The soldiers of the 155th Infantry can truly say they were witnesses to &8212; and participants in &8212; a time of sweeping change in Iraq&8217;s history.

In January 2005, when Americans were watching the first provincial elections in Iraq from the comfort of their living rooms, the 155th was working to help make it happen.

The 155th, whose members arrived in Iraq in January 2005, was helping provide security at those polling places.

And those efforts didn&8217;t stop there.

In the areas that the 155th was responsible for &8212; the provinces of An Najaf, Karbala, North Babil and Eastern Al Anbar &8212; the turnout for December&8217;s parliamentary elections was 83 percent of registered voters.

But the 155th wasn&8217;t just responsible for security at polling places, during reconstruction projects and at key points of infrastructure, such as power plants.

Patrols from the 155th would continuously scout the area to keep the peace &8212; and in the process, managed to earn the trust of some of the smallest locals.

&8220;The children would come running up to us whenever they&8217;d see us. They trusted us,&8221; said Sgt. John Williams of Natchez.

&8220;We&8217;d hand out candy to them.&8221;

That trust, in turn, helped further the unit&8217;s mission.

&8220;Because they got to know us, once they even told us where a cache of weapons was being hidden, and we were able to retrieve it all,&8221; Williams said.

Going out in teams of three to six vehicles, with several soldiers per vehicle, the scouting parties had a medic with them at all times.

&8220;So if we found someone that needed medical attention, someone was able to help them right there,&8221; Williams said.

The 155th also set up an aid station for the locals, said Staff Sgt. Flozell Grady, also of Natchez.

&8220;That way, we could get the people the medical supplies they needed, and they&8217;d get a chance to see a doctor,&8221; Grady said.

&8220;They could also (arrange) to get utilities and water service.&8221;

None of which takes away from the horrors of war.

For example, Grady said that the unit for which he was responsible, which included soldiers from other parts of the United States, saw two deaths.

When it comes to some of the most dangerous parts of Iraq, Grady said, &8220;we were right there.&8221;

In the line of duty, however, they were able to make quite an impact, according to numbers from Sgt. 1st Class Kevin Reeves, public affairs officer for the 155th.

During the deployment, they captured more than 1,500 terrorists, seized more than 28,000 weapons, and destroyed more than 18,000 pounds of munitions.

That included 8,000 pounds of explosives.

The 155th also worked with the new Iraqi government, taking part in the development of the Provincial Reconstruction Development Committee.

This committee is made up of coalition force soldiers and State Department officials, who work with the local governments to prioritize efforts to rebuild Iraq.