During the 2004-2005 deployment to Iraq of roughly 700 soldiers from the 98th Division (Institutional Training) for the Iraqi security forces training and advisory mission, Lieutenant Colonel Richard F. Monczynski served as officer in charge of the tactical operations center/division-rear command post in Rochester, New York, as well as variously the deputy G3 of operations and acting G3. In this interview, he begins by discussing the deployment phase of his duties in which he had soldiers mobilizing through two separate mobilization stations, Camp Atterbury, Indiana and Fort Bliss, Texas. "A great deal of time," Monczynski explained, "was spent making sure we had these battle roster positions filled, that they were prepared, that they knew what they were getting into, that the units were conducting soldier readiness processing as best as possible to get these soldiers ready. The TOC coordinated the transportation, making sure they had their orders, making sure they had their equipment listings, what they could bring, things of that nature." Once 98th Division soldiers arrived in country, Monczynski was consumed with tracking their movements and also keeping up effective communications between them and home station, something he says was a constant challenge. He additionally talks about the problems he experienced with the casualty notification and tracking processes, which he believes are "broken." As he noted, "On the casualties, we were completely lost on how to track and handle them because we were just not getting the information." Monczynski further discusses all aspects of the redeployment process as well as his extensive dealings with soldiers' families, including his efforts to respond to the most frequent complaint, namely the perceived inefficiencies of the Tricare system. "The TOC was basically the hub for all family support and family readiness questions that our soldiers' families had," he said. By holding town hall meetings and numerous question-and-answer sessions, by making the commanding general and division chaplain available as much as possible and coordinating all the Welcome Home Warrior ceremonies, Monczynski strove to lighten the burden of yearlong deployment on soldiers and families alike.

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