Deploying initially with the 96th Expeditionary Bomb Squadron in January 2002 in support of Operation ENDURING FREEDOM (then later re-task organized under the 40th Expeditionary Bomb Squadron), Major Mike Adderley served as a B-52 aircraft commander and flew close air support missions over Afghanistan, most notably in support of Operation Anaconda. He also took on additional duties in the mission planning cell and the wing operations center. As Adderley admitted, he and other B-52 guys "didn't even know how to spell CAS" before getting the mission, but nonetheless ended up dropping munitions on enemy mortar positions and areas above helicopter landing zones. The biggest challenge was communicating with and directly supporting soldiers on the ground. At these times, Adderley said, "The difference between training and reality kicked in because, all of a sudden, I was talking to a guy on the ground with mortars going off in the background - he was being shot at - and at that point I was thinking, ‘I wonder if my training is enough for this?’ Can you really train to deal with an 18-year-old guy who’s being mortared on the ground screaming into the radio? All of our training, even when we worked with actual guys on the ground, they’re sitting in the middle of Kansas with a soda in one hand. I was shaken up, because every time this guy keyed the mike, literally he had to scream over the mortar shells that were going off in the background.” In this interview, Adderley also discusses the difficulties he experienced coordinating with the Combined Air Operations Center and the problems posed by being unfamiliar with the overall Army scheme of maneuver.

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