In this interview geared towards analyzing and better understanding the battlefield relationships between US conventional and special operations forces, Colonel Mark Neuse, a civil affairs (CA) officer, shares insights gleaned from his extensive Operation Iraqi Freedom experiences. Beginning in October 2002 - some five months before the ground invasion commenced - Neuse was tasked with developing a training package that would school a force of Iraqi expatriates (most of whom were private US citizens living in the Dearborn, Michigan, area) to "become liaisons between CA forces and regular forces in Iraq after the invasion." The actual training was conducted in Tazar, Hungary, and was designed to "acquaint them with weapons, physical fitness, uniforms and military discipline"; and while the original intent was to train up a force of some 5,000 individuals, in the end, said Neuse, "we only managed to locate 72." Explaining this huge disparity, he points to a variety of misunderstandings and miscalculations, from the cultural all the way to the financial. "It pretty quickly became clear that the trainees resented being treated like basic trainees," Neuse said. "Again, these were doctors, lawyers and engineers, and they resented being treated like 17- and 18-year-old recruits by the active duty basic training battalion." That said, he continued, "When they got to the CA portion of the training, we had a different attitude. We were there to educate and help them because they were helping us." Neuse's second OIF deployment began in September 2003 when, based in Ramadi and serving under the 82nd Airborne Division in the volatile Anbar Province, he commanded the 432nd Civil Affairs Battalion and here relates the full gamut of his work with conventional units. Among the many points he makes, Neuse explains that the degree of support his personnel received - and thus the degree to which they could assist the Iraqi people - was very closely related to the value placed on CA by conventional battalion commanders. According to Neuse, "In the areas where we had support, we made good progress; and in those areas where we didn't get any support, there wasn't any progress and there was substantial civil unrest and animosity towards US forces." He also relates a number of CA-related success stories as well as some very positive experiences with the Marine Corps. For some reason, Neuse said, individual Marines are "much more personally engaging than US Army soldiers are."

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