Redlegs on the cover of time--"Person of the Year".

Congratulations to three Field Artillery Soldiers from the Survey Platoon, Headquarters Battery, 2d Battalion, 3d Field Artillery, 1st Armored Division, in Iraq for being Redleg heroes and representing the "Person of the Year, The American Soldier," on the 29 December 2003 Time magazine cover. The three All American Soldiers honored are Specialist Billie Grimes, 26, a Medic from Lebanon, Indiana; Sergeant Marquette Whiteside, 24, a Gunner from Pine Bluff, Arkansas; and Sergeant Ronald Buxton, 32, the A Team Leader, from Lake Ozark, Missouri. According to Managing Editor James Kelly, Time chose them "to stand for all of those in a US uniform who go in harm's way": Soldiers, Marines, Airmen and Sailors.

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After arriving in Baghdad in late May, about one month after President George W. Bush declared an end to major combat operations in Iraq, the Survey Platoon drew responsibility for one of the toughest, most volatile neighborhoods. The platoon was nicknamed the "Tomb Raiders" after its successful mission to search cemeteries for hidden caches of enemy weapons.

Time reporters Romesh Ratnesar and Michael Weisskopf, along with photographer James Nachtwey, ate, slept and went on patrol with the Tomb Raiders and, in their article "Portrait of a Platoon," told the story of "how a dozen soldiers--overworked, under fire, nervous, proud--chase insurgents and try to stay alive in one of Baghdad's nastiest districts."

In fact, on 10 December 2003, Michael Weisskopf lost his hand while on patrol with the Tomb Raiders in a high-mobility multipurpose wheeled vehicle (HMMWV). He had tried to throw out a grenade lobbed by an insurgent into his HMMWV when it went off. His hand cupped around the grenade and the shielding of a bench in the HMMWV probably saved lives. Jim Nachtwey was hit by shrapnel in the abdomen below his armored vest. Private Orion Jenks, 22, on B Team, from Modesto, California, suffered a broken leg while Private First Class Jim Beverly, 19, the Driver/Grenadier/Assistant Gunner, from Akron, Ohio, lost teeth and had his tongue lacerated. Specialist Grimes from the next HMMWV treated the injured immediately. (All are doing well, including Michael Weisskopf, who is at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, DC.)

Other Redleg heroes of the Tomb Raiders are First Lieutenant Brady Van Engelen, 24, Platoon Leader from Twin Falls, Idaho; Sergeant David Kamount, 34, Position and Azimuth Determining System (PADS) Team Chief from Biloxi, Mississippi; Staff Sergeant Abe Winston, 42, Platoon Sergeant/B Team Leader from West Virginia; Specialist Sky Schermerhorn, 29, Driver/Grenadier from Fresno, California; Specialist Bernard Talimeliyor, 34, Driver/Grenadier/Assistant Gunner from Colonia, Yap, Micronesia; Private Lequine Arnold, 20. Gunner from Goldsboro, North Carolina; and Sergeant Jose Cesar Aparicio, 31, Psychological Operations NCO from Los Angeles, California.

For more information, see the article "Portrait of a Platoon" in the 29 December edition of Time online at http://www.time.com/time/personoftheyear/2003/poyplatoon.html.