Colonel Jody Daniels, a reservist who served formerly with the 98th Division (Institutional Training), deployed to Iraq as a member of that division's survey team, and later became the Multinational Security Transition Command-Iraq joint staff intelligence officer in 2004-2005. She begins this interview by relating how she learned of her contingency orders via voice mail on a Saturday night after returning from vacation and that they wanted her to leave on Monday, causing all sorts of personal problems. On learning of the mission, "I was shocked, surprised," she said. "I really didn't know what we were going over there to do….I recall it as being a training mission but I also knew there were 310 positions for advisor support team (AST) members." Upon arrival in Iraq, the survey team interviewed as many ASTs as possible, then compiled all that information and sent it back to the 98th. Based on their survey, they tried to influence the training for incoming ASTs, saying, "First Army had a set of requirements they said we should follow. They thought the training should follow the Afghanistan training model. Through numerous calls and messages, though, we kept telling them that we weren't in Afghanistan and things were different….However," she added, "we only met with minimal success in being able to affect the training plan for the soldiers." The one piece of AST training she was able to influence occurred in Kuwait. As Daniels explained, "We figured if we could pause in Kuwait, do some training and get immersed in what it was like to be in 100-degree days with body armor, not attached to a cell phone and not having all those lifelines before they actually went up into a more combat-like environment, it would be helpful.…We wanted to reinforce all the training they had but now they would no longer be connected to their lifelines." Speaking of the initial supply support for incoming ASTs, Daniels states, "They got nothing. Anything they had, they scrounged, begged, borrowed or bribed to get." Further difficulties included no one knowing how many or where all the ASTs were, or which soldiers were in them. Another continual annoyance was altering the makeup of incoming ASTs to meet MNSTC-I needs. Daniels says the least successful aspect of the deployment was getting "the right training plan for Camp Atterbury with the right set of trainers and the right set of programs of instruction." She closes her interview by advising others in similar circumstances to "be flexible. Be adaptable. Be forthright. Be straightforward. Stick to your principles. Do the best you can and try to have a good attitude."

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