"Sometimes I would get really depressed," Amanda said of her dad's mobilization. "It was hard not to cry when I'd talk to my friends about it."

The company heard news of the missing Marine from West Jordan, Cpl. Wassef Ali Hassoun, through satellite. Merrill commented how sad the capture was and said, "Everyone's just praying for him."

Master Sgt. Anthony Martinez, who interviewed many of the soldiers before they returned home, said there were numerous instances when the company ran into combat. But the company was rarely hurt.

Modifications the soldiers made to their vehicles helped keep them safe, he said. The soldiers turned seats in Humvees to face both ends of the road, placed metal shields and grills on vehicles and mounted "hefty" weapons.

"They felt like someone was watching over them," Martinez said.

The 419th hauled more than 7 million gallons of fuel during mobilization and drove more than 1.3 million miles. On July 15, 2003, the unit won the Deployment Excellence Award.

As of Friday, 320 soldiers were still mobilized from the Utah Army Reserve. Nationwide, about 47,600 soldiers from the Army Reserve are mobilized.

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E-mail: astowell@desnews.com