The G3 for the 98th Division (Institutional Training) prior to his 2004-2005 Operation Iraqi Freedom deployment, Colonel Bradford Parsons, now retired, served in country as the advisor support team leader (AST) in support of the 5th Iraqi Army Division. Back in the US, he explained, the 98th's "orientation had been to do basic combat training, which we were very adept at doing. This role of the embedded advisor/trainer took things to another level, though, where we would be bringing [this Iraqi division] to an operational capability to get them deployed and able to take on the fight." After discussing the mobilization, predeployment training and in-theater integration processes in great detail, Parsons moves into his AST's work with Iraqi forces, including two 5th Division brigades being sent to Fallujah in November 2004 and their experiences with the national elections the following January. He frankly details many of the unit's limitations - citing maintenance and logistics as the Iraqis' "main detractors" - but also credits them with marked improvements over the course of his AST's 12 months of advisory service. "I could see that, in a year's time, they had come from just being a division with raw manpower to being a unit that was capable of providing guidance and being able to take on a mission." Parsons cites "getting them to operate as a functioning staff" as among the greatest successes his AST achieved, and also speaks at length on the mentoring he personally provided the Iraqi division commander. In addition, Parsons offers extensive insights into his AST's working relationship with such organizations as Multinational Security Transition Command-Iraq (MNSTC-I), the Coalition Military Assistance Training Team (CMATT) and Multinational Corps-Iraq (MNC-I). He also talks about a myriad of advisor-specific issues, including a number of thoughtful recommendations on how US forces (and their foreign army counterparts) can be more effective in the future. Looking back, Parsons said, "For the 98th Division, it was really a life changing event for all of us. We took a post-World War II, Cold War-oriented institutional training division in Rochester, New York, and challenged them to step up and become warriors on the front lines in the Global War on Terrorism. The net result was that we had casualties. We lost five of our soldiers and seven were severely wounded. But we trained up and have actual combat theater experience for over 500 of our Iroquois Warriors out of the 98th, soldiers who can be an asset for the Army in the future. That's the biggest success story I can tell."

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