Free Republic

<p>RAMADI, Iraq -- On Jan. 24, a suicide car-bomber slammed into a platoon from the First Cavalry Division in the small city of Khaldiya, killing three soldiers and wounding the platoon leader.</p> <p>It would have been a major blow for any platoon. For these soldiers it was devastating. Since the platoon arrived in Iraq five months ago, 11 soldiers from the 35-man unit have been badly wounded or killed. The platoon's first three leaders have fallen, one of them killed and two so seriously injured they had to be transferred.</p>

Fri October 31, 2003 11:07 AM ET BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A U.S. soldier from the 82nd Airborne Division was killed in a bomb attack Friday near the Iraqi town of Khaldiya in the hostile "Sunni triangle" area west of Baghdad, a U.S. military spokeswoman said. The attack brought to 118 the number of U.S. soldiers killed in action since Washington declared major combat in Iraq over on May 1. During the war in Iraq in March and April, 114 U.S. soldiers were killed in combat, according to Pentagon figures. The spokeswoman said a 1st Armored Division patrol was also attacked...