The Atlanta Constitution from Atlanta, Georgia • A10

Filename: A10-MAIN-AJCD0701-5Star created: Jul 1 2005 Username: SPEED10 AJCD0701-5STR Friday, Jul 01, 2005 MAIN 1 0 A 5STR 1 0 A 1 0 A Friday, July 1, 2005 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution 5 A1 0 Cyan Magenta Yellow Black Cyan Magenta Yellow Black 5STR Filename: A10-MAIN-AJCD0701-5Star soldier through an interpreter. at the kids. Be friendly but ready to The joint patrols mark a crucial milestone in American efforts to build a new Iraqi army from scratch after the 2003 overthrow of Saddam Hussein and dissolution of his army. If the Americans are successful in training the Iraqis to on their own against a raging there is hope that some of the more than U.S. troops now in the country could be sent home.

No-nonsense sergeant The 48th Brigade soldiers are part of what President Bush referred to in his speech Tuesday night as transition teams that are embedded with Iraqi units. teams are made up of coalition and noncommissioned who work and together with their Iraqi Bush said. U.S. they are providing advice and assistance to Iraqi forces during combat and training the Iraqis between battles. But these patrols with poorly trained and inadequately equipped Iraqis also expose American soldiers to greater danger.

Iraqi security forces have become a principal target for insurgents. Since January more than Iraqi police and military have been killed by 586 of them since the April 28 announcement of the formation of the Shiite-led government. About 70 Georgia citizen soldiers have been working directly with about 400 and they see their training mission as the linchpin of U.S. efforts here. most critical thing the United States is doing in Iraq right now is happening right said Lt.

Col. Joe of an earthy career whose soldiers tease him about his bushy black mustache. we do this our ticket During the patrol through the Mahmudiyah market the soldiers encountered a of exotic sights and smells: playful children and stooped old women in black burqas; vendors selling blocks of lamb kebabs and tea by the glass; butchers hawking bloody hunks of foul-smell ing meat; and donkeys pulling everything from produce to satellite dishes in two-wheeled carts. The patrol also attracted menacing stares from hundreds of stone-faced men lining the sidewalks and shops. a platoon leader with the 1st 108th Armor and a cop in civilian used a combination of military hand a few words of English and and other gestures to direct the Iraqi soldiers around and through the swarms of Iraqi civilians.

Throughout the 90- minute patrol in 100-degree- plus he had them speed slow split rejoin and stay calm as they moved slowly and deliberately through the watching for ambushes and snipers. Dyer previously worked as an instructor at a military- style boot camp for parolees in on western before joining the Polk County Police Department. accustomed to giving strict orders and working in austere conditions. When he suspected a translator was softening his harsh comments to the Iraqi Dyer threatened to him on the spot. better tell them everything I the way I say or put your to walking right he drawled to the translator.

care if I offend he said. here to get things and I know my way Dyer said his primary task was to teach sergeants and other enlisted Iraqi soldiers to lead and make decisions independent of When he organized a class for 10 sergeants and two wanted to he threatened to toss them out. said I wanted 10 he told his Iraqi counterpart. a negotiation. Now bring me 10 Dyer completely unbending.

The Iraqis have taught him to drop everything at lunchtime just as they do and avoid talking about work during meals. come to realize that lunch is a really big deal around he said. talk about anything during lunch except work. And OK with me. I like to eat when But mealtime with the Iraqis has its own peculiar dangers for Americans.

During his week on the job at the dusty Iraqi army Dyer drank tea and ate roast chicken and rice with his then became violently ill and was feverish for a week. Other Georgians suffered similar reactions. microbes or parasites can bother me said a no-nonsense soldier. come to like their chow much better than our Magnet for Iraqi children Despite his gruff Dyer is something of a Pied Piper with Iraqi children. During the the father of a 7-year-old with another child on the way struck up a conversation with a boy named a crew-cut kid about the same age as son.

like GI Dyer patting himself on the chest. old are Before Ali was joined by a group of boys who energetically and persistently tried to sell tea and asked for and wrote their names and drew pictures with a pen and paper Dyer gave them. Another soldier was about to hand them but Dyer stopped him. and pat them on the head if you want he said. keep your money in your pocket.

