On Battle and Home Fronts, a Roller Coaster of Nerves

Randomness of Attacks Takes a Toll on Troops

By Kevin Sullivan
Washington Post Foreign Service
Thursday, July 31, 2003; Page A01

BAQUBAH, Iraq -- Sgt. Joey Torkildson recalled the day a grenade bounced off his friend's helmet. It was a dud. "It's crazy, but you just get used to stuff like that," he said.

Sgt. Michael O'Neill told of another grenade that rolled across the hood of his Humvee and exploded right next to him. Luckily, his hapless attacker had bought a concussion grenade, all noise and no explosives, so O'Neill lost his hearing instead of his life.

Days earlier, O'Neill said, he had watched a rocket-propelled grenade blast the fuel tanks of an armored personnel carrier directly in front of him in a convoy. He threw his Humvee into reverse to escape the flames, and a second RPG screamed across his hood, a few feet from his face, right where he had been a moment earlier.

"It's tough mentally," O'Neill said. "You never know where it's coming from. You could walk into the market and somebody could walk up to you and shoot you, and you'd never see it coming."

Practically every soldier here has a story, and the tales have a common theme. Life for U.S. troops in Iraq these days is permeated by a lethal uncertainty. Attackers can be anyone, anywhere, anytime, perpetrating guerrilla-style violence on a scale not encountered by U.S. forces since the Vietnam War.