THE TENSION: Combat Camera: Sandstorm MRAP Patrol Near Tikrit, Iraq

U.S. Army soldiers of the 573rd Clearance Company, 1st Engineer Battalion, 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, climbs into his mine resistant ambush-protected vehicle before departing on a convoy route clearing mission near Tikrit, Iraq, Feb. 22. (Photo by Chief Petty Officer Michael Heckman, Joint Combat Camera Center Iraq.)

U.S. soldiers of the 573rd Clearance Company, 1st Engineer Battalion, 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division. listen to a weather update as they wait for the go command while staging up to depart on a convoy route clearing mission near Tikrit, Iraq, Feb. 22. (Photo by Chief Petty Officer Michael Heckman, Joint Combat Camera Center Iraq.)

U.S. Army Pfc. Jovan Nikolic of Dawsonville, Ga., and Sgt. Kevin Baker of Jamestown, Ind., assigned to the 573rd Clearance Company, and attached to the 1st Engineer Battalion, 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division discuss mission details as they wait to depart on a convoy route clearing operation near Tikrit, Iraq, Feb. 22. The amber glow in the air is caused by the filtered light of a sandstorm and is accented by the search lights of Nikolic and Baker's mine resistant ambush-protected vehicle. (Photo by Chief Petty Officer Michael Heckman, Joint Combat Camera Center Iraq.)

U.S. Army Pfc. Jovan Nikolic of Dawsonville, Ga., and Sgt. Kevin Baker of Jamestown, Ind., assigned to the 573rd Clearance Company, attached to the 1st Engineer Battalion, 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division. discuss mission details before departing on a convoy route clearing operation near Tikrit, Iraq, Feb. 22. (Photo by Chief Petty Officer Michael Heckman, Joint Combat Camera Center Iraq.)

An amber luminous glow caused by the filtered light of a sandstorm is accented by the search lights of mine resistant ambush protected, or MRAP vehicles utilized by the U.S. Army 573rd Clearance Company, 1st Engineer Battalion, 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division. The vehicles where staging up before departing on a convoy route clearing mission near Tikrit, Iraq., Feb. 22. (Photo by Chief Petty Officer Michael Heckman, Joint Combat Camera Center Iraq.)