A company commander in 1st Squadron, 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment from May 2001 to December 2002, Major Matt Tolle was stationed at Fort Irwin, California, where he was part of the opposing force (OPFOR) for units getting ready to deploy in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. Following this assignment, he moved to 1st Battalion, 409th Cavalry Regiment at Fort Knox, Kentucky, began working an Active Component/Reserve Component job - first as an assistant operations officer, then executive officer - and, in the process, "did mobilization for virtually every aspect of the Global War on Terrorism." As to his particular duties in mobilizing National Guard units from several different states, Tolle's "main concern" was "getting logistical support for observer-controller teams, arranging onsite facilities, arranging transportation to and from the training location for our OC soldiers - and then all the follow up ash and trash stuff: getting people's credit cards unscrewed, fixing our Humvee fleet, fixing our General Services Administration fleet.” At one point, he said, “Our target audience was medical, dental and veterinary detachments, finance detachments – units you don’t normally encounter at the pointy end of a pencil – and these guys had varying levels of ‘Hooah-ness.’ You get overwhelming enthusiasm, willingness to learn, and then there are the guys who had to be, no kidding, taught which end of the rifle to point in which direction, because they weren’t really familiar with the M-16.” Appreciative of many guardsmen’s commitment, Tolle expresses his understanding of their sacrifices as well. In this interview, he also offers a critique of “the system” as a whole and believes the National Guard as an institution needs to evolve “to meet the needs and challenges of our modern society.”

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