Within seconds, a hefty blast rocked the room, causing the brisk late morning air to surge. Screaming children scattered into a concrete breezeway, some still holding cotton balls against their arms. Teachers gasped and ran. Veneklasen and members of his Hellraisers platoon darted outside and into a nearby intersection where AK-47 fire erupted in a short burst amid lingering smoke.Nearby, three U.S. soldiers were wounded in a rocket-propelled grenade attack as they toured the city's schools as part of a civil affairs mission. The strike apparently came from behind a dirt berm in the middle of one of Samarra's most tumultuous neighborhoods, a place where insurgents have launched several attacks in recent weeks. Veneklasen ran to the wounded soldiers, grabbing a stretcher from the grille of his Humvee as Spec. William Chavis, a medic, cut away one soldier's pant leg, revealing deep wounds around his knee. Chavis, 20, of McColl, S.C., quickly applied a tight bandage wrap and formed a splint, his patient writhing in pain in the cold dirt a few feet from a hulking Bradley fighting vehicle. Blood spurted between another soldier's fingers as he held his mouth, a piece of shrapnel lodged in his right jaw near his neck, his glasses covered in a bright red spray. A third soldier hopped slightly before falling to his knees, clutching a wound in his lower abdomen, below his body armor. Veneklasen, 34, of Estelline, S.D., jumped back into his Humvee and slammed the door. "Somebody jumped up with an RPG and small arms fire. All because we're trying to help the damn schools out," he said. "Another beautiful day in Samarra."
The Hellraisers, part of the 1st Battalion, 26th Infantry Regiment's Apache Company, are on the front line of the continuing battle for this city, a swath of modest neighborhoods along the eastern bank of the Tigris River about 65 miles north of Baghdad. U.S. troops stormed into Samarra in the first days of October, taking the city of 220,000 away from a cluster of insurgents, but the level of their control is measured in small victories. Schools that were empty and decrepit now have fresh paint and new bathrooms, and host hundreds of children who can barely contain their enthusiasm when soldiers come through to visit. Storefronts selling lamb, fresh fruit, furniture, rugs and water heaters are open for business. The streets are relatively clean, and a local public works project is cutting a new road through downtown. Laborers are busy working on construction projects.