As the commander of Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 82nd Airborne Division, during the major combat phase of Operation IRAQI FREEDOM, Major Timothy Atkins was tasked with a wide range of administrative and logistical responsibilities supporting approximately 600 troops. Upon his return from Iraq, Atkins became the secretary of the general staff for the division and, in this position, had excellent visibility on "how the division behaves as a rear detachment." He was involved in everything from casualty notification and training issues to family readiness groups - duties made all the more challenging considering that the 82nd had brigades deployed to both the Iraq and Afghanistan theaters. "Particularly in a unit like division," Atkins observed, "that has a real-world mission no matter what's going on, if your readiness issues fall, if the command structure in the rear is not set and if your families disintegrate, then it affects everything that's going on with the war."

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