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Recruits

Feb- 5-2009 » Filed Under: 1/25 SBCT

Stars & Stripes has an article on the practice of hiring local Iraqi's to man checkpoints that mentions the 1/25 SBCT.

SARI TAPA, Iraq — A group of Kalashnikov-wielding young men in street clothes sits by a makeshift checkpoint on the outskirts of this gritty farming village in northeastern Diyala province, rocks strewn across the road to slow cars. Under normal circumstances, U.S. troops coming upon such a group would ready themselves for a firefight.

This time, a group of American soldiers is stopping simply to check that the Iraqis have been paid.

Even by the lax uniform standards of Iraqi security forces, the group is ragtag, but it is part of a new force organized by the provincial government to augment the Iraqi army and provide jobs for Iraqis in places where unemployment is often the norm. The Diyala program is drawing mixed reactions from U.S. soldiers, who applaud the increased security but are deeply nervous about the potential for mistaken identity.


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