For a U.S. Platoon in Iraq, Merciless Missions

Tickal's diary reflected the growing tension, the platoon's exhaustion and frustration. "The day is half way over. It's about 136 degrees out," he wrote on July 29. "This morning seemed to disappear. The heat kind of puts you to sleep."

On Aug. 5, the platoon was hit by a roadside bomb on the way back from picking up a commander, who was returning from leave in the United States. "I told the captain, Welcome home,' " wrote Tickal. Using a racial epithet, he wrote, "I am getting tired of getting bombed and not catching" them.

On Aug. 6, Charlie Company's "Red Platoon" captured some insurgents with an artillery round. "That make me feel really great when we catch these jerkoffs," Tickal wrote. "They think they can get away w/anything. The thing is that it could be anyone. Everyone is poor in this country and I don't blame them. If I was poor I would take a few thousand dollars to place a road bomb. Man, I hate these insurgents."

On Aug. 7, the company's "White Platoon" was "hit by an IED for the 6th time in 2 days," Tickal wrote. "This time Big Will got hit. His whole right leg was hit by shrapnel."

By Aug. 10, it was "full out war," Tickal wrote. White Platoon was attacked by two roadside bombs and rocket-propelled grenades, wounding two soldiers. When Blue Platoon arrived to assist, the soldiers came under small-arms fire. "I kept on hearing, pew, pew, pew," Tickal wrote. "Taylor my gunner started unloading amo can after amo can into the wood line. We ended up being there about 2 hours. The first hour was nothing but gunfire."

Each day, the platoon would seek out information to find the men who were attacking them. The soldiers acted on tips and stopped at random houses. They questioned nervous residents through masked translators who went by nicknames like "Fly" and "Steve" and struggled with English themselves.

The platoon did not expect much. Few residents offered information; some were openly hostile. On the morning of Aug. 24, the platoon dismounted and strolled through a neighborhood of modest homes and mud huts. The soldiers came upon a young farmer, Bassam Hazim Mohammed, 19, sitting in the shade beneath an arbor.

"He says he doesn't like coalition forces," the interpreter told the platoon.

"I'm gonna tell him right now the fastest way to get rid of us: Approve a constitution, stop shooting at us, and stop blowing stuff up," said 1st Lt. Lamarius Workman, 31, the platoon leader. As he spoke, a few Americans split off to search Mohammed's home.

"So, basically, the easiest way to get rid of us is to just fake like they like us, just fake it," implored Workman. "I'm serious. Just sacrifice a little pride and fake it for six months and you'll see we'll be gone in no time."

Lyrics of Loneliness

As the grueling month wore on, Baker, the platoon sergeant and an accomplished trumpet player, recorded his latest song about Iraq with Anthony Blocker, 27, of Marietta, Ga., another platoon sergeant in Charlie Company.

The two men used a music software program and microphone, mixing the songs on a laptop computer in a tiny wooden studio that Blocker built in his room. Baker wrote songs about the three drowned soldiers, the platoon's desolate base, the isolation of being away from family. "If it feels like I'm gonna cry a little bit, then I know it's good," he said.