Eyewitness To Modern War

During Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) VII and VIII, Able Troop 3-71 Cavalry operated as the brigade rapid mounted reaction force throughout Regional Command East (RC-E) and South in Afghanistan. This paper tells of how our unit moved in-between Regional Commands to deter and destroy the enemy, set up multiple Combat Out Posts (COP), trained Afghanistan National Police (ANP), dealt with the first extension and set the stages in the North for follow on forces.

My field artillery unit was mobilized to perform a non-standard military police mission during Operation Iraqi Freedom II. The unit was part of the largest National Guard mobilization from our state since the Vietnam era. The challenges of deploying a field artillery unit as an ad hoc MP company were many. The challenges were overcome through the strength of our NCO Corps. As I write this paper, I am preparing for a deployment, a non-standard mission with my current unit. As I compare the two mobilizations, it is apparent that the process for mobilizing, training and preparing our soldiers has improved since the first rotation, but issues concerning the selection of units for non-standard mission still exist five years later.

Senior NCO MSG Dwight P. Dooley recounts his experiences of the War in Iraq when stationed there as part of the 101st "Screaming Eagles Airborne Division" between 09/20/2005 - 05/18/2006. This paper explains the different experiences and the similarities I experienced as First Sergeant in Crusher & Hatchet Company, 1-187TH Infantry Regiment. Both companies presented completely different experiences but they were equally satisfying. My rifle company was a company known for its rough around the edges attitude and for its ability to eliminate any opposing threat. My headquarters company was known for its ability to figure things out and apply a logical and methodical approach to everything. These two companies were completely different in nature, but equal in their abilities to accomplish any given task.

Master Sergeant Bean recounts his experiences during the first Gulf war as an artillery specialist in Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm. Success of any war, conflict, or operations Soldiers must meet the enemy, defeat the enemy on the battlefield, and return home safely. Defending our nation during the Gulf War was the high point of my career. This accomplishment serves as a key to my successful military career. Writing this personal experience brought memories good and bad. Although we won the war aboard, a battle was lost in my family. The psychological toll of war deeply affected my family. My personal experience paper will highlight psychological factors I overcame during preparation for combat, combat operations and the psychological effects on my family.

This is a paper concerning the federal activation of the 2-162 IN battalion out of Oregon, their mobilization experience, deployment to Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom II, the redeployment back to Conus and Oregon, and the repercussions of the mission on the Soldiers as they reintegrated back into their families, jobs, and society.

This paper will provide a historical view of the events of 1st Squad, 1st Platoon of Bravo Company, 2/187th Infantry BN, 101st ABN Division, Fort Campbell, KY. I will provide insight of the operation from the squad level non-commissioned officer view. I will focus on the areas of notification of deployment, pre deployment preparation, deployment, Operation Desert Shield, Operation Desert Storm, cease-fire, and redeployment to Fort Campbell. The paper will cover the period of 01 August 1990 through 09 April 1991.

A US Army master sniper in charge of a team of marksmen and forward observers of the 10th Mountain Division recounts his experiences of Afghanistan during Operation Enduring Freedom.

Having assumed command of 3rd Battalion, 187th Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division on D-Day, 6 June 2003, Colonel Joseph Buche initially deployed around the Tall Afar border region before his unit redeployed on short notice to the Al Qaim area where it played a central role in the success of Operation Rifles Blitz. Alerted that 3-187 should be prepared for operations in Najaf or Karbala then Fallujah, the operation in and around the Iraqi-Syrian border town of Al Qaim came as a surprise. "It came out of the blue" said Buche. "I'd never heard of Husaybah or Al Qaim, Iraq." Iron Hammer - 3-187's piece of Rifles Blitz - proved challenging, including the move into a new area of operations and the inherent tensions between the missions assigned...He emphasized several factors which contributed to the success of Rifles Blitz, including the reliability of their interpreters, the integration of psychological operations and information operations into the unit's scheme of maneuver, the ability to mass a lot of soldiers on the ground, the capability of trusted staff officers, and the matching of unit missions with the personalities of unit commanders. The need to establish a position of strength visible to the Iraqi people, he insists, is an imperative for successfully dealing with the populace..."Part of what I wanted to do" Buche added, "was to let any bad guys know that hell was coming to breakfast." Looking back, he proudly boasts that the operation was so successful that the enemy simply failed to fight. "I didn't have a hard time with not having any firefights in that operation at all. I took pride in it because, to me, that was evidence that those company commanders and troopers out there had maneuvered so well that the enemy never found themselves in a position of advantage where they wanted to engage us."

This Personal Experience Paper will discuss 125th MP Bn missions during Operation Just Cause, Operation Desert Storm/Desert Shield, Operation Joint Guardian, and Operation Enduring Freedom. I will discuss the numerous roles each unit conducted while assigned to these battalions and brigades. These missions include enemy prisoner of war (EPW) escort, airlift transport of EPW's, traffic control points (TCP) border patrol operation, searches, convoy escorts, custom operations (PSD), and many more. Furthermore, this paper should inform the reader of the overwhelming demand the war in Iraq and other missions are placing on the Army National Guard. One of the many challenges facing the Army National Guard is the number of deployments Citizen Soldiers have participated in support of the worldwide Army operations.

Douglas Cubbison, the Command Historian for the 10th Mountain Division, conducted a series of interviews with the soldiers of the 10th Mountain Division in Afghanistan during January 2007, along with several additional interviews conducted in February 2007 at Fort Drum, New York. The interviews are fairly wide ranging in the topics covered but all center around one particularly memorable event for the soldier being interviewed, such as an ambush, a patrol, a firefight, a helicopter crash, or a hero ceremony. This transcript is from the interview with First Lieutenant Jorgensen, Bravo Troop, 3rd Squadron, 71st Cavalry, conducted on 22 January 2007 at Forward Operating Base Naray, Afghanistan.