MAJ Todd Bzdafka served in an Engineer unit during the initial invasion into Iraq during 2003, with a Civil Affairs (CA) unit in Balad, Iraq during 2009, and as company commander with 96th CA Battalion supporting Command Joint Special Operations Task Force - Arabian Peninsula (CJSOTF-AP) during 2010 and 2011, all in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF). In this July 2012 interview, MAJ Bzdafka discusses his branch transfer from Engineer to CA, the general responsibilities of a CA unit, and some of the details of his three deployments. MAJ Bzdafka concludes his interview with the observation, "The reason Special Operations works is because you have a lot smaller force so you can be selective with the people who are going to be able to do that mission. That's going to be a tough challenge for the Army, to do that on a large scale. Special Operations is expanding and at some point, does it become too large? Then it's not really all that special anymore, or the proficiency of skills degrades to the point where it's not able to do its mission as proficiently as it should. Yeah, big challenges. The Army is also getting smaller and there are budget constraints. The biggest thing the Army can do is not accept excuses."

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