FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. — U.S. Army Sgt. Tom Burns already pines for Price Hill Chili's sandwiches and a round of golf with his brothers back home in Cincinnati.

        But if he and his Fort Campbell “Screaming Eagle” colleagues are called into action to strike against those responsible for Tuesday's attacks on America, he doesn't know when he'll be able to get to the food and family he loves.

        “This is a rapid-deploy unit ... and the rapid-deploy units will head out first. We can be fully ready to roll out in 72 hours,” Sgt. Burns said.

        The 35-year-old soldier is an Elder High School grad and 16-year military veteran. He is stationed at Fort Campbell, about five hours south of Greater Cincinnati and home to the 24,385-member 101st Airborne Division.

        The air assault unit is known as the Screaming Eagles, one of the first to land in the Persian Gulf for Operation Desert Storm.

        The fort is a sprawling 164-square-mile military installation straddling the border of Kentucky and Tennessee about 50 miles northwest of Nashville. And on Thursday, the base was bustling with activity, security and signs of high alert.

        Because it was one of the first units called up during the Gulf crisis in 1990, many people speculate that if the Army is needed, it is the Screaming Eagles who will get the first call.

        “We're ready every day,” Sgt. Burns said.

        The base is on what soldiers called “full alert,” or what the Army calls Threat Con Delta, the highest security level.
       

Historic unit
        The 101st Airborne Division is a proud and historic unit. Soldiers say Fort Campbell has followed the prophecy of the base's first commander, Maj. Gen. William C. Lee, who told his troops during World War II that they had a “rendezvous with destiny.”

        Founded in 1942, the Screaming Eagles were the first Americans to land at Normandy in the D-Day invasion of Europe during World War II. They also fought in Korea and Vietnam.

        But it was during the 1991 Persian Gulf War that most Americans came to know the 101st. Apache helicopters from Fort Campbell fired the first shots of the air war, knocking out Iraqi radar sites with Hellfire missiles.
       

High alert

        Most soldiers here are infantry, trained to jump from helicopters into battle spots or rescue missions.

        Soldiers leaving the base Wednesday and Thursday said little about the activity taking place behind the barbed wire topped chain-link that stretch more than three miles along U.S. 41A.

        “I'm not authorized to say anything about that,” Spc. Fred Lorenston, 19, of Tampa, Fla., said when asked if the soldiers were preparing to deploy.

        “But after what happened (Tuesday), a lot of people started thinking we could eventually be involved and have to go somewhere. That definitely crossed my mind. And once we get to wherever we end up going, we'll only have two things to do: Fight, and win.”

        Base officials wouldn't comment on security measures or any other aspects of activity, procedures or preparedness. Nor would they allow reporters on the base.

        But the increased security was obvious to the people who live and work near Fort Campbell. At a Wednesday news briefing, the base commander said it would be “weeks, not days” before the heightened alert would be lifted.

        Civilian workers leaving the base Thursday described scenes of soldiers preparing in the event they are called to arms. Many were doing “packing drills,” which are practice runs for loading equipment before racing to action.

        Large helicopters buzzed over the base and the shopping centers across from it. Soldiers toting weapons were guarding the homes and offices of top brass.
       

"Proud and scared'

        “Most people around here thought about the 101st as soon as we saw what the terrorists did,” said Donna Shedd, 48, who cuts soldiers' hair in a barber shop across the street from the base's main gate.

        “If the United States does something to get the people responsible, the soldiers at Fort Campbell will probably be involved,” she said.

        “That makes me proud and scared. I'm proud they are from here, but I don't want anything to happen to them, either.”

        “They are the best at what they do,” said Clarksville, Tenn., resident Lloyd Newman, 50, who Thursday morning was buying 20 small American flags at a flea market near the base.

        “We feel close to the base,” Mr. Newman said. “It's a part of this community. And I know if they are sent to do a job, they'll get it done.”
       
       

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