As the aide-de-camp to Major General Buford Blount - the 3rd Infantry Division commander during the ground combat phase of Operation Iraqi Freedom - Major Erik Berdy observed division-level planning and execution from June 2002 to August 2003. In addition, he was also a witness to high-level coordination and planning that occurred within Combined Forces Land Component Command, as well as that which took place between V Corps and the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force. As Berdy explained, "From day one until the time I left the war, there's probably only a handful of meetings I wasn't privy to." In this in depth and wide-ranging interview, he discusses development and implementation of the overall scheme of maneuver and focuses intently on the 3rd ID main effort operations, to include the initial berm crossing, attacks into Tallil, Nasiriyah, Samawah and Karbala, the taking of Objectives Rams and Peach, Baghdad International Airport, and the two "thunder runs" of 5 and 7 April 2003 that helped speed the collapse of Saddam Hussein’s regime. What’s more, Berdy was present for numerous postwar debriefs of Iraqi generals and offers some fascinating insights into their tactics and mindsets. He also observed the transition from Phase III major combat to Phase IV stability and support operations and speaks at length about what went right and what went wrong. Finally, he was deeply involved in a wide variety of media issues and talks about his relations with embedded reporters such as Ted Koppel and Mike Kelly. Reflecting on his unique role, Berdy remarked: “I was very involved in the tactical piece of it; I was involved in the operational piece; and then I had a taste of what the strategic issues were because it was getting filtered down – and that was really a true learning experience.“

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