A local man in the village of Al Maejeel poses with his daughter after receiving a radio and a soda from Task Force Danger Soldiers during a recent cordon search in the village south of Samarra. (Photo by Capt. L. Paula Sydenstricker, 196th MPAD)

FORWARD OPERATING BASE BRASSFIELD MORA, SAMARRA, Iraq — As the sun slowly rose in the distance, each Soldier, wearing an intense look, scanned his sector of fire like a hawk.

One team disappeared around the corner of a wall into the house. The other team took up security around the wall. Next, the commander and an interpreter strolled through the gate to talk with the occupants.

This is an average day in a life of an infantryman.

A cordon search is common knowledge for an infantryman, but for others in the military it is a foreign topic. A cordon means an element of a company size surrounds the outside of an area. They make it impossible to go in or out of the area. Once the area is secured, the other elements search each house within in that area.

“We search everything in the area and look for designated targets,” said Capt. George Rodriguez of Salisbury, Vt., and commander of Charlie Company, 2^nd Battalion, 108^th Infantry Regiment. The National Guard unit is based in Gloversville, NY.

Charlie Company, along with elements of 1^st Battalion, 26^th Infantry Regiment; 415^th Civil Affairs Battalion; 324^th Psychological Operations Company; Special Forces and Iraqi National Guard conducted two cordon searches during the last week in July.

Each element present had a specific mission while in the village of Al Maejeel, located south of Samarra.

The Iraqi National Guard, which is attached to the 2-108^th Infantry, cordoned off the outer perimeter while the platoon from the 1-26^th Infantry provided security on the cordon along with their M2A2 ODS Bradley fighting vehicles. Charlie Company had the responsibility of searching the houses while maintaining security.

Civil Affairs talked to the local village leaders and assessed the area. PSYOPS’ mission was to observe the local populace and distribute radios for the local radio station that’s in the works. Special Forces also provided security.

Rodriguez said that the ING Soldiers were in the training phase of the cordon search, and eventually they want the ING to take over the actual searches. For now, the ING conducts the outer cordon where it searches all vehicles coming and going through the cordon.

Along with the ING, a platoon of Apache Company, 1-26^th Infantry also executed the outer cordon. They along with their Bradleys were strategically placed along the high traffic areas.

While they were responsible for the outer security, Charlie Company provided the security and the search team. They also talked to the local leaders along with the Civil Affairs.

“At first they (local populace) were standoffish and didn’t really want to become involved with the coalition forces,” said Rodriguez, adding that the locals didn’t want to be perceived by neighbors as helping the coalition.

Spc. Jason Faundell from Glenfalls, NY and Spc. Mat Marcotte from Colicth, NY from the 2nd Battalion, 108th Infantry Regiment pull security during a cordon and search in a village south of Samarra. (Photo by Capt. L. Paula Sydenstricker, 196th MPAD)

“After going there continuously and showing the folks that we’re there to help, they have become a lot friendlier.”

Additionally, returning to these villages ever so often has opened up a form of communication with the locals, he said.

The civil affairs Soldiers access each village they go into to determine what they can do to help the locals.

Coalition forces distribute candy and toys, and contribute to the local economy by purchasing such items as sodas. The purchases are a way of showing the people that the troops are there to help them, said Maj. Victor Jones of the 415^th Civil Affairs Battalion, an Army Reserve unit from Kalamazoo, MI.

The Detroit native said his unit gave the kids toys and candy to prevent them from playing with explosives and to keep them busy.

The 324^th PSYOPS Company is an Army Reserve unit out of Denver, Co. Its mission is to relay messages to the local populace.

“We handed out radios today to let the people of this village listen to the program that we broadcast from Brassfield-Mora,” said Spc. John Winfield of Denver.

He also mentioned that the radio would play Arabic music along with coalition forces messages integrated within them.

While each unit has other missions to accomplish, all agree on one thing: It’s good for each unit to meet the people in the villages and make their presence known.

Rodriguez also said that the ING have come a long way, and its Soldiers want to do the right thing.

“I think the ING feel they have a big brother to look out for them and that’s basically what we are doing,” Rodriguez said. (Story by Capt. L. Paula Sydenstricker, 196^th MPAD)