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Late last year, a full-blown battle between insurgents and U.S. and Iraqi forces had erupted, and U.S. commanders assigned a unit to stop rocket and mortar attacks that regularly hit their base. Sgt. Horn, who had been trained to operate radars for a field artillery unit, was thrust into a job that largely hinged on coaxing locals into divulging information about insurgents.

Sgt. Horn, 25, a native of Fort Walton Beach, Fla., acknowledges he had little interest in the region before coming here. But a local sheik friendly to U.S. forces, Mohammed Ismail Ahmed, explained the inner workings of rural Iraqi society on one of Sgt. Horn’s first Humvee patrols.

Sgt. Horn says he was intrigued, and started making a point of stopping by all the villages, all but one dominated by Sunni Arabs, to talk with people about their life and security problems.

Moreover, he pressed for development projects in the area. He boasts that he helped funnel $136,000 worth of aid into the area. Part of that paid for delivery of clean water to 30 villages during the broiling summer months.

“They saw that we were interested in them, instead of just taking care of the bases,” Sgt. Horn said.

[…]

“Ninety percent of the people in my area are shepherds or simple townspeople,” said Sgt. Horn. “They simply want to find a decent job to make enough money to provide food and a stable place for their people to live.”

To Sgt. Horn’s commanders, his success justifies his unorthodox approach: No rockets have hit their base in the past half year.

“He has developed a great relationship with local leaders,” said Lt. Col. Bradley Becker, who commands the 2nd Battalion, 8th Field Artillery Regiment. “They love him. They’re not going to let anyone shoot at Sheik Horn.”