Editors Note: This is the second part of a two part series detailing Lance Cpl. Shaun Suggs' service in Iraq.
It was still dark outside when Lance Cpl. Shaun Suggs and his unit embarked on the long trip through the desert.
Leaving the Kuwait-Iraq border at 5 a.m., the Loris native clenched his .50 caliber machine gun as he surveyed the vast Iraqi landscape, a desolate expanse of sun baked sand and sporadic vegetation.
Suggs maintained his composure as he and detachments from the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) began their 20-hour trek to Kasul, Iraq.
At first the trip began uneventfully, with his convoy successfully passing through two checkpoints, pausing to refuel at each one.
But after the second stop, tranquility soon gave way to turmoil when a group of mock Iraqi militants apparently started shelling Suggs' unit with mortar rounds in a live fire simulation.
"About 10 miles down the road, we started getting fire," Suggs said in a July 29, 2003 letter to his father, John Suggs. "There were a lot of them."
One of the attackers made a beeline for Lance Cpl. Suggs and the truck he was riding in. Torn between duty and adrenaline, duty took over.
"I was most concerned about the car that was coming right for the convoy, so I lit him up," Suggs wrote. "I shot about 25 rounds off the turret and blew him all to hell."
The live fire exercise helped prepare the 21-year-old officer for what lay ahead.
Within 30 minutes of arriving in Kasul, the Iraqis attacked again. This time, the explosions were real.
Suggs' base camp was shelled by 40 mm rounds, about 10 of them, for several minutes.
Over the next two weeks, the mortar rounds persisted at regular intervals. In each attack, the Loris native escaped unscathed.
For his actions in those engagements, Suggs was awarded with a combat action ribbon (C.A.R.). It's a feat that carries special meaning for the Loris native.
"I got my C.A.R., first one in the family," Suggs wrote to his father. "Tell everyone I said 'hey' and I love them.
"Don't be worrying about me either, Dad," he continued. "I will be fine."
Lance Cpl. Suggs' account to his father was relayed during his first tour of duty in Iraq, which ended later that summer. He's now in the middle of his second tour.
The 21-year-old combat engineer mainly performs reconnaissance missions and is an expert at detecting and defusing landmines and explosives.
He completed five mine clearing missions during his first tour, locating and removing more than 4,100 live rounds from tanks and 155 mm Howitzer turrets.
About two months ago, he was also part of a team that captured two Iraqi militants and confiscated a large weapons cache, Suggs said during a telephone interview last week.
Speaking from his base camp in Iraq, Suggs said the mission started as a routine search of an Iraqi home, but the circumstances suddenly changed when its occupants opened fire.
"We went in and started receiving small arms fire," he said. "From that point, we went in and [captured them]."
The work didn't stop there.
"We had sweep teams with mine detectors and swept the area, trying to pick up any kind of ammunition," Suggs said. cont

Loris Scene