with releasing the air force to do that because this was an army unit. you re saying that is not the case, that is an important part of the story as well. absolutely not. the air force has august phepblted our medivac when they can do that. they have different capabilities based on terrain and weather. when we need them they ve been able to do that. their primary mission is search and rescue, pilot recovery. the army has the mission to provide medivac for all of our services. even when the air force aircraft have gone in many times we dispatch apache to provide our best support for them even though they have machine guns on the air force helicopters. i think we re doing everything we can. jenna: we re glad that you re with us. we are glad that you are back home, and best to you and your family. we look forward to having you back on again. thanks very much, jenna lee. jon: a little more politics ahead. former pennsylvania senator rick santorum making a huge come back in the race for
doing it a different way. they have helicopters that have guns on them that still can pick up patients. the question is when the people in afghanistan pay no attention to the white cross on the helicopter does it not make sense to put machine guns so that you don t have to wait for the escort helicopter? jenna: joining us live lieutenant general john campbell. operations officer for the u.s. army. he just returned from afghanistan. let s start with some of the basics. why aren t medivac helicopters armed. thanks very much for the opportunity. first off medivac helicopters in the army is told by department of defense that we have this mission. we are the only service that controls medivac helicopters. in arming of the helicopters is not really think the issue. you mentioned that it was a policy. there is not a dod, not an army or a theater policy that mandates that you have to arm or have escort helicopters follow medivac helicopters that are armed. so we do not arm our helicopters, t
they are trained, manned equipped to do nothing but medivac missions, and we think that is very, very important. we continue to learn lessons learned and we want to do everything we can and make sure there is no doubt in people s minds that we will do everything we can to make sure we get our patients out. it s a balance to the risk of the patients and air crews as we go in to bring our pants out. jenna: that is such a delicate balance. we understand that. the situation in december that kind of sparked that story where specialist clark lost his life raised some red flags. it took 50 minutes to get a helicopter to him. according to reports on the ground and we are seeing video of the mission because a former green beret turned blogger was on the mission with the army, according to his reports an ap apathc was not available to escort this medivac helicopter, and that caused the delay.
jury that. they are not supposed to be influenced by prejudice or emotion. yes, in a practical reality, it does have an impact, but i think it s a far stretch to call it evidence. jenna: members of the family apparently will be taking the stand on both sides. this is going to give us a lot to talk about. only two jurors were selected yesterday, a retired grandmother and university of virginia professor who has three sons. we ll continue to watch this. thank you both for your insights. thank you. jon: a soldier s death in afghanistan, sparking a debate that has reached congress. the question is whether to arm medivac helicopters, or add to the number of fighter choppers we have there to escort medivac flights. could that help save the lives of troops wounded in battle? we ll talk to the man leading that fight. and an entire elmentry school shut down after days of protests, parents furious after two teachers are arrested on charges of sexually abusing little
breaking news. the american embassy in kabul, afghanistan, coming under fire in an intense attack. word out of iran, the two american hikers convicted of espionage could soon be free. let s go ahead and start with the bold attack on america s signature presence in a war-torn country. rockets and machine gun fire aimed directly at the american embassy in kabul. gunfire coming from every corner of the building. take a listen. and we re now being told that it was a well-coordinated attack. i want to bring some more information straight from a man that i m going to talk to now. he s actually taken governor there in the embassy. i have known him for a long time. he works at the embassy and has been in afghanistan about five years now, but for security reasons, we are not going to identify him. can you hear me okay? i sure can, kyra. good morning. good morning. i sure appreciate you calling in. it seems a little quiet behind you now. when i talked to you earlier, i could actu