In support of Operation Iraqi Freedom I, Lieutenant Colonel Chris Beckert served in three important capacities. First, he was the lead maneuver planner in 1st Armored Division for a working group that was tasked by the V Corps commander General William Wallace (before major combat operations began) to develop answers to the following question: "How do you attack Baghdad and preserve your combat force without having to occupy one of the largest cities in the Middle East?" Then, from May to June 2003, he was the operations officer (S3) for 2-6 Infantry in downtown Baghdad before moving up to become the 2nd Brigade, 1st Armored Division S3 until the brigade redeployed in July 2004 after 15 months in country. In this wide-ranging and comprehensive interview, Beckert initially discusses how, as part of the working group, they felt they were "rewriting brigade level and below tactics, techniques and procedures and … breathing new life into urban operations doctrine." He then moves on to talk about the relief in place with Colonel David Perkins' 2nd Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division, as well as the nature of first his battalion's and then brigade's Baghdad area of responsibility, which included the so-called Green Zone, which he takes credit for naming. In addition, Beckert discusses why and to what effect his brigade operated under a Phase III, combat operations, mindset and rules of engagement throughout their deployment and, similarly, contrasts that with how coalition partners - including the Poles, the Bulgarians, the Ukrainians, the Spanish and others - approached their missions. What's more, he talks in depth about a number of out-of-sector missions that 2nd Brigade was tasked with in order to squelch Mahdi Army uprisings in such places as Najaf, Karbala and Al Kut; his often frustrating dealings with the Coalition Provisional Authority and the "paralysis" they suffered from; how US soldiers were at the "tip of the spear" in terms of reconstruction work and how well they performed; his experiences and lessons learned regarding the conduct of intelligence- and information-based counterinsurgency operations; how the brigade approached information operations in general and what he feels was the prime motivating force for the majority of insurgents; and also his extensive work of a joint nature and the interoperability challenges he faced therein. Beckert calls this brigade S3 job "the hardest job I've ever had in my life because it was 5,000 people and seven battalions plus numerous companies which needed constant attention every day as well as direction and guidance. As the brigade S3," he said, "you're in the middle of everything; you put your hand in everything. That's what I also learned: I can never delegate to another staff what I'm ultimately responsible for."

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