A Violent, 'Normal' Day in Baghdad

Lake and his fellow soldiers then raided a nearby house to search for the attackers. He said on a day like that, troops are given four to six hour breaks after these kinds of grueling assignments, which leaves little time to truly calm down.

"We got grenades going off, we've got an IED blowing up your vehicle … and then you are expected to go back in those four to six, four to five hours … and relax!" he said. "You just don't have time to do it. Your body never gets to come down, you're always on that heightened sense of alertness."

Two days later, Lake returned to the same neighborhood as his unit raided a house looking for weapons and insurgents. But all they found was an old woman and her dogs; the woman was visibly distressed.

After spending two weeks with Apache Company in Baghdad, Smith noted, "That's what being a soldier in so-called battle situations is about. The abnormal becomes the normal."

The next day, U.S. soldiers spotted a suspicious car circling the block where the old woman also lives. They ordered the driver to stop, and when he did not they opened fire.

They tried, unsuccessfully, to revive him.

A woman is seen in the video footage telling troops the victim was a taxi driver who was coming to pick her up -- he was just looking for her house.

Smith said the troops first priority is to defend themselves as some questioned their place in the war. "The frustration is not, 'Look how difficult this is.' The frustration is 'Look how difficult this is and what exactly for?'" Smith said.

"Because we have people up there in Congress with the brain of a 2-year-old who don't know what they are doing -- they don't experience it. I challenge the president or anyone who has us for 15 months to ride alongside me," Vassell said. "I [would] do another 15 months if he comes out here and rides along with me every day for 15 months. I'll do 15 more months. They don't even have to pay me extra."

To watch some of Sean Smith's video, click on the video player in the right column of this page.