Embeds Share War Stories
N E W Y O R K, April 16, 2003 -- As U.S. soldiers continue the job they started nearly a month ago in Iraq, their embedded guests have returned to the states with their own up close and personal war stories.
Freelance journalist Richard Engel, who was not embedded with a unit, reported from Baghdad's Palestine Hotel for ABCNEWS from the time the war started until the tanks finally rolled into the heart of Baghdad.
"We were one of the last places, or where I was, one of the last places in Baghdad to be liberated, or taken under American control," Engel said on ABCNEWS' Good Morning America. "I was looking at the tanks across the road, we were just like 'hurry up.' "
No Going Back
Engel, who is fluent in Arabic and has reported for outlets ranging from the BBC to Voice of America since graduating from Stanford University in 1996, says he didn't regret his choice to stay in Baghdad even when the bombing got too close for comfort.
"Once the decision has been made, you're there. You're not leaving at that stage," Engel said. "Sure, as it gets closer, you debate the wisdom of that choice."
ABCNEWS' Mike Cerre and Don Dahler were two of hundreds of reporters who were embedded with troops during the war with Iraq.
They accompanied U.S. forces with troop units under Pentagon regulations, which centered on not reporting information that would endanger the safety of troops and the security of operations.
Cerre was embedded with 1st Marine Division, 5th Regiment, 2 Battalion's Fox Company. The unit is known as Fox 2/5. Cerre, who is a former Marine officer himself, says the most intense day of the war for his group came on April 4 while they were on the way to Baghdad.
"We took fire from the north. It was a five-hour, 30-mile firefight that was nonstop," Cerre said. "It was fairly terrifying for all of us involved — and the Marines themselves — the first real major combat they had. That day, we also lost the company Sgt. Ed Smith, he's being buried tomorrow."
As a journalist, Cerre said it was a difficult emotional challenge for him to report certain developments after getting to know the soldiers and after hearing about their families.
"The first time the unit took casualties — that was difficult because I knew when I had to report them, they would know it was automatically involving their unit. We were careful about not revealing names or details until the next of kin could be notified," Cerre said.
Dahler was embedded with the 101st Airborne, 2nd Brigade, 502 Battalion. He says the soldiers in his unit saw some intense fighting on April 5, when they arrived in an area just south of Karbala.
"One of our Humvee trucks hit an unexploded ordnance and injured three soldiers," Dahler said. "We didn't find out until later that a soldier in the following vehicle jumped out and ran up to that Humvee. They thought they were under fire, but it was the ammunition and two missiles in the vehicle firing off. The sergeant climbed into the vehicle under fire and pulled out the driver. One of many acts of heroism we got to see over there."
Dahler spent nearly three months away from his wife Katie, who told him via satellite that she was pregnant near the end of the war.
"Being over there and being with the soldiers knowing that I had a baby on the way was difficult," Dahler said.
When he was just south of Baghdad last week, he obtained a small Nissan pickup truck from his unit commander to. He loaded it up with extra gas, a GPS locator and a map before setting off on the trip back to Kuwait for a flight home.
Later that day somewhere near a small Shiite town and miles from U.S. troops, the pickup gave out, but Dahler used rope to tie his truck to an older one and was followed by a car full of Iraqis down the road.