POORLY ORGANIZED

So say soldiers about the attacks in Iraq. Including one who was wounded.

When I have to choose who to believe...I'll take the soldier's word for it.

While guerrilla ambushes on U.S. vehicle convoys in Iraq sometime take a deadly toll, soldiers who have returned from the war say the attacks are rare and poorly organized.

A soldier who logged more than 15,000 miles driving a Humvee in Iraq said Monday that he had experienced just one attack. Another soldier who was shot in the leg during a pre-dawn ambush, said he was able to return the fire and that once his leg was completely healed, he would return to Iraq.

The soldiers are serving in the Army's 5th Engineer Battalion of combat engineers, some of whom were honored Monday at a ceremony at Fort Leonard Wood, where the unit is based.

"I would go back, but right now the circumstances are still keeping me here," said Sgt. Paris Archibald, 29. "I know I will return."

Archibald, who is from Panama, was shot in the leg while riding in a Humvee on a main highway north of Baghdad during an attack on a two-vehicle convoy in the early morning hours of June 12. Archibald said he gave himself first aid while he was rushed to an Army hospital in Tikrit, about 100 miles north of Baghdad.

"We couldn't stop," Archibald said. "We had to keep going. If we turned around (to get medical help) we would have had to go back through the ambush point."

Archibald said his training kept things under control.

"You do so much training. It's so realistic. The only thing you worry about is making sure you take the guy down. I was able to return fire. Did I get him? I can't tell because it was dark."