IRAQ -- Her knee on the wheel of a Humvee, Petty Officer 3rd Class Cheryl Courier looked hard at the Marlboro burning between her dry, cracked fingertips.

"When I got deployed to Kuwait, I never thought a war would affect me," she said slowly, savoring her words like she does the harsh taste of nicotine, "but look at me now. I'm having my last cigarette before we cross the border."

It was actually many hours and three cigarettes later when Courier drove across the Iraqi border with several hundred other members of Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 4 from Port Hueneme. Courier, 24, knows she's now going to be the stuff of legends in her Thousand Oaks family. "I'll be like 'I remember the war of 2003' when I talk to my grandkids," she said.

While some of the 700 members of NMCB-4 are still living at Camp 93 in Kuwait, others moved to within three miles of the Iraqi border two days ago.

That same group has now crossed into Iraq with the intention of backing up other military forces with their construction and weapons skills.

They could be asked to rebuild bombed bridges, lay down airfields and reconstruct roads. Late Saturday, at a desolate spot in the Iraqi desert, they waited for word on where they would head.

After a night of watching missiles sail overhead, it was about noon Friday when they left their makeshift camp by the border. They left in a convoy of many, many trucks laden with pipes, bridge parts, and culverts, but their trek into Iraq was no Friday afternoon drive.

The American military traffic going into Iraq was so heavy they were delayed many times. Each time they were stalled in a long trail of construction equipment at the side of the road. A dump truck broke in the demilitarized zone between Kuwait and Iraq and had to be towed. They didn't cross the berm, tank ditch and razor wire that mark the Iraqi border until 1:30 a.m., even though it was only about three miles from their Kuwaiti makeshift camp. In Courier's Humvee, the event was only sleepily acknowledged with a heightened awareness.

Once in Iraq, there was a report of non-Americans moving to a bunker as the convoy approached. The Seabees slowed and stopped rather than drive by to be popped off one by one. Eventually, they discovered the men were American sympathizers.

They scanned the sides of the roads for the large anthills that could mean unexploded land mines, and they slept. Somehow, they shut their eyes against the danger, and nodded off even as the truck bounced down the road. Courier pulled a sleeping bag over her head and slept on the floor of the Humvee.

When the dawn came, Courier woke to a remarkable sight: a family at the side of the road, father, mother and two children all in robes. They were waving at the long line of Seabees as they passed. "You are my friend," the man shouted out.

Courier put down her M-16, and pulled out her disposable camera. It was a welcomed oasis amid the other sights along the road: cars and shelters blown into small metal fragments and huge craters marking the places where mortars had landed.

In all, they drove 22 hours to reach a refueling area in the Iraqi desert. Courier was in the Alpha command post truck, where the construction mechanics and equipment operators all go for guidance. With her were Ensign Jason Wiese, Sr. Chief Michelle "Shelly" Lavoie, Lt. Bill Butler and Construction Mechanic Chief Richard Rhodes. Wiese, Lavoie and Courier rode in the back of the truck, where they sat on wood slat seats, shivered in the cold night air and tried to wrap clothes around their mouths and noses to avoid breathing in the swirling sand.

Courier is the lead communicator for Alpha Company and is responsible for maintaining communications for the group. A Westlake High School graduate, she is one of only three of her graduating class who joined the military after high school.

"In Thousand Oaks, military is not the thing to do," she said. "It didn't go over at all well with my friends. Some haven't spoken to me."

However, among her family members, she's become a hero. "It's a big thing in my family to join the military," she said, trying to suppress the hacking cough that has afflicted several people in the truck.

"I was a prissy girl, but now they are very proud of me." She said now when she goes to family reunions she'll have something to contribute, "but, I'm really looking forward to my 10-year reunion," she said. "Not many people can say they did this for their country."

And yet, as she looked around at the desert and the sheepherders and the rural roads clogged with military traffic, she still is somewhat mystified. "I still can't believe we're in Iraq," she said, pulling the book "The Tribulation Force" from her backpack. "This is one of the most dangerous places on earth, and I didn't expect it to be so quiet, but I think there's more to come. This isn't over."

-- Editors note: While Dani Dodge enjoys getting e-mail regarding her stories, her capability to read and respond to e-mail is currently very limited in Iraq. She apologizes to those with whom she cannot communicate.