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BAGHDAD — I'm sorry I haven't written in a while, but I met this girl, and I think I really like her...

Yeah. Not exactly.

It has been a while since I've filed a blog entry, though, mostly because I've been in very slow motion transit across Baghdad for the last few days. I spent a couple of nights at a giant, marble-floored former pool house, but no pool, unfortunately.

I finally arrived tonight at my destination, the 3rd Squadron of the 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment, which is based near the Baghdad airport. This is, more or less, the regiment with which I famously guarded western Louisiana some years ago. They've moved twice since then and, more significantly, they've transferred from the balky Humvees we sidled forth on back in the day to the Army's new Stryker vehicle. The Stryker looks somewhat like a small boat with eight wheels, but it's faster, more heavily armored and holds more troops than a Humvee, and it's more maneuverable than the cavalry's other main vehicle, the Bradley.

That's a rather cursory description of a vehicle at the center of a significant transformation in military hardware, but whatever. You're not reading Jane's Magazine.

I talked with some of the regiment's brass today, and they said the unit is serving as a "911 force." Rather than taking ownership of an area like some of the units I was embedded with in Ramadi, the 2nd Cavalry is basically dispatched to hot spots. That's put them in the middle of more than a few fights. Since Sept. 18, the regiment has lost 9 men.