The ground? >> reporter: well, hard to say that it means a lot, because there wasn't a lot of u.s. ground involvement in combat missions on a routine basis, but what they are saying is that the 2,500 u.s. troops that are there will not be in a combat role by the end of the year but will be more in the role that we've heard so much about, train, advise, and assist. importantly, they didn't say anything about the 900 u.s. troops that are just across the border in eastern syria, also like in iraq, going against isis, but inside iraq, one of the major challenges not addressed is the rise of these ...