101ST AIRBORNE DIVISION
ITS MISSION: The 17,000 troops of the storied "Screaming Eagles" are scheduled to use their massive Apache helicopter firepower to help destroy the Republican Guard units protecting Baghdad. They're helping to protect the 3rd Infantry Division as both units move across the southern Iraqi desert bound for the capital. Units from the division may get orders to seize biological- or chemical-weapons stockpiles.
THE COMMANDER: Major General David H. Petraeus, 50, a 1974 West Point grad who holds a doctorate in international relations from Princeton, has led the 101st since July. The son of a World War II Liberty-Ship captain, he has also led troops in Bosnia and Haiti. The great unknown in this war, he says, is the Iraqi will to fight.