TURNING OMAR FROM FALLUJAH INTO G.I. JOE:

Training a New Army From the Top Down: U.S. Military Advisers Struggle to 'Build Leaders' (Jackie Spinner, 11/01/05, Washington Post)

Before the 1st Battalion moved to FOB Honor in late September, the Iraqi soldiers lived in deplorable conditions at a former airfield in Baghdad, U.S. soldiers said. As many as 1,500 men shared a single latrine that was never emptied. Trash and human feces piled up just outside their living quarters. The officers refused to eat the food served to the soldiers, which was so poorly prepared that half of the men often had diarrhea.

At full strength, the 1st Battalion should have 727 soldiers, enough to patrol its designated sectors of the city and man checkpoints around the fortified Green Zone in central Baghdad. In reality, the battalion has only a few over 600; about 50 of them seem to be on the roster only to show up for a paycheck.

Iraqi soldiers are on duty for 15 days and then get five days to return to their families. But because of the manpower shortage and the battalion's new mission of securing western Baghdad, time off had to be suspended for some.

At a meeting with the Americans last week, a company commander balked at having to tell his men they could not go home for a break. Most of the battalion's members are from rural Babil province and from the Shiite Muslim town of Hilla, about 60 miles south of Baghdad.

"I told you being in the army isn't easy," Dugan told the company commander. "This is going to be an inconvenience. Your soldiers can't leave right away."

"I can't tell them that," the commander responded, putting his head in his hands. "They'll leave."

"Look," Dugan told him, "it's a leadership challenge. Tell the soldiers . . . 'In 20 years you will be part of the history' " of Iraq.

"They'll desert," the commander repeated.

"So tell them to leave and have a nice life," Dugan said, his voice rising. "I'd rather identify the problem now than when bullets are flying and they are walking away. Identify your soldiers who want to be soldiers."

The Iraqi commanders and American trainers moved on to another touchy subject: The next day, about 45 soldiers would be transferred to a new company because it needed additional men. The commanders had already complained that their soldiers did not want to move, and that they should not have to force them.

The night after the meeting, seven soldiers with the battalion's 1st Company walked out of the front gate of the post, angry that they were being forced to move to the new company.

"They call it escape," said 1st Sgt. Mark Barnes, of B Company, a former Army drill sergeant on his third tour in Iraq. "They are free to walk out of the gate anytime. You have to define reasonably what you expect of them. You can't evaluate them by American standards. Here, if what they do gets the mission done, that has to be it."

When Dugan learned that the men had left, he pulled aside the commander of the 1st Battalion, Col. Abbass Rahi Azzari. Azzari sided with the soldiers, fueling Dugan's anger. They exchanged shouts through an interpreter, and ultimately, Azzari produced 15 men for the new company.

After ticking off the list of things that had gone wrong that morning, Dugan finally allowed a smile. "Believe it or not, when they go on the streets they can function," he said.

On a Monday morning, 1st Company set out on a foot patrol of central Baghdad near the fortified Green Zone, an area often targeted by insurgents. The Iraqi platoon leaders led the patrol, with only a handful of Americans walking with them.

"They're getting proficient," said Staff Sgt. Brian Zamiska, 27, of Bentleyville, Pa. "They're in charge."

Zamiska said the U.S. troops who help train the Iraqis had developed a close rapport with them. Although the Americans don't always trust the Iraqis, who tend to shoot wildly and randomly when in a hostile situation, Zamiska said they respected what the Iraqis are trying to do in taking over security in their country.

The Americans have nicknamed some of the Iraqi soldiers, calling out to them, "Hey, English! Larry! Smiley!"

As the patrol crossed a street, a young soldier who identified himself as "Omar from Fallujah" waved off a fellow soldier and walked toward the traffic, apparently wanting to be in charge. For most of the patrol, Omar from Fallujah had been goofing around, complaining about how heavy his Russian PKC machine gun was to tote around with a chain of bullets.

But now Omar was serious. One of the cars could contain a suicide bomber, intent on plowing down his men. He put a single fist into the air and gave the driver of a car stopped at an intersection a menacing scowl.

Dugan said some days were better than others. He gets up each morning intent on trying to make a difference. He knows he is seen as tough. "You've got to be hard on them," he said. "You have to try to instill discipline. I don't want to leave here and say, 'Gee, I wish I had. . . . Gee, I wish I could have. . . .' "