Photojournalist Nathan Webster's brief contact with Sgt. Kenneth Gibson came in the flash of a camera on a June night in Tarmiyah, Iraq, just north of Baghdad.

Webster, a freelance journalist who embedded for a month with Schofield Barracks soldiers, regretted that he could not tell more of Gibson's story and life.

The 25-year-old Gibson, a Stryker brigade soldier from Christiansburg, Va., was killed Aug. 10 by a suicide bomber.

Webster, who lives in New Hampshire, had taken a few photos of Gibson at a checkpoint about a mile from Alpha Company's headquarters in downtown Tarmiyah.

The journalist included a postscript and photo of Gibson on a story he wrote that appeared on www.longwarjournal.org.

"Embedded reporters meet plenty of soldiers who are never spoken to at length," Webster wrote. "A picture might be taken and maybe there's a brief chat, then the reporter moves on to the next thing. A reporter sometimes lets stories slip away."

Webster told as many stories as he could from the time spent in Iraq, saying his intention was to focus more on the grunts, and less on command.

On-the-ground news reporting in Iraq provides valuable insight into what is happening in the war, but fewer and fewer journalists are doing it.

The reasons include declining public interest, the time commitment and cost — airfare to Kuwait and life insurance are two biggies — at a time when many newspapers are cutting back staff.

Webster wound up with the 1st Battalion, 14th Infantry, out of Schofield by chance.

The 40-year-old Webster said his trip to Tarmiyah in June was a lot quieter than a stay in Bayji, Iraq, in 2007, when there was a lot of violence.

"The worst thing about Sgt. Gibson's death was the area was borderline peaceful for the month I was there, and one could start thinking it would stay that way through the whole deployment," Webster said.

The one notable firefight came at the hands of the Sons of Iraq, armed Sunni civilians who are paid $300 a month to keep the peace.

"At a checkpoint somebody yelled at them, and their response was to engage in force, which is just a complete over-reaction," Webster said.

The Joint Security Station where the Schofield soldiers lived had been mortared a couple times when they first arrived, and there had been some sniper shots, Webster said.

"But in the last few months, it had been really quiet," he said.

There were roadside bomb attacks against some of the Sons of Iraq, but insurgents had stayed away from directly engaging the Americans, he said.

Alpha Company lives in a former youth center in downtown Tarmiyah. Platoons are separated in bays.

The soldiers have the same routine that they've had for most of the war — heading out on patrols, looking for hidden (and often buried) munitions and taking turns on a quick reaction force.

The Shiite-led government in Iraq, meanwhile, is aggressively attempting to disband the 100,000-strong U.S.-funded Sons of Iraq force because it distrusts the Sunnis.

Webster said that would be bad.

"If that money dries up, well, they'll make money somehow," Webster said. "If it means al-Qaida pays them $300 a month, they'll do what the employer wants."

IN BRIEF

MARINES TAKE OVER ARMY AREA IN IRAQ

In Iraq, U.S. Marines operate and control western Anbar province west of Baghdad, and the U.S. Army operates in and around Baghdad and to the north.

On Aug. 26 on the border of those two regions, a rare switch took place involving Hawai'i-based troops, the Army said.

The Army reported that in Gharma Nahia, northwest of Baghdad, Kane'ohe Bay Marines from the 1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, took over some battle space that had been patrolled by Schofield's Troop A, 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry "Strykehorse" Regiment.

About 1,000 Hawai'i Marines with the 1st Battalion recently started a seven-month rotation in Iraq, while about 4,000 soldiers with Schofield's Stryker brigade are about eight months into a 15-month deployment.

BATTLESHIP MARKS WWII SURRENDER

The Battleship Missouri Memorial tomorrow will commemorate the 63rd anniversary of Japan's unconditional surrender in World War II.

The battleship was the site of Japan's surrender on Sept. 2, 1945, in Tokyo Bay.

The 8:45 a.m. ceremony is free and open to the public. Featured will be keynote speaker U.S. Sen. Daniel K. Akaka, D-Hawai'i, and guest speaker Navy Capt. Gregory R. Thomas, commander of Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard.

Reach William Cole at wcole@honoluluadvertiser.com.