In Baghdad, a Flimsy Outpost

But the veterans in the group, some of whom were in Iraq for the third time, spoke less enthusiastically about the plan.

"I think everything is worth trying," said Staff Sgt. Brian Mancini, 28, of Phoenix. But he added wryly, "If I die in Iraq this time, I don't have to worry about coming back again."

Capt. Bret Hamilton, a company commander, said he was hopeful his soldiers would be able to turn over control of the neighborhood to Iraqi police by the end of their tour, which is slated to last a year but could be extended. "If I'm going to be here for a year, away from my wife and kids, I want to do what's going to get us out of here," he said. "It's not the mad war everyone perceives it to be. We have a good plan for it."

A Ball of Fire

A group of soldiers who have been in Baghdad since October was assigned to Hamilton's unit to conduct patrols around the outpost during its first few days. Speaking about the neighborhood before going out on patrol late Saturday night, Staff Sgt. Nicholas Morton said he struggles to understand its sectarian makeup. Not much has changed in Iraq since he last served two years ago, he said, except for the growing sophistication of roadside bombs.

As the patrol convoy, lights off, rolled down the barren streets near the outpost, Morton saw a tiny red spot ahead.

A discarded cigarette butt, the soldier figured, as he stared at the Bradley Fighting Vehicle moving along a few feet ahead of his Humvee.

Then came the blast, deafening despite the vehicle's armor.

"IED!" Morton screamed, using the shorthand for roadside bomb.

A ball of fire had ripped into the right side of the Bradley, one of the U.S. military's sturdiest vehicles. Morton reached for his radio and asked, in a panicky voice, whether everyone was okay.

He heard only soft static. A few seconds passed. The soldiers in the Humvee spewed expletives as they stared into the cloud of dark gray smoke ahead.

"Everybody's all right," someone in the Bradley finally replied.

The soldiers in Morton's vehicle exhaled. What if one of the Humvees, which have softer skins, had been hit, they wondered. What if they had passed closer to the IED?

"Two guys ducked into a house," a soldier said over the radio. "On the left side of the street. I have my gun right on it."

But they didn't have enough evidence to shoot. And there weren't enough men to get out to investigate further.

"Do a freaking U-turn," Morton ordered.

So the soldiers turned back to their outpost to inspect the apple-size hole the bomb had drilled into one of the Bradley's armor plates.

Back at the base, they hugged and laughed. Were it not for the uniforms and the powerful rifles slung over their shoulders, they could have been college kids celebrating a victory by their school's football team.

Then the soldiers headed back to the scene of the blast, where they found only a small crater in the ground and scraps of the detonated bomb.