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RAMADI, Iraq — Arrived Sunday night at the joint security station run by a company of Marines and shared by members of the Iraqi army and police. This would be the basic unit of the American counter-insurgency.

The station is housed in a four-story building that Pete Dinelli and his boys would have a field day with if it were in Albuquerque. But clearly, urban beautification is not the primary concern here. Sandbags are stuffed into the windows, and the building is surrounded by blast walls.

The basic infrastructure ranges widely. There's electricity and air conditioning. Satellites beam in a television signal and Internet and phone service. A large, flat panel HDTV -- one of the surprisingly ubiquitous features of the American presence in Iraq- sits in the TV lounge, which is divided from the hallway with a large green tarp.

But satellites can't run sewer service. Toilets consist of something called a WAG Bag (which stands for waste alleviation and gelling, if you must know.) The WAG Bag fits into a small plastic PETT Toilet. I'm not sure what the PETT Toilet stands for, but it seems like an unfortunate acronym. I haven't had the opportunity to use a WAG Bag yet, and perhaps that ought to be the last I speak of it.

The idea behind the joint aspect of operations here is pretty obvious. It puts an Iraqi face on the security effort and, more importantly, trains Iraqis to do the job. Perhaps it also fosters a sense of camaraderie. Col. John Charlton, the brigade commander, said it had led to a sense of real brotherhood between many of the American troops and their Iraqi counterparts.

I'm not ready to pass judgment on that. There is certainly some interaction, but because of the language barrier it's very basic, centered around the universal language of physical humor (like fart jokes.)

The farthest I've been so far is the front gate, where the first sergeant set up a claims office that allows resident of the city to seek compensation if they believe Americans have damaged their property. There were a half-dozen or so men out there this morning.

I'm heading out with a patrol this afternoon. It's still Ramadan until the end of the week, so the streets should be pretty quiet.