From March to November 2004, Major Pete Fedak led a 10-man team that served as advisors to the 6th Battalion, Iraqi Army, training this unit from formation through its participation in Operation Phantom Fury (also known as Al Fajar), the November 2004 combined arms assault that retook the city of Fallujah. In the months preceding this operation, the unit received individual and collective training and began conducting "real-world", company-level combat patrols in and around Kirkush. Upon being sent to Fallujah, 6th Battalion was tasked with perimeter route security, running traffic control points in concert with U.S. forces and, later, battalion-level cordon and search missions. "The guys that actually came to Fallujah," said Fedak, "they were some great soldiers. Some of the things they did, we would never expect our soldiers to do. It really showed a lot of intestinal fortitude." In this interview, Fedak discusses his advisory experience in great detail, expounding on everything from equipment issues and establishing rapport to the “major emotional event” of paydays and leave. He also shares candid insights into the “very minimal guidance” his team received prior to deploying and offers a number of recommendations for how future advisor teams could be better prepared, especially concerning the cultural awareness aspect. “I think it’s the wrong answer to just say, ‘Go over and figure it out on the fly,’” Fedak insists. “Let’s give them some grounding and the main focus should be cultural: not the American looking glass but the Iraqi looking glass.”

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