A reservist serving with the 98th Division (Institutional Training), Colonel Todd Arnold was commander of the division rear in 2004-2005 while elements of the unit were deployed to Iraq. In this interview, he provides a great deal of detail...
Captain William Rockefeller was the commander of Bravo Company, 1-26 Infantry during the Easter Sunday Battle of Samarra in April 2004. Stationed at FOB Brassfield-Mora, Rockefeller describes the actions of his company upon hearing that Charlie...
A US Army Reserve quartermaster officer assigned to 3rd Battalion, 317th Infantry Regiment - an institutional training unit headquartered in Culpeper, Virginia - First Lieutenant Mitchell Wander was mobilized in May 2005, assigned to the 80th...
Colonel Charles Augustus "Gus" Stafford was the commander of 3rd Brigade, 85th Division (Training Support) at Camp Atterbury, Indiana, from 2004 through 2005 when the 98th Division (Institutional Training) received their predeployment training...
A long-time veteran of the civil affairs (CA) community - including overseas deployments with the Army's only active duty CA unit, the 96th Civil Affairs Battalion (Airborne) - Lieutenant Colonel Joseph Haack shares a wealth of insights in this...
A member of the 98th Division (Institutional Training) command and control (C2) cell, Brigadier General Frank Cipolla deployed to Iraq in mid 2004 in advance of the rest of the unit for its training and advisory mission with the new Iraqi Army. Of...
A newly promoted lieutenant colonel when his Army Reserve unit - the 489th Civil Affairs (CA) Battalion, based in Knoxville, Tennessee - was tapped for service in Afghanistan, Colonel Don Amburn deployed in early 2002 and, once in country,...
Currently the chief of force generation at Fort Leavenworth's Joint Center for International Security Force Assistance, Colonel Sean Ryan, in mid 2004, was "brought in … to assist Brigadier General Richard Sherlock" - assistant division commander...
An Iowa National Guardsman deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom from January through December 2005, Captain Jason Wisehart commanded Alpha Company, 224th Engineer Battalion and was located initially in the Najaf/Karbala area and then, for...
Having enlisted in the US Army back in 1994 at the age of 33, Captain Lisa Bloom - a licensed and practicing attorney living in Iowa at the time - later became a special agent in the Criminal Investigation Division and, after graduating from the...
An Iowa National Guard (and former active duty) chemical officer who got herself branch qualified in transportation in order to take command and deploy to Iraq with the 2168th Transportation Company, Captain Jennifer Mlocek took over the unit a...
"A couple days after September 11, 2001," said Major Roger Crombie, at the time commander of Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 87th Infantry Regiment, part of 10th Mountain Division, "we had an idea that we needed to be ready and that something was...
During his 2004-2005 deployment in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, "I was with III Corps," said Lieutenant Colonel Mark Tolmachoff, "which at the time was the base element of Multinational Corps-Iraq." In this interview focusing initially on...
A project engineer with the US Army Corps of Engineers, Major Torrey Diciro reported to Bahrain in February 2002 on an unaccompanied tour where "they had me punching out buildings and basically making sure the contractor gave us what we specified...
The signal officer for 159th Aviation Brigade, part of the 101st Airborne Division, from May 2003 through January 2004 in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, Major Nancy Bodyk was tasked with ensuring the brigade's "communications were operational...
From March to August 2003 in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, Major Jeremiah Jette served as the commander of Bravo Company, 63rd Signal Battalion, attached to the 11th Signal Brigade, and was tasked with providing area signal support to Talil...
Major Jesse Kirchmeier served as planner and liaison officer for the 159th Aviation Brigade in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom 05-07. The 159th deployed as a transformed aviation brigade, integrating three separate National Guard companies, a...
Lieutenant Commander Philip Kapusta served on the joint strategic plans and policy staff of Special Operations Command, Central (SOCCENT) in support of Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) and Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) from 2001 through 2003. An...
Major Dale Snider, a project manager with the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), was assigned to the engineer staff section of Combined Joint Task Force 180 as the leader of a augmenting forward engineer support team (FEST-A) in support...
A Chemical Corps officer serving in Iraq from July through December 2003 with the 5th Special Forces Group - during this period existing as a combined joint special operations task force (CJSOTF) - Major Kenneth Jones was the director of the joint...