An Army reservist with the 98th Division (Institutional Training), Lieutenant Colonel Joseph Friedman served as the Coalition Military Assistance Training Team command and control cell's operations officer in Iraq in 2004-2005. In this interview, he begins by admitting surprise at hearing the concept of using an institutional training division to train Iraqi forces, but goes on to say that it initially seemed a good fit with the 98th's capabilities. He also never thought the entire division would be deployed because of the need to maintain the Total Army School System, the 98th's peacetime mission. According to Friedman, "I deployed with virtually no training whatsoever," and initially began working in the G4 on logistical problems facing the incoming advisor support teams (AST). "These people were out there in Toyota pickups with M16s and that was all they had. It was awhile before up-armored Humvees, Blue Force Trackers, M4s and other weaponry came," he added. "We scrounged for whatever we could get our hands on and took it with us." Although originally in the G4, having to work in that shop with "the worst officer I've ever known" convinced Friedman to accept a new assignment in the G3. Challenges there included finding enough transportation to pick up and move incoming ASTs around, and also reliable communications without landlines and very intermittent cell phones. After the wave of ASTs had finished arriving, his energies turned toward establishing what would become known as the Phoenix Academy at Taji. Based primarily upon feedback from the ASTs' leadership, the Phoenix Academy provided a 10-day training schedule of classes and practical exercises for incoming soldiers destined for advisor duty. Calling it a "really good mission," Friedman said he was "personally very proud of what we did there because, in six weeks, this went from concept to having the first large group of students walk in the door." He thought the redeployment of AST members to the US went fairly well but, again, transportation proved to be a major challenge. According to him, "The biggest thing was that they don't tell you when the flights are arriving until just a few days prior," and it was always a problem moving ASTs from the hinterlands to Taji, completing all the necessary outprocessing, and then getting them to Kuwait on time. Looking back on his deployment, Friedman said that, "What we, as the 98th, did there in that amount of time and with the resources we were given was fantastic. When we stood this up, it was literally from the ground up."

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