Riding Shotgun on IED Alley
PHILLIPS: Ever wonder what it's like going on patrol in Taliban country? U.S. troops do it every day in Afghanistan. "Dangerous," "frightening," those words doesn't do it justice. Our Chris Lawrence found out first hand, hitching a ride with GIs on a road known as IED Alley.</s>CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): We cram ourselves into the back of a Humvee and roll out onto Highway 1. They call this road IED Alley.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE (singing): I can show you the world.</s>LAWRENCE: And, yes, there's a story behind this silly song.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE (singing): ... shining, shimmering, splendid. Remember what happened when you didn't sing it last time?</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.</s>LAWRENCE: There's also an argument over who's the hottest Disney character.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's an ongoing debate. I -- there's a lot of votes for Jasmine apparently, but I'm an Ariel man myself.</s>LAWRENCE: For the heck of it, I throw in a vote for Pocahontas.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, my God.</s>LAWRENCE: Soldiers know militants like to hide bombs in the irrigation canals, so the convoy stops a lot.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK, let's go.</s>LAWRENCE: We're only in this Humvee because two weeks ago, a bomb exploded and damaged an MRAP. It happened right on this road, but some of the soldiers still get sick of the slow pace.</s>STAFF SGT. ANDREW JENNINGS, U.S. ARMY: I can get out and try and search every culvert. It would take five days to get anywhere, and possibly get blown up myself outside of my truck, or maybe just go across and get blown up in the truck.</s>LAWRENCE: Out of Kandahar, we roll into a pretty remote desert. Dust everywhere, and the ride just keeps getting rougher.</s>JENNINGS: We try not to follow the roads in these narrow places like where we're going right now, which is, you know, where they want to put them.</s>LAWRENCE: The conversation is all over the place. One minute, bombs. The next, breakfast.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Some more Pop-Tarts. You're talking about eating healthy?</s>LAWRENCE: But as we finally get near the camp, there is one thing I still can't figure.</s>JENNINGS: The whole Aladdin song that we sing every time?</s>LAWRENCE (on camera): Yes.</s>JENNINGS: It started out last deployment, and we didn't hit one IED in 15 months. But, stopped singing it this time and already hit one. So, we're bringing it back.</s>LAWRENCE (voice-over): Reason enough to keep singing.</s>JENNINGS (singing): Shining, shivering....</s>PETRAEUS: Chris joins us now from the Afghan capital of Kabul. That ride must have been pretty nerve-racking despite the songs, right, Chris?</s>LAWRENCE: Yes, exactly, Kyra. You know, the thing about driving and riding with some of these soldiers is they don't know if that bomb is two feet in front of them, two miles down the road. They don't know if it's going to hit in two weeks two months. There's this constant just tension and pressure. I don't even think those words really do it justice. But as you can see, when you're trapped in that metal box for hours on end, the dust is pouring into the vehicle, you can't get out, you can't roll the windows down, you have to break up some of that tension. And you can see the bond, the easy way those guys just kind of talk among each other to keep it as loose as they can.</s>PHILLIPS: So, Veterans Day, although you're in Kabul Afghanistan, how are the troops remembering today? What is the morale like? What are they telling you?</s>LAWRENCE: Yes, we just came from a big ceremony over at Camp Eggers here in Kabul. You know, lots of the ISAF forces, not only the United States, but it was interesting, because, like, each country would get out and kind of say what Remembrance Day or Armistice Day or Veterans Day, whatever they call it in that country, what it meant to them and what their soldiers had given over their years. And we talked to a couple of the troops afterwards, and they said that being here in a war zone, it made Veterans Day even more important to them. Not that they don't think about it when they're back home, but they said being here and being so locked in on an actual mission, and seeing all those other nations around them fighting at the same time, it really had a big effect on them. And you could look around as they played the "The Star-Spangled Banner," as the National Anthem was sung. You could just look in people's eyes and tell how serious everything was and how much Veterans Day really meant to them this year.</s>PHILLIPS: Chris Lawrence, we miss you. Come home soon. Appreciate it. Top stories now. The husband of retired Supreme Court justice Sandra Day O'Connor has died. John O'Connor lost his decades-long battle with Alzheimer's Disease this morning at the age of 79. If you're holding your breath on health care reform, better exhale. President Obama wanted a final by year's end, but more Democrats on Capitol Hill concede that's looking more unlikely by the day. New details in the death of German soccer star Robert Enke. The 32- year-old goalie of Germany's national team was struck and killed by a train last night. Enke's widow, bolstering police suspicions of suicide, saying he left a note and had been battling depression. The couple lost their 2-year-old daughter to a heart condition three years ago and had recently adopted another baby. It's a detour some drivers weren't planning on. The power of nature up close and personal.