Bravo Battery soldiers during down time. Photo: David Botti

Their role is not as infantryman per se, but each day they conduct patrols on foot or in humvees.  With their Howitzers miles away in storage, Bravo Battery's mission is to protect the citizens of their neighborhood.  The reality here, however, is far more complex than that single mission statement seems to dictate.

The battery's area of operations is Baghdad's Karadah neighborhood, a peninsula whose three sides are bordered by the Tigris River.  To the west sits the International Zone, or Green Zone.  To the north are the still restive streets of Sadr City where commanders here say militia leaders often left for the quiet streets of Karadah during periods of intense fighting with the Americans.

Karadah itself is normally considered one of the safer areas of Baghdad.  Since March, when Bravo Battery moved into Karadah (they arrived in Iraq this past December), the unit has managed to escape much of the intense fighting that often comes to mind when Baghdad is mentioned.  

"If Karadah ever goes to hell, then something's definitely wrong in Baghdad," said Sergeant Nicholas Otto, a Third Platoon team leader, on the area's reputation for stability.

With my first embed complete and my second about to begin in earnest, I’ve begun to notice similarities in the way people here view the situation in Baghdad.  Everyone, from privates to captains, from journalists to civilians, seems to be experiencing a collective sigh of relief. 

You’ll often hear mention of the fighting from mid-March through May.  Soldiers I’ve talked to shake their heads and tell countless stories from that period, as if it were another time and another war.  The field artillerymen of Bravo Battery 5-25 spoke of standing on the roof of their headquarters and watching rockets stream toward the Green Zone.  They recounted rocket attacks on their own battalion headquarters that became so frequent, they would shrug their shoulders and continue with conversations when the alarm for “incoming” sounded. 

Today I met my new unit: Charlie Company 2-30, an infantry company based out of Fort Polk, Louisiana.  Their area of operations is a roughly 10-square-kilometer chunk of eastern Baghdad, whose western limits border the tamed, but still dangerous, neighborhood of Sadr City.  The company is clearly used to intensive combat operations.  It was infantrymen from this unit who headed to the area when attacks became so fierce that combat engineers refused to continue with construction of the wall built to isolate Sadr City.  I was told of main supply routes so densely populated with roadside bombs that simply bringing basic supplies to combat outposts required considerable planning. The company first sergeant plans on nominating nearly an entire rifle squad for the Army commendation medal based their actions during a single incident. 

But today these events are the stuff of war stories told around the table.  The mood is hopeful and thankful.  Many soldiers seem to hold a great sense of pride that through the thickest of fighting they held on, and have now broken through to the other side: relative peace. 

They refer to the various militias historically operating around Baghdad as now being unorganized groups of thugs.  The formidable enemy tactics they once encountered are no more.   

Still, threats remain.  There are constant patrols to discover firing positions of rockets, or the facilities that manufacture them.  There is the rush to build-up various neighborhoods so disenfranchised residents don’t turn to criminal activities.  And, there is the belief some hold that the militias are simply laying low for the time being. 

No matter what the future holds, or what the present reality truly is, the fact remains that for soldiers operating in Baghdad the worst seems to be over.  A few stable months have allowed infantry units such as Charlie Company to move from (to use military-speak) “kinetic” to “non-kinetic” operations. 

Offensive missions still occur, especially depending on the neighborhood, though they’ve become the exception rather than the norm. 

Despite these promising developments, few here seem at all ready to begin letting their guard down.