It wasn't just the great roof that Steve Johnsrud of Freedom Builders constructed on her house that impressed Carolyn Kuhr. It was the can-do, American spirit he exemplified.

Johnsrud, who returned in 2007 from two years in Iraq with the National Guard, started his own business after getting laid off his job as a framer. Kuhr felt that he exemplifies the ideals celebrated on the Fourth of July.

"He's very proud of being a soldier and very proud of what we are doing over there," she said. "He's a really good example for people starting their own businesses."

As a chaplain at Kalispell Regional Medical Center, Kuhr knows a thing or two about the human spirit. She points out that his two years in Iraq were tough but he came home with a positive attitude.

Then the economy collapsed, wiping out the framing job Johnsrud had started just three months earlier. Instead of complaining about no jobs, he revived Freedom Builders, the contracting business he operated here before going to Iraq.

It took him several months to get some remodeling jobs lined up in an economy where new construction had all but died.

"I tell my friends that God sent me to Iraq to teach me patience," he said.

By March, he was back in business and working.

Kuhr said her roofing job was something of a nightmare because previous contractors built roof upon roof upon roof, requiring Johnsrud and his crew to tear three off before starting the new one.

Again, Johnsrud said dealing with adversity in Iraq gave him a new perspective on work-related challenges in the Flathead Valley.

"I never run into problems," he said. "It's all easy now."

Johnsrud and his crew of two finished Kuhr's job then moved on to building an addition on a house in Kalispell. He said he keeps busy through word-of-mouth from satisfied customers such as Kuhr and people who stop by his job sites.

"From every job I'm on, I get two or three other jobs," he said.

Johnsrud said he sees remodeling work as his business model for the next few years, with new construction down. The contractor accepts jobs as small as installing an egress window up to designing and building new construction.

Johnsrud remains optimistic that he can earn a living by following a simple ethic.

"I keep my prices fair and do a good job," he said.

According to Johnsrud, his military experience helped him succeed in business by teaching him leadership, management and organization. He honed his trade beginning in the sixth grade at his dad's lumberyard in Havre, then working for contractors from age 15 on.

His spent 20 years in the Army Reserve before volunteering for active duty in 2004. With deployment inevitable, Johnsrud decided volunteering made more sense than leaving a customer in the lurch with an unfinished house.

"A friend of mine worked for the National Guard Bureau and got me a great job," he said.

As part of the 48th Brigade of the Georgia National Guard, Johnsrud worked for a unit dedicated to diverting Iraqis from the insurgency to the new democracy through "non-lethal means." These included building public projects such as wells, operating medical clinics to fight disease and holding press conferences about these good works.

His job was a radical change from the 20 years he spent training in nuclear, chemical and biological warfare. Johnsrud learned the wisdom of this new approach when he was on the ground.

"If bombs and bullets got the job done, we would have been out of there years ago," he said.

Bullets and bombs were a still a fact of life in the "Triangle of Death" south of Baghdad where Johnsrud landed in May of 2005. He described it as the fault line between the Sunni and the Shia sects of the Muslim faith.

Johnsrud said the United States had good intentions but made major mistakes like de-Baathification that deepened the division and fueled the animosity between the two groups and toward the United States and its allies.

From Johnsrub's perspective, purging of the educated Sunni Baathists resulted in incompetent people in charge and many Baath party members jailed who had no blood on their hands. For people without jobs or hope, the insurgency's offer of cash for violence was irresistible.

Johnsrud recalled a favorite analogy of his boss, Col. Thomas Carden.

"A drowning man will grasp the blade of a sword," he said. "My boss was an absolute genius. He understood people better than I ever will."

Johnsrud said one of the most effective strategies they used was gaining the trust and help of local sheiks. He said the sheik system is foreign to American values but it's the culture in Iraq.

"The sheiks are like Mafia dons -they settle disputes and broker the release of hostages," he said.

His boss agreed to release prisoners if the sheiks vouched for them as innocent. But Carden warned the sheiks that they would go to jail themselves if any on their lists were caught in criminal or terrorist activity.

"We released hundreds to the sheiks and never had one arrested," he said.

The sheiks also granted the military permission to enter mosques when snipers were using them as safe havens. Johnsrud said these strategies worked, forcing insurgents to move out.

He returned to the United States in May of 2007 with a renewed appreciation for his country as well as a lot of respect for the Iraqi people. Johnsrud said no one is homeless there because families take care of each other.

The people are also generous to a fault to everyone.

"I saw Iraqis who made less than $1 a day," he said. "If they were eating, they would offer you food."

In spite of the mistakes made in Iraq, Johnsrud believes their own form of democracy will survive. As the United States pulls out, he predicts an initial upsurge in violence promoted by countries with an interest in keeping our country tied up there.

Johnsrud said he hopes we resist sending our soldiers back in large numbers.

"We've really done a good job of training the Iraqi," he said. "If there's an upsurge, it's up to them to fix it."

Reporter Candace Chase may be reached at 758-4436 or by e-mail at cchase@dailyinterlake.com.