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English: Sgt. Aihmed Ayeed Jabar, an Iraqi Army squad leader with 1st Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 7th Iraqi Army Division, greets locals during a foot patrol through Hit, Iraq, June 13, 2006. The Iraqi soldiers operate daily with a U.S. Army infantry battalion, Task Force 1st Battalion, 36th Infantry Regiment, in Hit � a mostly Sunni city of about 30,000 located 70 miles northwest of Ramadi. The U.S. soldiers say Iraqi soldiers �on the ground� are becoming better at spotting suspicious activity in the city, too � proof that Iraqi soldiers are becoming more effective military operators. Meanwhile, a cadre of U.S. Marines here have spent about five months mentoring and training battalion-level Iraqi staff officers to conduct military operational planning as well as the ins and outs of functioning as a higher headquarter to Iraqi soldiers �on the ground.� The Marines here say the Iraqi Army leadership here has not fully grasped the intricacies of military operational planning, although they still have eight months left to get the battalion's staff up to snuff. Logistically, however, the Iraqis are making leaps and bounds in progress, the Marines say. Iraqi Army leaders here already conduct their own planning and briefing for supply convoys. Soon, 1st Battalion will be able to run such logistical convoys entirely on their own, with minimal assistance from American troops.