Colonel (Ret.) John Martin deployed to Iraq several times. His first tour was in 2003 as part of the Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance (ORHA) until that was subsumed by the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) and he transferred to the CPA. In 2004, he was initially assigned to the "Law Firm" - roughly equivalent to a commander's initiatives group - and subsequently became the military assistant to the deputy for ORHA, Lieutenant General (Ret.) Ron Adams, and then moved to the deputy chief of Staff for ORHA. After CPA came into being, Martin became the chief of staff for the director of operations for CPA, a British citizen named Andy Bearpark. He started working with ORHA and CPA in February 2003 in Washington, DC, and was part of the advanced team that went to Kuwait in March 2003, Baghdad in April 2003, and then he left in August 2003. In a later OIF deployment in 2005, Martin was the deputy to the commanding general for political-military affairs for Multinational Security Transition Command-Iraq (MNSTC-I). That tour lasted from about March 2005 through October 2005. In this interview, Martin comments on the haste that characterized the putting together of personnel and resources to staff ORHA. Martin also witnessed the impact of the looting in Baghdad soon after the end of the conventional phase of the fighting and was appalled by the level of looting. It was of a magnitude that he could scarcely comprehend. He also comments on whether there were enough troops for the reconstruction process, as well as about the interaction between the military and ORHA/CPA, and between the military and civilians in general. Martin also addresses the question of why it took so long for ORHA/CPA and coalition forces to recognize that an insurgency was brewing.

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