He still goes after the bad guys, only now he's a gumshoe in Iraq and the suspect interviews are in Arabic.

Kaoiwi, 39, is part of a Tactical Human Intelligence team with the 229th Military Intelligence Company of the Hawai'i National Guard.

These days, he's after insurgents who fire mortars at Logistics Support Area Anaconda; place "improvised explosive devices," or IEDs, in the roads; and kidnap Iraqis who work on the big U.S. air base.

"A lot of times, people walk in with information, but a lot of times we need to go out and get that information from the people," Kaoiwi said.

The unit works with the Air Force's Office of Special Investigation and provides case information to the base's Joint Intelligence Center, which develops targets.

"We'll say, 'Hey, this guy looks like a bad guy,' " said Kaoiwi, who in 2003 took leave from the Police Department and was assigned as state security plans officer working on anti-terrorism for the Hawai'i Army National Guard.

Some of what he sees in Iraq is almost like organized crime.

"A guy may be a terrorist, but also a farmer or taxi driver," he said. They try to leverage contracts with the United States for work, and strong-arm other Iraqis.

"You just gotta think of 1930s America. Some of these guys are not bad guys," Kaoiwi said. But not exactly honest businessmen, either.

At any one time, there are hundreds on the suspect list. He uses an interpreter, but has picked up some Arabic as well.

He has heard "Walah ma arif" (I swear to God I don't know), "Walah ma andi shi" (I swear to God I have nothing), and "Ani Fallah" (I'm a farmer) more than a few times.

There are some challenges peculiar to Iraq, such as looking for a suspect who has three wives and three houses.

But like back home, there's nuance that Kaoiwi picks up on. "When you go out there, some people are afraid to talk," he said. "And you can tell, the guy who talks too much, something's wrong."

The Army's Criminal Investigation Division last month passed word to Kaoiwi that there was a ballistics match with an Iraqi army soldier's weapon and the killing of two Washington National Guard soldiers from the previous troop rotation.

One of the U.S. soldiers, a lieutenant, was shot in the head. The Iraqi soldier has been arrested.

"I actually like going outside and doing my job," Kaoiwi said. "I don't like the fact I have to dodge bullets or IEDs."

SGT. KEOPUHIWA

Every day after work, Sgt. Mike Keopuhiwa hits the speed bag outside the quarters of the 227th Combat Engineer Company at LSA Anaconda.

He's not just another Hawaii National Guard soldier trying to stay in shape.

Keopuhiwa, 34, of Pearl City, was the Golden Gloves champion at 106 pounds in Hawai'i in 1994 and '97, Tacoma Golden Gloves champion in '93 and the Colorado-New Mexico regional Golden Gloves champ in 2002.

Keopuhiwa was in the Army's World Class Athlete program, a run-up to the Olympics, and in 2001 was an All Army gold medalist. In 2002, he won the armed forces championship in a match fought at Caesar's Palace.

Keopuhiwa grew up with boxer Brian Viloria in Waipahu.

He hung up his gloves with a 52-16 record, and worked at Hagadone Printing before re-enlisting in March and rejoining the 227th, a unit he had served with in the late 1990s.

"Too many hits to the head," Keopuhiwa joked about volunteering for Iraq duty. He got in the country last month.

"I just wanted to come up here and check it out to see what it was like coming to a war zone," he said.

CPL. MATEO

The "Rest and Recuperation" program offered by the Army allows soldiers to go home for a 15-day break. But then they have to come back to Iraq.

It's a chance to be back with family again, but it has its bittersweet moments.

Cpl. Howard Mateo, 36, from Wailuku, Maui, who's with the Hawai'i National Guard's 2nd Battalion, 299th Infantry at Camp Victory in Baghdad, went on R&R on May 13 and got back in Iraq on June 4.

He went to Canada with his kids, ages 10 and 7, to visit with family and friends.

"When I left for deployment (the first time) my kids were sick for two weeks, and when I left again, my daughter got sick again," said Mateo, who works as a nurse's aide at Kula Hospital.

When he left the first time, his 7-year-old son asked, "Are you going to kill Iraqis?" Mateo said. "I just told him, 'I'm going to protect the people of Iraq.' "

At home, his kids told their grandparents that "Dad seems different; just like more quiet than I used to be."

"The first day that I was home they were kind of hesitant to approach me," he said.

But Mateo is glad he made the deployment. Ever since he was young, growing up in the Philippines, he wanted to serve in a combat zone. His father and uncle had served in the Philippine army. Mateo became a U.S. citizen in 1995.

"Ever since I was young, I loved all the Army stuff," said Mateo, who collects G.I. Joes with his son.

Serving in Iraq is the "greatest accomplishment of my life," he said.

On the flight from Texas to Maui on American Airlines, during which he had to wear his desert camouflage uniform, the flight attendants moved him to first class.

When he woke up, he had a bottle of champagne next to him.

"The people are very supportive," he said. "You feel like you did great things."