Excerpt from transcript of CNN's Anderson Cooper's 360 show:

COOPER: Oftentimes, what you see in headlines or see on TV when you talk to soldiers here, they say it's not really like that. We wanted to know why there was that separation between the violence we often hear of in the headlines and what they see on a daily basis.

I, today, spent the day with some soldiers from the U.S. Army's 1st Cavalry. This is some of what they had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER (voice-over): On this deadly day in Baghdad, when bomb blasts rocked the city, life for these soldiers of 1st Cavalry was actually very dull. Based around Baghdad's airport, these soldiers have been shot at and ambushed, but many of them insist it's nothing like you see on TV.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Looks pretty bad in the states on TV. It's not even close to that bad. You've been shot at out here a few times, but it's nothing like you see on TV at all.

COOPER: Day after day, they go out on patrol. Ryan Peterson is an Illinois Reservist with 3rd Platoon.

RYAN PETERSON, ILLINOIS RESERVIST, 3RD PLATOON: Sometimes it's really hard to keep focused.

COOPER: Hours of boredom; moments of terror. Peterson says he was ambushed back in April.

PETERSON: You see the guys pop up with the RPGs as I was trying to reload. That was probably the most scary moment.

COOPER: Peterson's not sure how things here will turn out.

PETERSON: It seems really unstable, like it could go either way.

COOPER: On patrol, 3rd Platoon searches for insurgents and improvised explosive devices. They also deliver water, one small way they're trying to keep Iraqis on their side.

(on camera): 3rd Platoon has been on patrol for four hours now. They're hot, they're tired, but they're certainly used to that. It's about 110 degrees, and it's only midday. It will get hotter, and 3rd Platoon has another eight hours to go before they get to return to base.

(voice-over): Just days away from the handover of power, 1st Cavalry civil affairs soldiers are increasingly trying to get the Iraqi military and police up to speed.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I believe what it's going to take is just a little bit of time, a lot of perseverance, some patience, and just training.

COOPER: By the end of each day, some soldiers wonder what they've really accomplished. But Michael Kessel (ph) seems to have no doubt.

MICHAEL KESSEL (ph): We live in such a microwave society where we want instant gratification and are used to instant stuff. Here, we don't measure things in feet or yards; it's inches. Sometimes it doesn't look like we're making any difference, but we are.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Even on a day of great violence here in Iraq for some U.S. soldiers, today was a day of great boredom.