May 03, 2004 — April was a tough month for New York's soldiers and sailors serving in Iraq. Seven men died as unrest and violence spread across the country. An Army Reserve unit based in Uniondale, New York is now at the center of a growing controversy over the alleged abuse of Iraqi prisoners. As April began, dozens of National Guard and Reserve soldiers from the north country were settling in for a year-long deployment inside the Sunni Triangle. In this fifth chapter of his audio diary, Army Chaplain Eric Olsen, from Saranac Lake, describes their first weeks in Iraq as tense and hectic, but also fascinating.