From February 2004 through February 2005 in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, Lieutenant Colonel Stan Moss served first as the fire support officer for 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, and then mid-tour transitioned to become the operations officer for 1st Battalion, 7th Field Artillery (Task Force 1-7), which was acting as a motorized infantry battalion and was based in Tikrit. In this interview, Moss discusses the expanded role of a brigade FSO during OIF; the lack of infantry (and cultural awareness) training his field artillery unit had prior to being assigned that mission; the lack of allegiance that Iraqis seemed to have to Iraq itself; as well as his legacy brigade's relief of two brigades from the digitized 4th Infantry Division. As Moss put it, "In this type of environment, the bottom line is that you have to work with people. Regardless of how much high-tech equipment you have, there's still some soldier out there who has to walk the ground and deal with somebody. He has to talk to some person on the other end. In that vein, we were both the same."

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