During 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines' march from Kuwait to Baghdad in the first weeks of Operation IRAQI FREEDOM, Major Stephen Van Riper served as both Weapons Company commander and as the battalion's fire support coordinator. Part of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force's sector, he and his unit were involved in combat operations during their movement through An Nasiriyah and the attack against Al Kut. After executing a river crossing and entering Baghdad, Van Riper participated in operations within the Iraqi capital, to include the suburb of Sadr City. About An Nasiriyah specifically, he observed that "the interesting thing for us was that [enemy forces] were not used to our night vision capability. So we could see down all the alleyways, and we would see them prepping to come down the alley to attack us. You can watch them getting ready, getting their weapons, loading their magazines. And we would watch them, and as soon as they started in our direction, we'd kill them." During his January to May 2003 deployment, Van Riper further observed that aviation support was a problem “in almost every fight my battalion was in.” In this interview, he also discusses working with Special Operations Forces and how his unit devised what became known as the “3-1 maneuver,” an innovative method for securing a route through a town.

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