Iraqi Soldier [Image 3 of 9]

HIT, IRAQ

06.13.2006

Photo by Staff Sgt. James Goodwin 

I Marine Expeditionary Force

Iraqi soldiers converse minutes before loading up in U.S. Army Bradley fighting vehicles for a patrol through Hit, Iraq - a city 70 miles northwest of Ramadi in Iraq's Al Anbar Province, June 13, 2006. Iraqi and U.S. soldiers patrol Hit's streets daily together, and have spent several weeks conducting a census of the city to get a better grasp on information about the city's population. U.S. soldiers from the Germany-based 1st Battalion, 36th Infantry Regiment, the U.S. military unit assigned to this region of Iraq, say their Iraqi counterparts are well on their way to independent operations. Just two weeks ago, an Iraqi-led patrol caught two men with 122 mm artillery rounds in a burlap sack - material which could have resulted in an improvised explosive device, the number one threat to both U.S. and Iraqi soldiers in this mostly Sunni city 70 miles northwest of Ramadi. The Iraqi soldiers, noticed the men during a routine foot patrol near the city's cemetery. The Iraqi soldiers suspected the men were up to no good, and called them on it. "We must have walked past, I don't know, thousands of people on that patrol," said Army 1st Sgt. David B. Sapp, company first sergeant for 1-36's Apache Company, which controls operations in Hit's central sector. "They saw someone in that cemetery, questioned why he was there, and found out he had a bomb." It's scenarios like these that bolster American confidence in the Iraqi soldiers' abilities. Iraqi patrols are resulting in about five captured insurgents per week, according to one Iraqi sergeant, who recently led a short foot patrol near the same cemetery where the bomb-toting man was captured two weeks earlier. (Photo by Staff Sgt. Jim Goodwin)

• Date Taken: 06.13.2006
• Date Posted: 06.21.2006 07:04
• Photo ID: 23957
• Resolution: 1200x800
• Size: 248.56 KB
• Location: HIT, IQ