American soldiers have left Iraq's cities, but the day was not without violence. Twenty-seven people were killed north of Baghdad when a car bomb exploded in a food market.

Many Iraqis fear more attacks like this will happen since the U.S. has pulled out of the cities.

On the same night, a Southwest Florida U.S. Army Captain is back home with his family after serving the past 15 months in Iraq.

Capt. Nick Madsen just finished training the very first Iraqi forces how to do his job -- transporting weapons and supplies to ground troops. He says the progress he sees there is rewarding.

He endured 25 hours of travel from Iraq to Germany and on to Southwest Florida to get home to his family after serving 15 months in Iraq. A place, Capt. Madsen says, is improving day by day.

"Every time you go there and talk to the Iraqi people who are getting jobs, coming into their own, joining the local police force, Iraq Army, or getting into construction or a trade -- something to sustain themselves and their families, that's what the payoffs going to be for me," Capt. Madsen says.

His homecoming is steeped in family tradition.

"My dad was in WWII, I was in Vietnam, and I never thought about what it was like for parents, but with him in Iraq, it's been an agonizing 15 months," Jim Madsen, Nick's father, says.

But for the next month, Capt. Madsen will get some much-deserved R&R.

"I'm really looking forward to a weekend off!"

His homecoming coincides with a major military milestone. While Capt. Madsen will have a month off before he returns for duty, when he does, he'll be outside major cities. U.S. combat troops have officially withdrawn from major Iraq cities, leaving security, for the first time, in the of Iraqi forces.

While Iraqis celebrate this military milestone, so does Major Keith Overton.

"At least we can say we stabilized the country and built democracy," Maj. Overton says.

The intelligence officer says it moves the U.S. forward and gives the Iraqis a chance to prove themselves.

"It's their country, they need to do their thing, show their people they can provide security instead of us doing it," Maj. Overton says.

Overton ended his 30-year military career a year and a half ago in Iraq. He expects day-to-day operations to get worse before they get better, especially if militia factions try to flex their muscle in the absence of U.S. soldiers.

"Terrorists will be there a good long while, and anytime they can jump in, they will," Maj. Overton says.

American troops are still outside major cities, on stand-by. A place, Maj. Overton says, troops can better regulate the many bombs he says come from Iran.

"One good thing about being out of the cities is we'll have more troops to watch the borders to stop those things from coming in."

Unless Iraqi forces ask for help, American troops will keep their distance.

Tuesday's deadline is one step closer to President Obama's promise to have all combat brigades out of Iraq by August, 2010.