Free Republic

TIKRIT, Iraq, (Agencies): Your average American soldier in post-war Iraq may want better food, more rest time and above all to go home, but the infantrymen out on night patrol in Saddam Hussein’s hometown of Tikrit have only one wish - to get shot at. The soldiers of the 1st Battalion, 22nd Regiment swear they have divine protection and say the easiest place to be attacked is in what they call ‘RPG alley.’ The mile-long main street’s two-storey homes, cafes and furniture shops are daubed with ‘Saddam is our leader’ graffiti and the road is holed by grenades. But the...

By HRVOJE HRANJSKIThe Associated PressSunday, August 24, 2003; 5:16 PM TIKRIT, Iraq - With war and death on his mind, Spc. Barry Page was baptized Sunday in the Tigris River by an Army chaplain at the sprawling U.S. military headquarters on the fabled river's banks. A Southern Baptist working as a military policeman, Page said he decided to "reannounce his life to Christ" in the birthplace of civilization. "I realized death is walking in this place," said the 22-year-old from Houston, his uniform and boots soaking wet. "It can be any of us. Next time it could be me." The...

Baptism in the Tigris for U.S. Christian SoldiersSun August 24, 2003 07:28 AM ET By Andrew Cawthorne TIKRIT, Iraq (Reuters) - Nineteen-year-old Private Bill Goodwin puts down his gun, takes off his combat jacket and steps into the warm waters of Iraq's Tigris River. "I baptize you in the name of Jesus Christ," proclaims his unit's Protestant chaplain, Xuan Tran, submerging the soldier completely for Sunday's baptism rite. Goodwin emerges smiling and posing for a photo to send to his family in Oklahoma before reflecting on what he has done. "I have been away for five and a half months...