Stryker Brigade News

On Sunday, as he walked with some of those Iraqi soldiers, he was shot in the face by a sniper. Greene, 42, is expected to live, but his wounds were serious enough that he had to be evacuated from the region.

Greene's experience at a sandbagged, mortar-damaged Iraqi army combat outpost and on patrol offers a glimpse of the ground-level reality in the Bush administration's exit strategy for Iraq. The troops Greene trained and others like them must take up the burden if U.S. forces are to come home.

The Americans face formidable and frustrating challenges. They must overcome barriers of culture and language and work with the relics of an old Iraqi military that crushed initiative and charismatic leadership. Faced with a tenacious insurgency, they are under pressure to quickly field Iraqi troops that often are poorly equipped, inadequately trained and show a dangerous lack of discipline in the use of weapons.

During 24 hours spent watching Greene in action before he was wounded, as well as discussions with other U.S. advisers, a picture emerged of what the Americans say is an Iraqi army whose officers fail to "lead from the front," contributing to the repeated collapse of their troops in combat.

The Iraqi commander of the battalion Greene advised, as well as most company commanders, avoid going out with their troops, Greene said. Only one company commander in the battalion regularly goes on missions, and the rest of the unit's senior officers ostracize him for it, Greene said. "They treat him like a scab in a strike," he complained.