Spc. Charles Gardner, rifleman in Company A, 2nd Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, 4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division from Fort Lewis, Wash., waves to kids in a courtyard below him while providing security for a meeting with a local Sons of Iraq commander and a Coalition Force commander near Muqdadiyah, Iraq, Feb. 1. The meeting was to discuss the activities of Sons of Iraq in that area and projects Coalition Forces could help out with in the future.