BAGHDAD, Iraq, March 19, 2004 — At Camp Cook, the former Iraqi military installation in Taji just north of Baghdad, a small contingent of U.S. and Australian soldiers are teaching a new Iraqi army the tactics and skills necessary to defend their country.

A six-soldier team from Task Force 1st Armored Division’s 3rd brigade Combat Team, working with their coalition partners are training, advising and mentoring about 120 Iraqi Army soldiers.

The soldiers of the new Iraqi Army are a mix of old veterans and new recruits. Carefully screened soldiers who had served in the former Iraqi army are joining ranks with new recruits with one goal in mind: to make Iraq safe for their fellow citizens.

“There’s a lot of pride in the soldiers,” said Capt. Johnny Casiano, one of the 3rd Brigade trainers. “They (the new Iraqi Army) have the potential to be a powerful force.”

Using a the U.S. Army’s crawl, walk, run instructional doctrine to train the Iraqis, Casiano and his team started with the basics, concentrating on squad and platoon-level tasks. So far, the soldiers being trained by Casiano’s team have participated in eight combined U.S.-Iraqi operations in the Taji area.

“At the beginning, it was tense working with the Iraqis,” said Sgt. 1st Class Dan Smith, 123rd Main Support Battalion. “But now they’re happy we are here. It feels real good working with them.”

Several of the Iraqi Army soldiers echoed similar sentiments.

“At first we had a very different impression of the U.S. Army,” said an Iraqi major. “Now we realize they (the U.S. soldiers) are good people who want to help us and they came to liberate us.”

“There is mutual respect between all soldiers and they’ve been very good at assisting us with our training,” the officer said.

And at a time when it is still dangerous for Iraqis to be seen openly working alongside coalition forces, the Iraqi soldiers are more than anxious and ready to serve their county, Casiano said.

A recent terrorist attack in Baghdad is an example of how willing the Iraqi soldiers are to serve their fellow citizens, he said.

“They wanted to go down there (to the attack site) and help,” Casiano said. “They had no orders to do so but they were willing to go down there and help.”