A U.S. Army reservist, Major Shauna Hauser served under the Multi-National Security Transition Command-Iraq (MNSTC-I) from October 2004 to February 2005 as a J5 police planner. Involved in the training, equipping and reorganization of Iraqi police forces, she shares her insights into, among other things, the question of "how do we get them to stay and fight and do the missions that they're assigned?" Hauser also discusses a wide range of ethnic, religious and cultural issues that had direct bearing on Iraqi police effectiveness, such as the difficulties with building trust and unit cohesion. In addition, she talks about special measures and precautions taken around the Iraqi national elections in January 2005 and at length about an all-female Iraqi military police company she mentored. After February and until she redeployed in July, Hauser then took over the duties of base commander for Forward Operating Base Shield and was responsible for the development, construction, life support and quality of life for approximately 800 individuals – to include a civilian security force and MNSTC-I, U.S. Department of State and other agency personnel. The mission of these “tenant units” was to assist and advise the Iraqi Ministry of the Interior, the Baghdad Police Academy, local police stations, and Iraqi military, police commando and public order battalions. This experience, Hauser said, “definitely pushed home the need for us to work together. Even amongst the services, future operations are going to be joint; they’re going to be multi-national; they’re going to be interagency; and you just need to be able to work in all environments. Not just the purely military environment, but also the bigger, broader picture. And you need to understand how your efforts in one area affect that bigger scope.”

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