Lance Cpl. Stephen McGinnis Marines with Personnel Security Detachment, 1st Battalion, 24th Marine Regiment keeps a watchful eye on the streets while Marines question the two suspected insurgents. The Marines detained the two men, one for testing positive for gunpowder-residue, and the other for lying during questioning.

Marines with the battalion are currently serving under Regimental Combat Team 5 in Fallujah, Iraq.

Marines from PSD set out in the morning with no more than a mission to drive through the city and search for anything they found suspicious. That was just what they found.

Lance Cpl. David L. Admire, a 26-year-old machine gunner from Clever, Mo., had a hunch about the two men who began acting very suspiciously and walked down a different street after seeing Marines.

‘‘We drove around a corner; I saw a guy that looked like he was holding something underneath his clothing,” Admire said. ‘‘It could have been anything, but I just didn’t trust it.”

His hunch turned out to be correct. One of the men tested positive for gun powder residue, and the other lied about knowing the other man.

Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Steven Wimmer, a 35-year-old hospital corpsman from Saginaw Mich., tested the first man for gunpowder residue. To his surprise, the test came out positive.

‘‘I have tested a lot of people since we have been out here, but this was the first time I had one test positive,” Wimmer said.

Wimmer is a police officer in Saginaw, Mich. He is in charge of searching and testing possible insurgents for the PSD.

‘‘I had no idea coming into PSD as a corpsman that my law enforcement experience would come in handy,” Wimmer said.

Wimmer said the street-smarts he gained while serving as a policeman came in handy. He’s learned by the time he spent on the streets of Saginaw of where to look at cars to find signs of tampering and also where to find gunpowder residue on suspects.

‘‘We only have a small amount of time to check, so it helps that I know exactly where to look,” he said.

Any Marine in PSD has the ability to search a vehicle or a person if they find them suspicious.

‘‘I give anyone the right to call out to search someone,” explained Staff Sgt. Jason Hart, a 29-year-old PSD platoon commander. ‘‘Because if any gets an itch about someone; it’s better to scratch that itch rather than to wonder about it later down the road. These guys see more than I possibly could, especially our turret gunners.”

When the man was searched, a military compass was found on him. Marines of PSD believe it might have been used for mortar attacks.

The first man was placed inside of a humvee, and Marines began to question the other who was stopped.

The second suspected insurgent tested negative for gunpowder residue, but when asked how he knew the other man, he lied and said he didn’t know him.

The first man told Marines that they were friends and had just left meeting with other friends in the city.

‘‘It’s huge that we all have the ability to stop a vehicle,” Wimmer said. ‘‘It keeps the responsibility spread out through the platoon and not just up to one person. Every one of us has a different vantage point of the city, and something one guy might not find suspicious someone else might.”

Marines apprehended both and took them to their battalion collection center for more questioning and investigation.

If the men are found to have taken part in any insurgent activity or to have ties to any insurgents, they will be moved to Regimental Combat Team 5’s detainment center.

In the meantime, PSD continues a wary eye peeled on their continuous patrols.