Patrolling Al-qaida's Last Baghdad Stronghold

There is a view of the modern American GI shaped by Hollywood and television news: trigger-happy, brutalised, unreflective. Then there is the reality - of thousands of young men and women, each an individual character with their own motivations and fears, growing up extraordinarily fast and often able to perceive their situation with searing clarity.

The US army has been fighting in Iraq longer than in the second world war. Nearly 4,000 Americans have died. But in recent months there has been a decline in violence: the military claims that all types of attacks have fallen by 55% since the troop 'surge' began in earnest in June.

A combat brigade of 5,000 soldiers is due to complete its withdrawal from Diyala province, east of Baghdad, this month without being replaced, signaling the end of the surge. "I've even heard some generals say we're nearing a tipping point," said Major Jon Pendell of the 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment (2SCR).

For three weeks during November, I was embedded with the 2SCR which, dating back to 1836, is the oldest continuously serving regiment in the US army, having fought in the American civil war, rode horses into battle in the First World War and won General Paton's favour against Hitler. An elite unit of 3,900 troops, it arrived in mid-August to become the 'tip of the spear' in taming Iraq.

The 3rd squadron of the 2SCR, commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Rod Coffey, consists of around 500 soldiers and is known as 'Wolfpack', a reference to Rudyard Kipling's The Law of the Jungle: "For the strength of the Pack is the Wolf, and the strength of the Wolf is the Pack."

In its black wood headquarters, or Toc, on the US military base at Baghdad international airport, there are six framed photo portraits on the wall, paying tribute to squadron members killed in action this September and October.

The 3rd squadron spend long, hot days patrolling al-Hadar, described as 'al-Qaida's last stronghold in Baghdad'. For three weeks they were engaged in intense house-to-house fighting, as a group describing itself as al-Qaida in Iraq, believed to number 100-200, bombarded them with mortar, machine gun fire and rocket-propelled grenades. Eventually the militants melted away, and now the Americans are trying to track them down, while also meeting and greeting locals, starting a neighbourhood watch scheme, offering amnesties to former insurgents and overseeing power, road and sewage reconstruction projects.

Most of the soldiers interviewed by me were convinced that they were making a difference, and for the better. Some, weary of the mission, admitted disillusionment with politicians and wished they were home. All, at the end of a grueling 15 months, are likely to return from Wolfpack as changed men.