During the 224th Combat Engineer Battalion's January through December 2005 deployment in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, Lieutenant Colonel Todd Jacobus served as this Iowa National Guard unit's commander. In this interview, he begins by commenting positively on the predeployment training his battalion received at Fort Sill and also on an urban operations exercise they were able to conduct at Fort Hood. "They even had civilians on the battlefield," Jacobus said of the latter installation. "After coming back from Iraq and spending time in combat operations, it was about as realistic as you could get." Serving the majority of its yearlong tour in Ramadi - considered at that time the improvised explosive device (IED) capital of Iraq - the 224th was placed under the tactical control of the 2nd Marine Division, serving as the division's engineer battalion, and provided four route clearance platoons responsible for locating and clearing IEDs from the roadways of Anbar Province, as well as six convoy security escort teams that operated throughout central, southern and western Iraq. Between March and December 2005, Jacobus conservatively estimates that his battalion located at least 500 IEDs - the biggest of which was a "freezer loaded with 400 pounds of explosives" - and cleared well over 16,000 kilometers of roadways throughout Iraq. He talks about how they followed a strategy of being "proactive and going out and attacking the problem instead of just reacting after it happens." "The big message I delivered at every opportunity I had was that, in order for our Marine and infantry brothers in the city of Ramadi to do their jobs, we had to do ours." As Jacobus explained, "They have to have freedom of maneuver in every nook and cranny in the city. The insurgents have to know that at every given time there could be a Soldier or Marine standing at their doorstep anywhere in the city." Jacobus also discusses the innovative way in which he got explosive ordnance disposal teams co-located with his battalion, having them ride along on counter-IED missions instead of having to wait (sometimes hours) for them to arrive and reduce the device to unexploded ordnance. Most frustrating to Jacobus was his battalion's near total lack of M1114 up-armored Humvees during the bulk of its deployment. "My convoy security escort teams put in over 900,000 miles on the roads of Iraq and they did a lot of it in level-three Humvees. That makes me sick," he said. Jacobus closes his interview by describing the myriad ways in which his National Guard soldiers - armed with often unique skill sets - contributed to the overall mission and the battalion's many successes. He additionally touches on the family separation issue, speaks very highly of the Marine Corps units and leaders he served under, and also reflects on the impact the current high operational tempo is having on the National Guard as an institution and on his Iowa Guard soldiers in particular.

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