CAMP RAMADI, Iraq (Oct. 3) -- A few days after arriving with our advance group to Camp Ramadi, Iraq, the worst sandstorm I have endured thus far blew in and coated our equipment, and us, with fine red dust, and limited our visibility to less than 20 yards.

Looking back, the sandstorm was probably our welcome to the place most service members who have had the privilege of inhabiting call "the dust bowl of Iraq."

Bad weather or not, we had work to do so we wiped our eyes and continued improving and moving our equipment into the buildings our regiment now occupies, readying it for the rest of our unit's arrival.

But improvements here on the camp are just a mere fragment of those taking place outside our highly secured confines.

Lately, I have had the opportunity to get "outside the wire" to witness some of the progress taking place in Iraq's cities.

In nearby Ramadi, a city well known for some of the most violent fighting throughout the war, I joined other Marines in attending day two of a five-day soccer tournament at the newly-renovated Mulaab Soccer Stadium.

Insurgents often launched attacks from the stadium, and were known to commit vicious acts there on citizens who dared to assist Coalition forces.

As a result, the stadium had been reduced to rubble until security improvements allowed Marines and city officials the opportunity to make renovations.

The tournament went without a hitch.

In fact, citizens made it a point to wave at our convoy as we passed on our way to the stadium. Many of them attended the tournament; nearly 350 attendees the first day, with attendance increasing each consecutive day.

Marines and Iraqi police passed out soccer balls to elated children. The balls, about 170 of them, had been donated by churches back home in the U.S.

Most recently, in a neighborhood of Fallujah, I visited the site of a generator that produces 200 kilowatts of power to residents living in the area.

The generator is one of 35 which Marines and the Fallujah City Council distributed throughout the city as part of the Commander's Emergency Response Program (CERP).

CERP allows U.S. military commanders the ability to provide urgent humanitarian relief and reconstruction requirements within their areas of operation.

Since 2003, CERP contributions have totaled more than $3 billion and 2008 contributions alone will exceed $750 million.

The government of Iraq recognized the benefits of CERP, and launched a similar program in April called Iraqi Commander's Emergency Response Program.

ICERP did not replace U.S.-funded CERP, but will supplement it in the execution of Iraqi construction projects throughout the country by making Iraqi funds available to Coalition forces commanders.

Another program, one that many people back home can appreciate, first launched in 2007 and provides relief to farmers throughout Al Anbar Province.

Dubbed the Anbar Wheat and Fertilizer Program, the initiative provides farmers with an opportunity to purchase quality wheat seed and compound fertilizer on credit to be paid after harvest.

Farmers interested in participating register with their local farmer's federation office, and will be selected based on their experience in growing wheat, ability to irrigate their fields, credit worthiness and the size of their farms.

After harvesting their crops, the farmers make payments in cash, which is collected into a trust fund designed to implement similar programs in the future.

These and many other projects are flourishing across Iraq, offering Iraqis a beacon of hope in light of a dwindling terrorist insurgency.

With each successful project, U.S. troops here take pride in the evidence that we are winning the war against terror.

Staff Sgt. Higgins grew up in Mosheim.