Convoy Hits Road Through Danger ; Weapons at the Ready, Guardsmen Head Out From Camp Marez Past Ambush Alley to 'the Castle.' Series: Inside Iraq: On a Mission with Maine Troops

Summary

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They stand shoulder-to-shoulder inside Charlie Company's small briefing room, 19 soldiers with Kevlar helmets strapped to their heads, tactical vests wrapped around their upper torsos and M-16 rifles slung over their shoulders. All eyes and ears are on Capt. Michael Mitchell, the company commander.

"I want you to keep your game faces on. Keep your thumb on the safety at all times," Mitchell says, his voice deadly serious. "Look out for your buddy. Make sure your buddy stays awake."

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Convoy Hits Road Through Danger ; Weapons at the Ready, Guardsmen Head Out From Camp Marez Past Ambush Alley to 'the Castle.' Series: Inside Iraq: On a Mission with Maine Troops

Charlie Company, one of four that comprise the Maine National Guard's 133rd Engineer Battalion, soon will leave the relatively safe confines of Camp Marez on a morning mission to "The Castle." Once a prison used by Saddam Hussein during the Iran-Iraq war, it now serves as a training base for the fledgling Iraqi Armed Forces.

Charlie Company's objective: Rendezvous with a 22-soldier detachment from the 133rd that has been working on The Castle for the last 10 days and escort them back to Camp Marez.

It sounds relatively simple.

It isn't.

Along the 70-mile round trip, the convoy will pass through the western edge of densely populated Mosul, where each building is a potential hiding place for an insurgent with an RPG (rocket propelle...

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