The number of Iraqis killed by the devices, whether planted along roads or packed into vehicles, is even higher.

No wonder, then, the U.S. military has fielded a number of high-tech and expensive countermeasures to the devices. But in the end, it all still comes down to anxious men who must seek them out and destroy them.

"Mentally it doesn't bother me a lot, but my awareness certainly goes up," says Marine Pvt. Anthony "Chase" Watson. But "if you're afraid to do the job, you shouldn't be here."

Watson, 23, has a particularly dangerous role in the 1st Combat Engineer Battalion based at al-Asad. By choice, he drives a vehicle called a Husky, which looks like an outsized, armor-plated dune buggy, as a member of a route-clearance team.

Watson's job is to drive slowly along the sides of roads and through visual abilities and highly sensitive and adjustable electronic sensors find and mark mines for neutralizing by other team members, who do so through the use of a larger MRAP (Mine Resistant, Ambush Protected) vehicle that has a huge hydraulic arm that digs mines out and snips their wires or destroys their detonators.

Finding and marking means Watson rolls right up to them so a special sprayer on the elongated front end of the vehicle can mark the site with ink. A trailer is sometimes attached to the rear of the Husky to set off any mines the eyes and sensors missed.

If a Husky does set off a mine, it's designed so the front or rear portions of the vehicle absorb the blast and detach from the cab.

Watson has so far avoided the experience. He said a friend wasn't so lucky, but suffered no serious injury. "These hulls are designed to withstand a blast," he said.

Other MRAP vehicles used by the battalion include the Cougar and Buffalo, which look like gigantic boxes on wheels. The four-wheeled version of the Cougar is more than 19 feet long and has a curb weight of 32,000 pounds. The Buffalo is more than 6 feet longer and weighs in at more than 43,000 pounds. The Cougar carries the engineering crew, while the Buffalo not only carries team members but also is equipped with the demining arm.

Each carries six or more people.

"We've gotten a reputation, I guess," said Lt. Trevor Holmes. "People keep asking for us to do stuff for them, so we keep pretty busy."

Nearly every day elements of the 1st CEB are on the main roads that cross AO-Denver, an area in western Anbar province the size of South Carolina.

"The first eight hours you're all pumped up, but the last four you can't wait for it to end," said Watson, of Yemassee, S.C.

On a recent short mission just outside al-Assad, the hub of U.S. military operations in western Anbar province, Watson and his comrades moved slowly down a main highway. Watson was up front on the right-hand side of the road, his Husky slightly on the tarmac, the rest of the vehicle on the verge. A second Husky was on the other side. Following down the middle of the road were the Cougars, a Buffalo and a truck to cart away any damaged or destroyed vehicles.

The road through the desert was empty of vehicles, and the Marines riding as passengers in the air-conditioned monsters amused themselves with tall tales and statistical trivia, such as a beam of sunlight taking eight minutes to reach Earth, and that a person will spend an average of four hours of his life tying his shoelaces.

Watson didn't have the option for distraction. The Husky is a one-man show.

Several times the convoy stopped abruptly. One of the Huskies either got a warning ping off its console, or they were checking out a suspicious object. "It gets a little hectic the minute the detector lets out a high-pitched squeal," Watson said. "That's when I stop the convoy -- fast."

Nothing dangerous was found on the patrol, however.

In villages and towns, the Marines grew quieter, scanning the streets for unusual behavior or situations, such as people moving away quickly, a suspicious vehicle, or a street being deserted when it shouldn't be. The vehicles are so large they have difficulty maneuvering the narrow roadways of settlements without having to do at least one three-point turn, which leaves them more vulnerable to attack while doing so.

But despite the new set of factors in populated areas that day, the patrol sounded horns in greeting and tossed candy to children along the streets.

Then it was back out on the highway, back to business, tedious but essential life-protecting business.

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