-Soldiers of Gulf platoon of the 1/293 Battalion prepare for their first training mission off base into local Iraqi territory.


Corporal Ray Eber, 38, of Twelve Mile, IN said seeing the Iraqi villages, "makes you appreciate back home. It's poverty-stricken (here). We saw a lot of evidence of IEDs (Improvised Explosive Devices) in pothole after pothole. It shows this is not a done deal."


Sergeant Joseph Litton, 23, of Marion said afterwards, "I was surprised. I figured from the ways the news puts it, we're always getting hit. We had no issues." The two previous training runs had encountered a mortar and enemy fire, however.



Specialist James Davis, 21, of Kokomo carries up to seven tourniquets in his Medic bag at all times. "As we got into the small villages the kids seemed mesmerized," Davis said. "We handed out candy and Girl Scout cookies. There was a group that threw rocks as we were leaving. I don't know if it was to be mischevious or out of animosity."


Specialist Dustin Keedy, 23, of Indianapolis peaks out from a gun turret on an up-armored Humvee. Keedy said, "It was good to see the locals operating procedures. I was the .50 cal gunner and I kept seeing a little kid peeking out from behind a bridge. That scared the ---- out of me for a minute." (Soldiers train to be vigilant of certain areas and structures for IEDs.)


Specialist Christopher Anderson, 34, of Greenwood said, we're doing, "familiarization, but anything outside the wire is."