The job of manning security checkpoints in Iraq is now in the hands of Iraqi forces. The take-over of responsibility is a piece of news our nation expected, though it's taken us years to get to this point. Our soldiers talked with 11 News about this day in Iraq back in 2006.

Marked with celebration and the outward signs of renewed vigor the Iraqi army is now officially in the lead of the nation's defense. American forces, while still present, are there to support them, fulfilling a mission KKTV 11 News brought southern Colorado viewers first-hand three years ago, in Assignment: Iraq.

"We are seeing the Iraqi army and police working closer together every day. That's very uplifting and like you said, it's our ticket out of here," said MAJ Joel Hamilton following a meeting I sat in on with Iraqi police and army leaders in the city of Balad.

In 2006 Ft. Carson soldiers worked through the middle act of the coalition's long-term goal. The defeat of a Saddam Hussein's forces led to the foundation for the future: Face-to-face sessions with Iraqi commanders.

While behind the scenes of an ongoing fight with terrorist insurgents, step, by step a new Iraqi army got stronger following American instruction.  I watched a group of Iraqi medics get a lesson in basic self-defense taught by soldiers with the 4th Infantry Division.

"We're empowering them to work us out of a job so we can come back as tourists instead of soldiers," said SGT Christopher Creech. 

Every day of my trip, American men and women scoured the streets looking for the threats that kill, and have killed.  Roadside bombs were pervasive.  Their mission was to try to find them before they could explode and hurt other soldiers or Iraqi citizens.   

Their days were spent side-by-side with their counterparts in uniform working toward the cue to switch places, stepping back from an Iraqi force that will be tested. It has been tested recently. Random attacks have killed more than 250 people in Iraq.

Now, to complete the American mission in their country, Iraqi forces must protect their nation's peace, and stand on their own.  They are our ticket home.  

The world will be watching.