In this first of two interviews concerning his Global War on Terrorism experiences, Lieutenant Colonel Bentley Nettles discusses his August 2003 through February 2004 deployment to Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom, during which he served as the information operations (IO) field support team chief with, initially, the XVIII Airborne Corps and then the 10th Mountain Division. Tasked with coordinating and implementing IO at all levels within the Afghan area of operations, Nettles worked with provincial reconstruction teams and civil affairs and PSYOP units on such efforts as building connectivity between local villages and the central government, and also helping extend the central government's reach. "We wanted to show them that their future was brighter supporting the central government versus supporting the Taliban," he said. "A lot of Afghans didn't have access to radio or TV," Nettles continued, "so we worked with the CA guys and put a program together to educate people about 9/11, what had happened and why we were in their country." In addition, Nettles talks about the difficulties associated with developing accurate measures of effectiveness and ways to evaluate his own people's performance in the IO realm; his role in helping ensure that the Afghan national elections were successful; efforts to prevent what he called "IO fratricide"; as well as the manner by which his team tried to get the Afghan populace to support the Afghan National Army. In the context of how IO could have been more effectively employed in Afghanistan, Nettles says that, "The typical problem we had with the American military culture is the focus on kinetic operations and not really understanding IO. Commanders wanted IO done at the last minute and that's very difficult to do." He also points to the problem of our coalition partners being either unequipped or unwilling to conduct adequate information operations.

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