CHARLIE TEAM

Kyla Cannon tucked her medic bag in the back, with the rectangular ammunition cans lashed to the Humvee's steel bed, including three cans for a Mark 19 grenade launcher, plus ammunition for the M-249 machine gun and 40 mm grenades for the M-203.

The convoy of trailer trucks, with three Humvee escorts, motored south from Balad, toward the Scania Convoy Support Center. They went around Baghdad, down a three-lane superhighway that reminded the Rhode Islanders of Route 95, except that the median was a strip of sand.

When the trucks were spread out, the convoy was as long as two miles. Harrington drove the lead Humvee, followed by about 30 big rigs. Then came a second escort Humvee, another 30 or so trucks, and then the rear escort Humvee.

The convoy drove down the center of the highway -- to avoid bombs buried in the soft roadside.

The trucks made good time. At Scania, the squad ate lunch and prepared for the return trip with a northbound convoy.

Harrington was beat, from the drive, and from the 115-degree heat. He thought about asking somebody else to drive.

Who could swap?

Not Cannon, he thought; she was the medic.

Camara, who rode in the back next to Cannon, was the squad leader.

Sgt. Todd Caldwell, an investment planner with a new bride back in Attleboro, was the team leader and the front passenger. Also, Caldwell was the acting squad leader that day, getting some on-the-job training from Camara.

That left Edmund Aponte, the gunner.

Aponte, a metal worker at Electric Boat, was in the roof turret, assigned to the belt-fed M-249 machine gun. The gunner sat in a sling, a 2-inch-wide strap looped between hooks on either side of the turret hole. The sling was adjusted to his height, so that the top of his shirt pocket was in line with the top of the truck.

It's only a few more hours, Harrington decided. I'll just drive.