Children barely dared to venture outside for three years.

The soccer field in the once-treacherous city of Ramadi in central Iraq was part of a war zone. The city in Anbar province was the epicenter of the insurgency against the U.S. troops.

Now, the violence has quelled. Thanks in large part to a Marine from North Andover and donations from local soccer groups, Ramadi children are back on that field with equipment to play the game they love.

"The only thing the kids ask for in downtown Ramadi is soccer balls," 1st Lt. Chris Tierney, 31, said in a telephone interview from Iraq.

"They'll run down to Humvees and that's all they want," he added. "They've been shut in their homes for the last three years."

Tierney, who went to Massachusetts Maritime Academy for a year and then enlisted in the Marines after graduating from North Andover High School in 1994, is serving as an Iraqi Army and local governance adviser. He is responsible for training an Iraqi army battalion and local civilian leaders. He has been in Iraq for about a year and his family expects him home sometime this week.

Ramadi looked like "war-torn London during the blitz" when Tierney was first deployed there, he said.

In recent months, said Tierney, the place has become peaceful. He attributes the change to key partnerships with tribal sheiks, or leaders, the Iraqi police, the Iraqi army and Americans getting smarter "about how to fight al-Qaida."

"When we first got here six months ago, we couldn't walk down the street during the day - it was that dangerous," he said.

Tierney, an adviser to the Iraqi army, said the city is on the rebound and children can "run around and be kids again."

President Bush mentioned Ramadi during his prime-time speech Thursday night, saying the place is a success story of how coalition forces, local sheiks and the Iraqi military drove out the insurgents. However, the president did note the assassination of a key U.S. ally, Sheik Abdul Sattar al-Rishawi, whom he described as "brave" for leading the revolt against al-Qaida. The sheik died in a bomb blast Thursday, before Bush's speech.

Over the summer, with the atmosphere calming and the realization that many Iraqis share his love of soccer, Tierney helped the Iraqis organize a World Cup-style tournament.

The tournament was a success in mid-August. Sixteen teams of 15 members - consisting of military-age men, which in Iraq means 15- to 30-year-olds - competed. First-place prize was $600, second prize was $400 and third prize $200, Tierney said.

Setting out, he and the other organizers lacked equipment and funding. So Tierney, who played high school soccer, enlisted the help of his hometown group.

He sent Bill Varney, president of the board of directors for the North Andover Soccer Association, an e-mail explaining the situation and asking for help.

Varney, who has never met Tierney, was inspired.

"We scrambled and we reached out," Varney said.

Varney received the request shortly before July 4. Time was of the essence because Tierney and his Iraqi brethren were trying to get the tournament up and running within a month.

Varney gathered what he could from the soccer association and reached out for help from the Aztec Soccer club in Beverly, the Andover Soccer Camp at Phillips Academy, and Citizens Bank.

They sent about a half-dozen boxes of equipment to Iraq, including 150 balls and 100 Andover Soccer Academy T-shirts.

The point of all this was to show residents, as well as terrorists, that the situation in Ramadi has improved. It also helped American and Iraqi soldiers reach out to people.

"There's more important things in Iraq right now," Tierney said. "But this was something we could do really quickly and get people that are normally fence-sitters over to our side and say, 'Hey, we want to keep this area safe and help the local populace.'"

Afterward, Tierney sent an e-mail to Varney, delivering thanks.

"Whether you are for or against the war, it is of no matter to me, but what matters, is the truly unique American spirit and benevolence in times of crisis, which you have demonstrated," Tierney wrote.

Oddly enough, the Iraqis' biggest concern in planning the tournament was that the grass on the field be green, Tierney said.

"They hadn't been playing soccer there for the last two or three years. It was basically a war zone," he said. "They wanted to get the grass green, so we bought some water pipes and they wanted to irrigate it. That was their most important thing. I think it was probably like trying to put a new layer of paint on a house."

Tierney, a humble serviceman who said he didn't want to be in the limelight, wanted to publicly thank Varney. But Varney said Tierney deserves all the credit.

"This kid is top notch," he said. "We did the easy part. I don't wake up every day thinking about stuff that could go bad in a foreign country. You wake up in North Andover and you think of what are important problems, are nothing compared to what this kid is doing."

Tierney's parents, Steven and Gail, live in North Andover.

Tierney currently lives in Jacksonville, N.C., with his wife, Laurie, who also graduated from North Andover high in 1994. The couple have a daughter, Kyleigh, 7, and a son, Aiden, 5. Tierney is wrapping up his second deployment to Iraq. His first one lasted seven months, his father said.

"He's a leader, that's what he is," Steven Tierney said.

Steven Tierney spent three years in the Air Force, from 1971 to 1975. Chris Tierney is the oldest of five sons. One of his brothers, Corey, 22, is currently serving in the Army in Iraq. He recently suffered a concussion during a blast from an improvised explosive device, but he is recovering, his father said.