Marines fight heat, insurgents and roadway explosives in Iraq

BAGHDADI, Iraq -- Sgt. Andy Darnell watches the screen of a computer inside his heavily armored Humvee, tracking another convoy of Marines enroute to the U.S. military base here to replace his patrol.



As he tracks the patrol, he swats a sheet of small gnats from his face, which seem to multiply with the heat in this city of about 30,000 nestled along the Euphrates River northwest of Baghdad.



He looks at a picture of his wife, Heather, taped in the corner of the windshield of his Humvee, when a deafening explosion breaks the silence.



“We all knew what it was as soon as we heard it go off,” said Darnell, who was still sweating after completing an hour-long patrol in the Baghdadi streets. “The Marines knew as well and they all put on their game faces.”



Less than a mile away, the explosion is that of an improvised explosive device, the biggest threat that Darnell, a team leader with Weapons Co., from the Hawaii-based 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, faces on a daily basis in volatile Al Anbar Province.



This particular IED struck the convoy of Marines in the oncoming convoy while they were en route to relieve Darnell and his Marines from the makeshift patrol base.



Immediately following the blast, it’s unapparent to Darnell, 25, and his Marines if anyone was injured or killed by the roadside bomb, until another radio transmission quells their fear.



After several moments of radio silence, word of the IED’s impact reaches Darnell: no one was hurt. But not every convoy which strikes these roadside bombs are so lucky.



“You never know when an IED is going to strike,” said Darnell. “Marines are trained to keep their eyes ...