because at this hour, the U.S. Military is moving very rapidly to try and contact and notify as many of the military families impacted by this as quickly as they can. And as you know, often, military families are spread across the United States, so what we are going to be seeing or learning about over the coming hours is casualty officers will be spreading out to hometowns, to bases, trying to track down all of the family members and give them this very sad news. We don't believe that all of them were Navy SEALs, Deborah. There were some other forces on board. It was a Chinook helicopter being piloted by the U.S. Army, is our understanding. And there may have been some other special forces on board from other services. But this may, in fact, become, sadly, a historic loss for U.S. Navy SEALs. The military is saying that there were reports of enemy fire in the area at the time this helicopter went down last night in eastern Afghanistan -- Deborah.</s>FEYERICK: And, Barbara, obviously to underscore, the U.S. Navy SEALs, they get so much training. They are this elite tactical force. To think that so many have been lost and that families now waiting to see whether that knock on the door comes. What do you know about the circumstances? Was the helicopter shot down, as the Taliban is claiming, or is that right now under investigation?</s>STARR: Well, that's a really good point, Deborah. It is absolutely completely under investigation by the U.S. military. The Taliban often make these claims. It is interesting to note that the coalition has said there were reports of enemy fire in the area at the time. But there will be a very thorough investigation to find out what happened and how this came to be. I think we just want to circle back one more time and say that, you know, we know how sensitive it is at CNN to put out the information that it is Navy SEALs, but in the interest of transparency, multiple government officials are now saying this. Admiral Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, put out a statement just a little while ago about all of this. He, of course, a longtime senior Navy officer, asking people to be very sensitive to the notion of reporting information that will catch these families off guard. But they are clearly aware that this has happened, the families. And, sadly, so many of them now really waiting to see how and if it affects them. That news should be emerging for them in the coming hours, Deborah.</s>FEYERICK: And, obviously, the U.S. Navy SEALs critical to this -- some of the tactical stuff that goes on there because they are so highly trained. Recovery right now, is that -- that's what's going on now? At least is the site secure?</s>STARR: Right. For the last several hours, U.S. units have been in the area recovering those who have -- those who have been lost, bringing them back for very quick, immediate identification, as soon as they can. This is a very specific process that the military goes through. They, you know, even if they think they know who's on the helicopter, they will do forensic medical identification and then move quickly to notify the families. But I think you also made a very important point. It is U.S. special forces that have been doing so many of these extremely risky raids and assault missions across Afghanistan. To a large extent, however, in the east, close to the Pakistan border, where the insurgent buildup has been rather significant, it was just a few days ago that the four-star head of special operations command, Admiral Olson, talking about the fact that hundreds and hundreds of these raids happened night after night after night in Afghanistan. The world came to know about them, perhaps, through the Osama bin Laden raid over in Pakistan. But this is what U.S. special operations forces have been doing in Afghanistan. And even as the drawdown begins for the conventional forces, for the regular forces, if you will, there is every indication special forces, special operations forces, will stay and continue to conduct these missions. But make no mistake, this is perhaps one of the most significant losses ever today for the United States Navy SEALs -- Deborah.</s>FEYERICK: Yes. And, Barbara, that's such a critical point that you make because these really are the strike teams. They are tight. They are very unified. They know when they're going in. Sort of what's expected of them. And they're so efficient and so effective at carrying out these missions, really, in such an effective way. And they're the ones who are going to sort of be there when the majority of the troops are pulled back. But they're really interrupting or trying to interrupt the rise of the insurgents in that area.</s>STARR: Oh, absolutely. This is what they do. Typically, these missions are not very visible to the American public. Very little is said about them. But they generally go the same way the Osama bin Laden raid goes. Helicopter-borne assaults. Helicopters fly into a compound or a target, they assault into the target by helicopter, always very heavily armed. And, of course, using a variety of their handheld machine guns, assault rifles. This is close combat. This is as nasty and tough as it can get. They are face to face with insurgents. This is not, you know, precision weapons dropped from 40,000 feet from an airplane, as tough as that may be. This is close combat on the ground. Dirty, nasty. The most dangerous business that they can be involved in. I would remind you, you know, it was just a few days ago we reported that an Army special forces master sergeant, very sadly, was killed in a firefight. He was on his tenth tour of duty in the war zone. These guys are deploying six, eight months at a time, year after year after year. And you are seeing these special forces troops not on their third or fourth tour. Again, we just saw one who lost his life on his tenth tour of duty, Deborah.</s>FEYERICK: Oh, my gosh. Well, Barbara Starr, really, it takes a very special person to be a Navy SEAL and this is just a sad, sad day and a great loss for everyone. Barbara Starr, thank you so much for bringing us up to date with the latest information. We appreciate it. Well, more news next. We're going to be right back.