MULLALAH, Iraq – The route took the soldiers on cratered roads, by bombed-out buildings and past waving children.

The platoon from the 571st Sapper Company of Fort Lewis’ 14th Battalion, 555th Engineer Brigade rumbled past Mullalah, a remote village in Diyala province, Wednesday to inspect a temporary bridge the American military had set up several months before and was scheduled for removal.

It was the kind of mission that often goes unnoticed even to many people at Joint Base Balad, where the platoon is stationed.

Much of the 571st Sapper Company’s time in Iraq is spent performing route clearance, cache searches and minefield clearance, but 3rd Platoon usually goes on an engineering mission every week or two, platoon leader Lt. Raymond Lopez said.

The temporary bridge was put in place several months ago because the existing concrete bridge, which lies about 20 feet away, is crumbling and can’t support the weight of military vehicles. But the metal bridge doesn’t see enough traffic to justify keeping it in place, Lopez said, and the soldiers plan to return later this week and dig it up.

"We can put it somewhere else where it’s more needed," the 30-year-old New Mexico native said.

The soldiers arrived in mid-afternoon at the site. Donkeys ran wild in a nearby field and a lone Iraqi policeman stood guard. They sappers climbed out of their Mine Resistant Ambushed Protected vehicles and carefully approached the bridge, in case it was booby-trapped. They then took digital photos and determined what sorts of equipment they would need to remove it and transport it back to Balad.

They took about 30 minutes to snap plenty of photos and jot down enough notes, and then they headed back to base.

The soldiers also squeezed in some grassroots goodwill.

On the way to the village, a boy who appeared about 9 ran alongside the MRAPs and held out his arms. Pfc. Matthew Goodnight, the gunner of the lead vehicle, tossed him a bottle of water.

And as the MRAPs returned to base, they stopped near a village to hand out two Beanie Babies that arrived in care packages from the United States. Goodnight, a 21-year-old Soap Lake native, gave the dolls to a boy and a girl, each about 7. They smiled wide and gave thumbs up as the vehicles started rolling again.

"It’s pretty cool to see the smiles on their faces," Goodnight said. "That can be the highlight of quick missions like these."

SALAH AD-DIN PROVINCE, Iraq – The route-clearance convoy stopped along the highway. The Iraqi army sergeant who runs the checkpoint, a 27-year veteran named Ali Ajeel, came out to greet us.

The area was quiet that night, he said. He told the soldiers of the 571st Sapper Company, with whom I was riding, that 25 soldiers regularly patrol the area.

The platoon leader, Lt. Loren Fuller, turned to me and asked if I had any questions for Ajeel. I didn’t – I was there to observe – but I asked a few basic things: Where are you from? How long have you been in the army? How are your relations with the Americans?

After I stumbled through that, he asked us if we wanted to come into his office for some tea. The four soldiers and myself agreed (this is hearts-and-minds stuff) and walked into the sergeant’s sleeping area – a converted shipping container with a cot, a TV playing Turkish channels and an indoor burner.

Three other Iraqis joined us, and one emptied a few bottles of water into a teapot. They pulled up a small wooden table around three plastic hairs and moved the cot to provide more room. We chatted about Ajeel’s background (he served in Saddam’s military, lost his job during the dissolution and returned a few years ago) while the tea brewed.

They served the tea boiling hot with heaping spoonfuls of sugar. We talked about the security situation in Iraq and about our backgrounds. One of the sergeant’s subordinates shot me a thumbs-up when he saw my ballistic vest’s nametape (I have my last name written in Arabic). And we snapped plenty of digital photos.

It was surreal: Here we were in a dimly lit office in nowhere Iraq, sharing tea with the guy whose job is to keep bombs off the roads. The soldiers carried their M-4s in there, but we all took off our helmets and everyone was relaxed. We spoke English and they spoke Arabic, but it was a bunch of guys sitting around, laughing about women and talking about beer.

These are the kinds of moments that receive little publicity but are crucial to the future of Iraq and the American military serving here.