THE TENSION: Combat Camera: Regulars Lob Mortar Rounds at Forward Operating Base Falcon

Pvt. Christopher McDonald, an indirect fire infantryman assigned to Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment, conducts a pre-combat check on a 120mm mortar round Nov. 9 at Forward Operating Base Falcon in southern Baghdad. McDonald, who hails from Santa Rosa, Calif., is assigned to the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Multi-National Division-Baghdad currently serving a combat deployment in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. (Photographer: Sgt. David Hodge, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division Public Affairs.)

Spc. Adam Roundtree (left) and Pvt. Christopher McDonald, both indirect fire infantrymen assigned to Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment, move away from the mouth of the mortar tube to clear the way for a 120mm mortar round Nov. 9 at Forward Operating Base Falcon in southern Baghdad. McDonald, who hails from Santa Rosa, Calif., and Roundtree, a native of Charleston, S.C., are assigned to the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Multi-National Division-Baghdad currently serving a combat deployment in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. (Photographer: Sgt. David Hodge, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division Public Affairs.)

Spc. Andrew Perkins, an indirect fire infantryman assigned to Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment, analyzes fire-mission data from the Fire Direction Control Center Nov. 9 during a live fire exercise at Forward Operating Base Falcon in southern Baghdad. Perkins, who hails from Lake Tahoe, Nev., is assigned to the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Multi-National Division-Baghdad currently serving a combat deployment in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. (Photographer: Sgt. David Hodge, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division Public Affairs.)

Spc. Christopher West, an indirect fire infantryman assigned to Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment, analyzes fire-mission data from the Fire Direction Control Center Nov. 9 during a live fire exercise at Forward Operating Base Falcon in southern Baghdad. West, a Chicago native, is assigned to the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Multi-National Division-Baghdad currently serving a combat deployment in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. (Photographer: Sgt. David Hodge, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division Public Affairs.)

Pvt. Christopher McDonald, an indirect fire infantryman assigned to Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment, drops a 120mm mortar round down the tube Nov. 9 at Forward Operating Base Falcon in southern Baghdad. McDonald, who hails from Santa Rosa, Calif., is assigned to the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Multi-National Division-Baghdad currently serving a combat deployment in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. (Photographer: Sgt. David Hodge, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division Public Affairs.)

Spc. Zachary Carpenter, an indirect fire infantryman assigned to Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment, removes pieces of tape from the tail of a 120mm mortar round Nov. 9 after a live fire exercise at Forward Operating Base Falcon in southern Baghdad. Carpenter, who hails from Pelican Rapids, Minn., is assigned to the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Multi-National Division-Baghdad currently serving a combat deployment in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. (Photographer: Sgt. David Hodge, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division Public Affairs.)