During his 2003-2004 deployment in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, Captain Amos Nelson of the Iowa National Guard was in command of the 186th Military Police Company. In this interview, he discusses the predeployment training his unit received at Fort McCoy, Wisconsin; the conduct of their mission in country to operate a corps holding area at Baghdad International Airport; the types of detainees they had responsibility for and the challenges associated with guarding them, especially when their cage that was built for 250 people had to accommodate around 1,000 and also when there was the occasional uprising. The 186th later received some convoy escort duties and a mission to run five Baghdad city jail facilities, which they did in conjunction with Iraqi workers and Iraqi wardens and, as such, had something of an unofficial mentoring relationship with them. "We worked hand in hand and day to day, 24 hours a day with the Iraqi guards, Iraqi security and through interpreters with the Iraqi warden," he said. "The warden was the man who ran the show." Nelson also reflects on the detainee abuse scandal that would emerge from Abu Ghraib Prison and the measures he took to ensure that his soldiers always upheld the highest of professional standards. "If one of our American soldiers were to do something aggressive - just to do it - he wouldn't be working for me anymore," Nelson said. "It's pretty cut and dried. There was a level of dignity that all my people maintained while they were working in this environment. It had to be that way." He also discusses what he considers his company's major accomplishments, the leadership lessons he took away from this deployment, and closes by offering advice to future military police company commanders.

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