We are engaging the Republican Guard at Karbala. Our troops are fighting valiantly and incurring minimal casualties amongst themselves and civilians. They are even saving people in the midst of a raging battle.

Capt. Chris Carter winced at the risks his men would have to take. Engaged in a lightning-fast raid for this Euphrates River town, they were battling for a bridge when - through the smoke - they saw the elderly woman. She had tried to race across the bridge when the Americans arrived but was caught in the crossfire.

Carter, a 32-year-old Army Ranger, ordered his Bradley armored vehicle to pull forward while he and two men ran behind it. They took cover behind the bridge's iron beams.

Carter tossed a smoke grenade for more cover and approached the woman, who was crying and pointing toward a wound on her hip. Medics placed her on a stretcher and into an ambulance; Carter stood by, providing cover with his M16A4 rifle. Then she was gone, and yesterday's battle for this town of 80,000, 50 miles south of Baghdad, raged on.