U.S. Central Command at Tampa’s MacDill Air Force Base has agreed to arrange interviews with troops deployed across the globe. We had hoped to get their stories in writing, but we learned we’d have better success if we talked to them instead.

No conditions have been made or requested. We will ask to speak to military members serving in a variety of roles and regions. We would be surprised to be connected with soldiers who disagree with their mission. Still, we trust that our military men and women will be as candid as possible in describing their triumphs, their frustrations and their sense of the progress being made.

It is said that the costs of this war are being borne by a small group of Americans. We believe those people have a unique perspective that should be heard.

Today’s interview was conducted by Joe Guidry, deputy editor of the Tribune’s editorial board.

Maj. Bill Cowling is a liaison officer for the Army Corps of Engineers in Mosul, Iraq, where he coordinates reconstruction projects. The 36-year-old Army reservist left his job as a high school principal in Blue Springs, Mo., for a one-year assignment in Iraq and has been there three months. Wife Tina and their "precious treasures" — 7-year-old son Dylan and 3-year-old daughter Kylee — await his return.

Here's what he would like Americans to know:

ON THE IRAQIS:

"The Iraqi people are very motivated to improve things for themselves — at least the ones I'm around. There's Iraqi police, Iraqi army soldiers, firefighters, security forces — to me, they are the true heroes. They go out every day ... they're targets, they go to work every day. They're amazing people.

"I look back to where we were a couple of hundred years ago, writing the Constitution. Maybe it's a little bit like that. ... So for me to be able to be here and be part of the process in my own very, very small way ... I'm proud to do so.

ON RECONSTRUCTION:

"The Iraqis are doing reconstruction; Bill Cowling has little to do with it. The building of schools and clinics and courthouses and police stations and fire stations and municipal buildings, that's what really going to reinforce that this government is growing in strength and is a valid government.

"The Iraqi government officials are just now getting down to where they are coming together as a group of mixed cultural and mixed tribal heritages ... and sitting down and deciding as a whole what's best for the community. And they're picking projects and they are developing these projects. That's a big process.

"What they do in my hometown of Blue Springs, Missouri, the city planning ... they're doing all that, and they're learning from our State Department guys and our Corps of Engineers people. ... And they are going through the whole process as a group and are really making a lot of headway. ... My hat's off to them because it's hard work. ... They're not wavering. They are getting stronger and they're moving on."

ON THE INSURGENCY:

"It's getting weaker by the day. Fewer and fewer activities happen each day. It's kind of like a teeter totter .... as we reconstruct and government agencies get stronger ... we see the enemy get weaker, and fewer attacks every day."

ON HIS PERSONAL SAFETY:

"I'm surrounded by quality soldiers. They're hardened and they're good and they're professional, yet they're sensitive to the people. I've got more of a chance of getting dehydrated than anything else."

ON SUPPORT FROM HOME:

"The people from my hometown have come out of the woodwork and have been so generous to me. They send me things all the time. They ask what's it really like, and I try to convey ... that this is not an awful place. The United States Army has taken very good care of me.

"What can people do for us ... is know that this thing has got to continue and that Iraq is sending up a suitable and valid government. ... Just hang in there with us — that's what I would tell people. ... Change is not going to happen overnight. It's going to take years for this change to really take hold.

ON HIS DAILY WORK:

"I was talking to ... the guy I was replacing and I asked, is it true what I've heard, that you work 12 to 14 hours a day, six days a week? He said, "I don't know where you heard that. It's 18 hours a day, seven days a week.' ... In Task Force Freedom's area, there are almost 500 construction projects going on, and I'm supposed to know what they're all doing. And if you talk about the northern part of Iraq ... there's a couple thousand projects going on.

"We have program managers and project managers, and they have preconstruction meetings and construction meetings and they do quality control. We're really trying to give Iraqi people a real good product.

"Someday I and others hope to work ourselves out of a job here, so we're also tracking infrastructure, electricity, water, sewer systems, and we're trying to properly target resources to make any necessary repairs. ... We want to turn all this over to them someday. We work some pretty long days."

ON IRAQIS' QUALITY OF LIFE:

"[It's] improving every day. But I tell you that we've got a lot of work to do. Oh, my, I mean years and years and years of being totally run down, and we have to overcome that, and just a poor mind-set as well. ... So there is a lot of coaching and mentoring. ... There are some places where people are living in filth. Coming over here, I was so naive ... I come over here and see how people are living ... it's sad."

ON IRAQ'S WEATHER:

"Right now it's averaging in the upper 90s. This is northern Iraq, Mosul, and I think we're having a break in the weather. A couple of weeks ago we were averaging 115, 116, and before that, we've seen 124, 125 here. And this is Mosul. Down south — Baghdad and south of that — those guys, they've got it tough."

ON FEELING APPRECIATED:

"I was with one of the [Iraqi] government officials, and it was our second meeting and he asked me about my family and I asked about his. And, of course, I told him I missed them greatly, and he put his hand on the American flag that's on the right shoulder of my uniform and said, "Thank you for being here.' And you know, I'll always remember that. [It was like saying] "Thank you for putting your life aside, leaving home and helping me.' "

Cowling welcomes e-mail at William.Cowling@us.army.mil but can't promise a timely response. As you can see, he stays busy.