In this first of two interviews covering his two Operation Iraqi Freedom deployments, Major Tom Vogel discusses his role as the logistics officer for 3rd Battalion, 10th Special Forces Group in the Kurdish Autonomous Zone in 2003. His battalion's job, in conjunction with the Peshmerga, was to tie down the 13 Iraqi divisions arrayed against the Green Line so they would not oppose the coalition's forces in the south. Given that they had expected to use a line of communication on the ground from Turkey, he notes that their primary source of support initially came from purchasing goods from the local economy. Vogel explains that, secondarily, purchasing from the local economy boosted the Kurdish economy and reinforced the power and influence of the right people. Vogel talks about how any Kurd they hired had already been vetted by the Peshmerga, relieving them of that security responsibility, and that the most important logistical person there was an Air Force sergeant first class, the contracting officer. He closes by comparing their logistical situation to that in A Bridge Too Far, stating that the changing sources, means of supply and variability of loads all lead to problems that could have been solved if identified much earlier in the planning process.

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