During the 101st Airborne Division fight from Kuwait to Baghdad in March and April 2003, Lieutenant Colonel Henry A. "Hank" Arnold served as officer in charge of the division's assault command post, responsible to the commanding general (CG) and the assistant division commander for operations (ADCO) for command and control during the major combat phase of Operation IRAQI FREEDOM. By June, Arnold was in charge of 2nd Battalion, 187th Infantry Regiment and, for the next eight months, was tasked with conducting combat operations, as well as diverse stability and reconstruction missions, in a region consisting of some 7,000 square miles, over 89 towns and villages, and with roughly 200,000 civilians from five different ethnic groups. Centered on the town of Sinjar in northwestern Iraq, Arnold's battalion was also responsible for approximately 70 miles of the Iraqi-Syrian border. As the "viceroy of Sinjar," as his wife jokingly called him, Arnold oversaw the training and equipping of Iraqi police forces and border guards; the rebuilding of the civilian infrastructure – everything from schools and clinics to wells and electricity; as well as the standing up of local governments. In this interview, he also discusses the unique challenges that arose from Iraq having been a “100 percent socialist” state, the vital role money played in his AO, and how harmful the temporary lack thereof was. Arnold also talks at length about the paramount importance of “cultural and historical awareness” as a combat multiplier. With respect to his 700-plus troops and their performance under tremendously difficult conditions in Iraq, he’s certain that the “’Xbox’ generation of soldiers is just as good as the Greatest Generation from the 1940s.”

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