Randy Rice's grant-funded year as a Lyons Police Department patrolman was nearly over. Although he interviewed with the Macedon Police Department and thought his prospects were good, he worried about being unemployed.

But by mid-April, he had a new job and just one worry: staying alive.

"He doesn't need to worry about any of that stuff now," said his mother, Claire Rice, of Savannah. "He has bigger issues."

Spc. 5 Rice, 29, also of Savannah, is one of 175 military policeman with the New York National Guard's 105th Military Police Unit, currently patrolling one of the world's most dangerous precincts, the villages south of Baghdad.

Many 105th MPU guardsmen are law-enforcement professionals from western and Central New York - village constables, city police, sheriff's deputies, state troopers - but little has prepared them for what they've encountered since arriving in central Iraq in April.

Early last Sunday, four 105th MPU guardsmen were patrolling in a Hum-Vee near the village of Al Haswah, 20 miles south of Baghdad, when they were ambushed by a rocket-propelled grenade, killing Sgt. Heath A. McMillin, 29, of Canandaigua.

McMillin, who joined the National Guard for training he hoped would lead to a career with the state police, was the first New York Army guardsman killed in combat in more than 50 years.

News of his death reverberated throughout the region. In Savannah, Claire Rice realized the RPG that ripped through McMillin's Hum-Vee could just as easily nailed her son's Hum-Vee on another night, in another village, in another alley - or the same night, in the same village, in the same alley.

"It is horrifying, just horrifying," she said. "My heart goes into my throat every time I hear about another soldier getting killed in this 'non-war.' I pray for the soldiers everyday."

Of the 148,000 American troops now in Iraq, as many as 20,000 are reservists or guardsmen. What makes National Guard units different from other military commands is they are regional. Guardsmen often know each other in "civilian life" as well as when on duty.

"A lot of them are from right around the area; quite a few from around here," Claire said.

She and her husband, also named Randy, have met two of the three men their son patrols and lives with - Rick Reed of Seneca County and Greg Pagnetti of Newark.

They are capable, competent men, Claire said, and that is reassuring. "They watch out for each other very faithfully," she said. "Randy feels comfortable with them. He has trained with them and he trusts them."

Each member of the four-man team has a specific role. Reed is the gunner; Rice the Hum-Vee driver.

Before the 105th MPU was flown from Fort Drum to Kuwait, Claire said Rice's father took Reed aside and told him, "You are my son's eyes, don't let anything happen to him."

Randy says little about the dangers and hardships of duty in Iraq when speaking with his parents.

"We get a letter every 10 to 14 days and he tries to call every other week," Claire said. "Sometimes we get to talk for 10 minutes. He just tells us he is doing good and staying safe. When I talk to him, I have to say good-bye quietly and give the phone to my husband."

Claire said the 105th MPU is bivouacked in tents south of Baghdad. "I'm assuming they've got decent tents set up," she said. "They have a cell room, a bathroom, and I'm assuming someplace for them to wash their clothes because he's asked me to send over some detergent."

Detergent isn't all Claire sends in her "care packages." She's sent Randy a hibachi so he can augment his MRE (Meals-Ready-To-Eat) diet.

"I send him good-sized boxes - 25 to 38 pounds - every other week with all kinds of food he can cook up," she said, noting contents includes meats and other perishables packed in dry ice, placed in a Styrofoam cooler, bundled in bubble wrap.

The packages must be getting to Randy before they go bad because Claire has received no complaints.

She felt compelled to bolster Randy's diet after learning he'd lost more than 60 pounds in the last four months.

"He weighed 205 pounds when he left and now he's down to 135, 140 pounds," she said. "That is not good for him. He is 6-foot tall."

Claire has joined a group she learned about on ABC's Good Morning America show that is working to convince manufacturers and retailers, such as Lowe's and Wal-Mart, to donate air conditioners to units in Iraq.

They're needed, Claire said. "Randy says it's so hot, sometimes 120 degrees," she said.

As front-line soldiers in Iraq since the war started are gradually beginning to be rotated out, new troops - including contingents from 30 nations - are being sent in.

But that schedule may not apply to the 4,000 U.S. military police now serving in the Baghdad area.

The 105th MPU is slated to leave Iraq next February, but Claire said Randy has hinted they may be there longer. "That's what he's kind of telling us, in a roundabout way," she said.

Claire isn't sure how she'll handle it if Randy's unit is extended. She isn't sure how she's maintaining her composure now.

"I'm a mom. He might be almost 30 years old, but he's still my baby," she said. "I just want him home. I just want him home."