During his 13-month deployment to Iraq beginning in January 2004, Colonel Michael Formica commanded the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, better known as the Black Jack Brigade. In addition to discussing his brigade's predeployment training, its task organization and myriad missions in the Camp Victory environs, he discusses at length the role Black Jack played in Operation Phantom Fury (Al Fajr), the November 2004 combined-joint assault to retake the Iraqi city of Fallujah. "The concept," Formica explained, "was that we would perform basically a cordon and prevent anybody from leaving or reinforcing the city. We would also keep the lines of communications open and prevent indirect fires from falling on the attack positions of the Marine regiments as they were staging for the attack." In relation to this operation, Formica also talks about the exceptional teamwork that existed from the joint perspective, a situation that even enabled Marine squads to operate inside Army infantry platoons. “It was just seamless,” he added, as was the synchronization of “AC-130 fires, 155 millimeter artillery, fast movers and then tank and Bradley fires on the streets.” Post-Phantom Fury, the Black Jack Brigade continued working under the Marines in south Baghdad, and to great effect. “The Fallujah campaign, our operations in south Baghdad/North Babil, and the 1st CAV efforts enabled the successful January 2005 elections,” Formica said. “Our contribution again was in isolating the enemy. We understood the terrain, how the enemy was using ‘rat lines’ out of Fallujah to attack the Baghdad area, and positioned forces to deny the enemy the use of the terrain and his caches of weapons. Folks said we wouldn’t be able to have elections in south Baghdad, but we did have elections there, much to the surprise of many.”

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