Between March 2003 and March 2004, Major Mary Beth Taylor served as battalion S3, then XO, of the 180th Transportation Battalion, 64th Corps Support Group. Her unit was part of Task Force Iron Horse that moved heavy and non-roadable equipment for the 4th Infantry Division. Based first in Kuwait, then just south of Baghdad, then finally in Tikrit, her battalion also supported 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment, 1st Armored Division, 1st Infantry Division and the Stryker Brigade. Appreciative of her communications systems training, Taylor said, however, that she needed a better understanding of Iraqi culture and more convoy life-fire training. Proper field sanitation was also a concern. Lacking adequate bodily and vehicular armaments, convoy security proved especially difficult in the face of the mounting insurgency. Taylor reported that one of every three of her convoys either got hit by an IED or had one go off nearby. In Operation Pencilbox, Taylor helped repair and supply Iraqi schools, yet popular reaction to these and other civil-military operations baffled her. Her soldiers would deliver gifts to delighted school children who then would throw rocks at them as they left. “And they’re just allowed to do it because they know nobody is going to turn them in,” Taylor said. “People are afraid to turn in the insurgents, or the villains, or even the bad kids.”

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