Soldier one moment, peacekeeper the next

The still night air is shattered by the deep thump of an exploding rocket-propelled grenade. For the six soldiers with Apache Company, 1st battalion 34th Armor regiment staked out on the roof of a derelict building beside the Khaldiyah river bridge, the elusive "RPG guy" has struck again.

"Let's go. Move," orders Sgt. Spencer Hill, from Bremerton, Wash. A Bradley Fighting Vehicle clatters down the highway, halting briefly to pick up the soldiers.

Moments later, as the Bradley approaches the scene of the RPG attack in the center of this ramshackle town, the intercom crackles, "There are two people running down the alley. Go get them."

The Bradley lurches to a stop, the rear ramp is lowered and the soldiers spill out. They move swiftly but cautiously down the gloomy alley, guns raised, eyes scanning the shadow- dappled houses on either side.

Hours earlier, soldiers from Apache Company were patrolling the same dusty streets, handing out copies of "Freedom," the coalition's Arabic-language magazine, smiling and waving at passersby and listening sympathetically to the grumbles of local residents.

Combat troops one moment, peacekeepers the next - such is the complicated nature of soldiering in the Sunni triangle, the name given to the flatlands north and west of Baghdad that is the locus of the Iraqi insurgency.

"After we get shot at the night before, we go out in the day handing out MREs [Army field rations known as Meals Ready to Eat], bottles of water, and pens," says Capt. Ben Miller, from Marshalltown, Iowa, Apache Company's commander. "It's hard, but I guess that's what we get paid for."

And it appears to be working. Attacks have declined considerably since the 800-strong battalion arrived in Iraq in September and settled into the old British air base at Habbaniyeh on the eastern edge of Khaldiyah.

"When we arrived we couldn't leave the base without getting shot at," says Lieut. Lonnie Moore, from Wichita Falls, Kansas. "They were hitting us 15 to 20 times a day. Now it's more like one attack a day."

Better training and weapons ensure that US troops generally gain the upper hand in a head on clash with insurgents, all of whom are locals, Miller says.

"The claim that foreigners are involved is bull, at least in Khaldiyah," he says. Improvements in intelligence-gathering - key to a successful counter-insurgency campaign - has also helped.

"John," the battalion's Arabic-speaking intelligence officer, stands in the open hatch of a M-113 armored personnel carrier (APC) as it trundles along a dusty country road, passing green fields, ditches, and palm tree plantations.

The APC is accompanied by a Bradley and an M1 Abrams tank, the gun barrel of which swings menacingly from side to side.

Sitting inside the APC is a detainee arrested days earlier who agreed during interrogation to point out the homes of several insurgents. He wears a military jacket and floppy hat; his face is hidden by sunglasses and a scarf.

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