Free Republic

AL-JAZIRAH DESERT, Iraq – Two young cavalry leaders rode hard through the western border country, pushing their Fort Lewis troops nearly 185 miles from Tal Afar to the Euphrates River, then back again. Their faces caked with dust stuck to a week’s worth of sweat, Capts. Keith Walters and Vince Maykovich watched the horizon unfold at 35 mph from the rear hatches of their Stryker. Their troop of 15 vehicles rumbled over scrubland and dry lake beds, slowing now and then to clamber across the wadis – narrow desert gorges where water flows during the rainy season. The longtime friends...

Soldiers stationed in Alaska, who are used to below-freezing temperatures, are just now finishing a mission that not only provided them invaluable desert training for their coming mission in Iraq but also snared thousands of undocumented immigrants and thousands of pounds of marijuana. More than 400 soldiers in the U.S. Army's 4th Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment, 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, stationed in Wainwright, Alaska, were part of "Operation Bootheel," which paired them with U.S. Border Patrol agents in southwest and south-central New Mexico. "They're a cav unit, so their job is to observe and track the enemy and then...