Major Michael Ripley served as the commander of Operational Detachment Bravo (ODB) 700, 7th Special Forces Group (Airborne) while deployed to Afghanistan in 2004. In this interview, he discusses at length the charter and organization of ODB 700, which served as the theater commander's crisis response element (CRE), as well as the relationships and sustainment of the CRE. As Ripley explained, "The roles and missions were to conduct no-notice noncombatant evacuation operations, no-notice responses to terrorist events with oil infrastructure, shipping lanes or highly sensitive target prosecutions that other forces were not available for, and to do it on short notice." ODB 700 was a scratch force organized in theater of operational detachments alphas (ODAs) drawn from four different Special Forces companies, a Naval Special Warfare platoon, and a Joint Special Operational Air Detachment (JSOAD), all of which were on different rotation schedules in and out of the theater of operations. He describes the complications of having operational but not administrative control over his elements, as well as the challenges he faced in manning, equipping and sustaining the different elements of his company. He discusses interoperability and task organization for operations, to include competing demands for his forces in different Regional Commands in Afghanistan. Ripley describes his higher chain of command as a "hydra" due to the different headquarters to which he potentially answered and the coordination required with other forces. He briefly discusses ODB 700's relationship in training a counterpart Afghan National Army (ANA) unit and the challenges he faced in equipping, training and, most critically, ensuring his ANA troops were paid. Finally, he discusses the conduct of his relief in place and transfer of the CRE mission and equipment to the next incoming company.

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