A new mission for Charlie Company
Lives after Iraq have not been easy for combat-weary soldiers. Reporter Ron Martz takes a look at how some of them have changed.

4.29.03

In the fog of war, a terrible clairty
Images of pain, braver and tragedy are seared into reporter's memory.

4.13.03

Baghdad citizens warm up to troops
But despite the apparent goodwill, Charlie company stays cautious.

4.13.03

Sgt. Diaz's war
AJC's Ron Martz reports on one American's march to Baghdad.

4.12.03

Charlie Co. remains wary
Despite good will from Iraqis, troops remain alert.

4.11.03

Boots, helmet, rifle: A farewell
With the sound of artillery rumbling in the background, soldiers of the Fort Stewart-based Task Force 1-64 paused Friday to remember a fallen comrade.

4.10.03

Mayhem, merriment in Baghdad streets
Task force soldiers told to keep focus on combat duty.

4.09.03

Soldiers clear government buildings
Soldiers from Charlie Company cleared the Iraqi parliament, the Ministry of Housing and Construction, a train station.

4.08.03

Street fighting slow, bloody
The battle for Baghdad has turned into the nasty street fighting the Pentagon did not want or predict.

4.07.03

Charlie Co. in action
Troops make lightning thrust at heart of regime.

4.06.03

For Charlie Co., a day of rest
After nearly two weeks of daily contact with Iraqi forces, the soldiers of Charlie Co. got a rare day of rest Sunday.

I owe these heroes my life
Less than 30 minutes after the two soldiers joined me, both were wounded by bullets that could have hit me.

4.05.03

Task Force 1-64 drives deep into center of Baghdad
In a stunning display of armored power, Task Force 1-64 knifed deep into the center of Baghdad on Saturday morning, cutting the city in half and setting up a main supply route to the airport.

4.04.03

Taking on T-72s at close quarters
Members of Charlie Company talk about firing at Iraqi tanks in streets, sometimes only 10 yards away.

Scattered Iraqi remnants fight back
Charlie Company crosses to eastern bank of the Euphrates River, driving its armor over a bridge and into a scarred landscape of death and smoke.

4.01.03

Mail call doesn't occur often enough
Front-line troops frustrated that getting letters from home takes so long.

3.31.03

Battlefield promotions
Members of tank company get overdue recognition.

Faith in action at the front
Capt. Ron Cooper, chaplain for 700-plus soldiers, is unit's conscience and soul.

3.29.03

Dangerous life on front line
Simple things, like latrine breaks, can kill you.

3.28.03

Journalists join battle -- to save lives
Journalists are expected to be impartial observers. We are supposed to stand back, watch it all unfold and then tell what happened. On Wednesday, reality changed the rules.

Soldiers realize this war no cakewalk
Many analysts predicted a walkover, but the campaign has turned into a long, slow slog to Baghdad.

3.27.03

GIs repel suicide attackers
Near Najaf, Charlie Company confronts another kind of madness.

3.24.03

Weather, enemy resistance slows 2nd Brigade advance on Baghdad
Bad weather and scattered but determined resistance from Iraqi forces Monday slowed the 2nd Brigade Combat Team's advance on Baghdad.

Fanatical Iraqis meet doom
The Iraqi troops thought they would be fighting the relatively lightly armed 82nd Airborne Division.

3.23.03

Units push swifly past dust, death
By nightfall Saturday, the 2nd Brigade Combat Team from Fort Stewart was less than 100 miles from the Iraqi capital and was set to cross the Euphrates River.

3.21.03

Second wave into Iraq
American and British troops punch into southern Iraq, heading for Basra and battling the enemy on the al-Faw peninsula.

3.20.03

Georgia troops cheer on missiles
Morning broke here today with a low droning sound, followed by a cheer from the troops encamped at attack positions less than five miles from the Iraqi border.
• Iraqi missiles force troops into protective gear

3.19.03

Ga.-based infantry division moves into position
The 3rd Infantry Division (Mechanized) moved into attack positions less than five miles from the Iraqi border Wednesday in anticipation of orders to head north.

3.18.03

Soldiers ready to carry out mission
With war against Iraq apparently only hours away, the Georgia-based soldiers of this tank company said Tuesday they are more than ready to carry out President Bush's orders to force Saddam Hussein out of power.

3.18.03

Dad labors to learn of daughter's birth
What it took for one soldier in America's modernized Army to find out his wife had a baby.

Troops healthy despite harsh life
Soldiers of the 3rd Infantry Division (Mechanized) are healthy, say the medics who treat them.

3.17.03

It's deja vu for Ft. Stewart unit chief
The man who will lead the 700-plus soldiers of this armored battalion into Iraq is a former elementary school teacher.

3.16.03

3rd Infantry: The 'Iron Fist' from Fort Stewart
If the soldiers of the 3rd Infantry Division (Mechanized) lead the armored assault on Iraq, the unit could become better known to Americans.

3.13.03

Troops sense that war is near
Gone are the pretenses of the past few months that American soldiers are in Kuwait for training.

3.10.03

Soldiers prepare for sandstorms, hyperthermia
The end of winter and the approach of spring in the deserts of the Middle East usher in insufferable heat, choking dust and gale-force winds that may be greater threats to American troops and their equipment than all the Iraqi soldiers arrayed against them.