Commanding the 26th Forward Support Battalion's headquarters detachment, Major Kelso Horne helped support 2nd Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division throughout the major combat phase of Operation IRAQI FREEDOM. In this capacity, he was in charge of the "Challenger" forward logistics element and was involved with establishing a refuel on the move site, "shepherding 13 fuel tankers in the desert," and dealing with a wide variety of logistical challenges, especially those concerning shortages of repair parts. "When you have a tank with no fire control dragging a tank with no engine - I don't think there was a fully mission capable (FMC) combat system at the end of that time," Horne said. "By the time we got to Baghdad, I think there might have been onesies and twosies that were still FMC, but most of the stuff was not in great shape." As things shifted to the stability and support operations phase, Horne had quite a lot of interaction with Iraqi civilians and discusses these and other cultural relations aspects in great depth. Upon redeployment, he became a chemical observer-controller/trainer, and later a regimental executive officer, at Camp Shelby, Mississippi, providing training and mobilization assistance to four National Guard brigades for service in Iraq and Afghanistan. From this perspective, Horne speaks at length about his perceptions of Guard soldiers and the similarities, but also the manifold differences, as compared to Active Duty units, particularly on how much more “political” the Guard is. “They needed the reminder,” he noted, “that they’re entering an alien culture when they deploy, that it wasn’t the Guard anymore.”

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