There's a pause on the phone as Sgt. Marcus McDowell talks about the Iraqi police officer who gave him his personal Koran as a token of friendship.

McDowell, a 25-year-old soldier from Helena, has spent the past six months at Camp Victory near Baghdad, watching as U.S. forces relinquish their posts and hand security over to their Iraqi counterparts.

"Our unit has seen an increase in strength in what we're supporting," said McDowell, a member of the Montana National Guard's 639th Combat Sustainment Support Detachment. "We supported 30,000 soldiers and now we've doubled that. A lot of it comes with the outposts closing down on the streets and moving the soldiers back onto our Victory Base complex."

The mission of McDowell's unit is to distribute supplemental and operational rations to soldiers, civilians and detainees.

The unit helps support around 243 other units in the greater Baghdad area. That, McDowell said, equates to around 48,000 soldiers and civilians, or nearly 45 percent of the soldiers who remain in the theater of operation.

"The war has turned to garrison with us trying to pull out of Iraq," McDowell said. "I had a lot of different thoughts of what was going to happen when we got here. What you see on the news gives you this big picture of what to expect."

While McDowell and his peers work to support U.S. forces, the work comes with the secondary task of supporting Iraqi police and members of a U.S. cavalry regiment who, working together, deliver supplies like school books and lumber to villages ravaged by years of war.

For the Helena-born soldier who graduated from Capital High, the opportunity to share stories with Iraqi police and security forces is something he's come to enjoy.

It was during one such exchange that McDowell met an Iraq man named Muthana. The two became fast friends, sharing stories of home, family and the service.

On his third visit, Muthana offered McDowell his personal Koran.

"He signed his name in it for me in Arabic," McDonald said. "To me, that was a very moving gesture. It's something I'll cherish forever.

"We kind of hit it off right off the bat," McDonald continued, relating the story of how they met. "He wanted to know why I joined the Army and if I had a family. We joked about trading unit patches. It was pretty neat. Being on the forward operation base, you don't get the cultural aspect of being deployed."

On Tuesday, as Iraq celebrated the withdrawal of U.S. troops from cities and towns, President Obama said the country's future now rests in the hands of the Iraqi people.

The president expressed optimism that Iraq would prevail and emerge as a stable nation. The future, he said, belongs to those who build, not to those who destroy.

"The way our mission is set up, at times, I feel like we're here for not a lot of reason, and then at times I feel like we're doing everything we can for these people," McDowell said. "I foresee the Iraqi people could be doing a lot of these missions. I know they're trying. I feel like we have trained them and done our jobs."

McDowell continues a family tradition started with his grandfather, who served as the first command sergeant major of the Montana Nation Guard. His uncle retired as a full-bird colonel. His cousin is in the service and his wife serves in the Montana National Guard.

McDowell and members of Montana's 639th CSSD are slated to return home around Christmas. Until then, McDowell will continue talking to his wife and two daughters over a Web cam, and practicing his hand at the guitar.

"One of my goals coming over was to learn how to play the guitar," he said. "I've done that, I'm pretty proud of it. I'm no John Cougar, but I can play."

Martin Kidston: 447-4086 or mkidston@helenair.com