SOUTHERN IRAQ -- Monday morning, local time, a small crew of fewer than 50 Seabees from Port Hueneme's Battalion 4 was lined up in convoy position headed toward An Nasiriyah, where, the day before, U.S. troops were captured and killed by Iraqi forces.

They are needed to repair a bridge for the Marines.

"I'd rather do this than just sit in camp," said equipment operator Paul Toner, a 19-year-old Battalion 4 Seabee from Lock Haven, Pa. "I want to be able to tell my children stories about what I did in the war."

These members of Task Force Mike, made up of members of Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 4, had been waiting in a makeshift camp they set up after a 22-hour drive into Iraq.

It was there they heard the reports that a Marine had been killed two days earlier near where they were camped. Then rumors spread from Seabee to Seabee that a Scud intercepted by a Patriot missile had been headed for them two nights before as they camped in the Kuwait desert near the border. And, all night, they were woken again and again by the sound of shelling and artillery.

And it was there, Sunday morning, they were first told to form the convoy. Now, the Seabees' reputation as construction workers who can build anything in less time than anyone else was going to draw them into the battle.

In the blistering sun of the Middle East, they've developed bleeding cracks on the tips of their fingers. Some suffer from severely chapped lips. Others are beginning to feel their bravado crumble.

"We weren't trained for combat," one Seabee petty officer complained. "Our twice a year combat training is Vietnam-era or worse; it was a joke. We are only trained to build and defend."

When one officer learned of their possibility of going to An Nasiriyah, he physically took a step back. "But that's in the middle of things," he said. "They are encountering hostile forces there."

Capt. William Rudich of the 30th Naval Construction Regiment and commander of Task Force Mike, addressed the Seabees about their role before they left Camp 93 in Kuwait four days ago.

"Realistically, we are doing what Seabees do," Rudich said. "Maybe it's a different environment. Maybe a little faster."

Members of the battalion will build bridges, fix airfields and grade roads, he said.

"It has been said this will be the war of the bridges. Who controls the bridges. Who builds the bridges," Rudich said. "Basically, we are talking about basic Seabee mission."

Sunday, after Lt. Cmdr. Joel Baldwin briefed equipment operator Chief Michael Neumann on the mission in An Nasiriyah, he acknowledged it was dangerous work the Marines need done. But, he said, the Seabees are trained and have security.

He told the troops: "Keep your heads down. You'll be fine. Just stay on the freakin' road or you'll be in the middle of the fighting."

After the briefing, construction electrician 1st class Manuel Pulido said he's not worried.

"My gun crew is good to go," he said. "This is my job, and I'll get it done."

And with that, Pulido got into his Humvee with a machine-gun turret, and the convoy waited for its turn to join the parade of military vehicles going by the camp into the fighting.

By the end of Sunday, the Seabees were told to stand down. The Marines were involved in heavy fighting.

Then, before dawn Monday, the word came to form the convoy again. And the Seabees set out for An Nasiriyah and the war.