Major Matt Kinkead served from February 2004 to February 2005 in Iraq as commander of the 2nd Brigade Reconnaissance Troop, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division. In country, his unit functioned like a reserve unit, and as such they moved around a great deal; they were sent to wherever they were needed most urgently. Kinkhead's troop conducted endless dangerous route patrols, facing improvised explosive devices and small arms attacks regularly. They also had the important task of securing main supply routes (MSRs) and were quite successful in this task. Kinkead's unit interacted somewhat with Iraqi Security Forces, who were called the Iraqi National Guard at the time, and a huge challenge was communication. His troop did not have interpreters regularly assigned because they were combat-focused as opposed to being focused on reconstruction. Kinkead was asked about troop strength and whether he thought they were overextended. He simply felt they did the best they could with the soldiers they had. They adapted. As he said, "The only way I could see us overcoming the shortfalls in troops and equipment for that mission, because we really didn't have a robust organization, was to maintain the pressure on the enemy by actively patrolling." In fact, he concluded by stating that the greatest strength the Army has is "the adaptiveness, flexibility and creativity of our soldiers to work through any challenge."

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