If you start giving out we might lose control of this situation. This is a combat and not over The soldiers ended the patrol without incident in a vacant lot where their vehicles were waiting with gunners in position and engines running. There the disparities in equipment and resources were painfully obvious. The Iraqis clambered into four beat-up Nissan pickup trucks with four soldiers and a machine gun in the back of each. The Americans boarded air-conditioned Humvees for the return to the Iraqi army compound.

Dyer said he was learning more from the Iraqis than they were from him. guys march and salute like we he said. you try and compare their military manner and discipline to an American wasting your time. These guys garrison soldiers. if you want to talk about personal bravery and we could learn a lot from these guys.

They put their lives on the line every day and endure levels of risk that we as Americans would never tolerate. They deserve medals just for being The risk Iraqi soldiers face in Mahmudiyah was demonstrated last month when eight soldiers were gunned down at a checkpoint. Just last a sergeant in the Iraqi unit the Georgians are working with was killed by insurgents who ambushed him at his home when he returned onleave. The Iraqis got a tip about where some of the killers were located with the 48th quickly cordoned off and searched the neighborhood. They spotted two Sudanese men and discovered they have proper visas.

Those men led them to six and all were quickly taken into custody. Hoffman said the Georgia most lasting must be among enlisted who will be the foundation of this new army. trying to have an impact at the soldier not the said a veteran of the 1991 Gulf War. not buying new furniture for the commanders. bringing the soldiers welding batteries and air things they can use to improve their daily Hoffman said he was frustrated by the lack of funding for what the U.S.

Army says is its top priority. He gets only a month to buy incidentals for the Iraqis. But he says the Georgia trainers are making strides by forming personal bonds with Iraqi soldiers and serving as an example. is a work in Hoffman said. we can win over the Iraqi their leaders will follow.

When we got the Iraqi soldiers were quitting and we get them to stay. Now they want to Guard: we do this ticket Continued from A1 Sgt 1st Class Michael Conley of Canton reaches out to an Iraqi boy in a gesture of friendship during the U.S.-Iraqi foot patrol of the market in a mission fraught with danger. Albert Gross of Atlanta greets a boy with a high during the patrol. Before this U.S. and Iraqi troops avoided the area of narrow streets and alleys as too prone to ambush.

Sgt. 1st Class Omar Patterson of Calhoun (left) walks point with Iraqi Lt. Hatim Ezghair. The Georgia guardsmen are training Iraqi troops to insurgents on their own. PHOTOS BY CURTIS COMPTON Staff IRAQ DEVELOPMENTS mayor on Thursday decried the crumbling infrastructure and its inability to supply enough clean water to threatening to resign if the government provide more money.

problem is Mayor Alaa Mahmoud al-Timimi said. According to City Baghdad produces about 544 million gallons of water a about 370 million gallons short of what it needs. Before the U.S.-led Baghdad residents had about 20 hours of electricity a day. they get about usually broken into two-hour chunks. In western Anbar U.S.-led forces detained more than a dozen suspected militants in a counterinsurgency sweep aimed at disrupting the of foreign militants into Iraq.

Three militant groups vowed to target former Cabinet member Ayham a Sunni Arab politician who has formed a group to bring Iraqi militants into the political according to a statement on an Islamic Web site. announce that allowed to spill the blood of Ayham al-Samarie. We have been too patient with his the statement said. Knight Ridder identi an Iraqi journalist who was shot and killed in Baghdad last week when his car approached a U.S.-Iraqi military patrol as one of its special correspondents. Yasser was killed while driving alone in Baghdad on June 24.

It appeared a U.S. sniper shot but Iraqi soldiers in the area at the time also may have been the California-based newspaper company said. Associated Press.