FORT IRWIN, Calif. — By day, he peddles food to American soldiers. By night, he is an insurgent who targets those same men with bombs and mortars.

He is Hakim, a legendary figure with a frightening number of kills of soldiers at the U.S. Army's National Training Center.

And his is a story the military hopes will provide a survival lesson that members of the Army's 1st Brigade of the 3rd Infantry Division, which recently spent three weeks training with lifelike war games at Fort Irwin, will take with them when they deploy to Iraq.

"They shouldn't trust me," says Staff Sgt. Joseph Nofo, of Hilo, Hawai'i, who plays the Iraqi role of Hakim.

GOOD GUY BY DAY ...

Hakim's actions change with every battalion brought through the three-week simulated Iraq training at Fort Irwin, Nofo said. His actions also change with the behavior of soldiers patrolling the mock village of Medina Jabal, where he runs Kamel Dogs Cafe — the only place in the training field that sells hot food and drinks.

During this rotation, Nofo, 36, said his character is following the money.

"I go wherever the money is at. If the Americans give me a lot of money, then I sway to their side. If they don't, I sway to the other side," he said.

But he warns Hakim can turn if treated badly by troops. "If they come in and search the place and destroy it, I can go to the other side," he said.

And when he does, his actions have deadly consequences.

... BAD GUY BY NIGHT

In the insurgent scenario, Hakim befriends the soldiers when they stop at the cafe, asking if he can sell his hot dogs at the nearby base. When they agree, he loads up his food and takes them to the base, where his cart is initially searched. But after a time, the soldiers become lax and wave him through.

That's when Hakim, played by Nofo (or by others), plants a bomb in the cart and blows it up on the base.

It's a lesson, Nofo said, that was inspired by an actual bombing incident in Iraq.

LESSONS ON RESPECT

Nofo, who has served in Iraq, said Kamel Dogs Cafe is a good training ground for soldiers to practice their interaction with food vendors and shopkeepers.

He recalled a chicken vendor in Karbala whom his squad visited routinely during their patrols. Nofo said his squad was looking for information on insurgents who had been planting roadside bombs nearby.

It took about a month, he said, of stopping, buying food and talking with the vendor before he opened up about who he saw planting bombs.

"You have to treat people with respect," Nofo said. "That's probably the biggest lesson this time."