The commander of Charlie Troop, 3rd Squadron, 7th Cavalry - part of 3rd Infantry Division - Major Jeff McCoy participated in Operation Iraqi Freedom from the opening of major hostilities in March 2003 through his redeployment approximately three months later. In this interview, he discusses in great detail the major engagements his troop was involved in, beginning with the mission to secure a key bridgehead in the town of As Samawah and the conduct of a "number of mini thunder runs" to clear a nearby Iraqi military complex. McCoy also discusses contact his troop had from As Samawah to their next destination, Najaf, and then the set piece battle they fought there at Objective Rams while tasked to screen enemy forces and prevent them from entering the city. He talks at length about the nature and capabilities of the (limited) Iraqi Army forces they encountered and the much more numerous non-uniformed armed civilian types. McCoy then moves into his troop's screening mission of the Karbala Gap and subsequent securing of Baghdad International Airport. In addition, he talks about a variety of maintenance issues and the effects the operational tempo had on his tanks and personnel; his description of the public reception he and his soldiers received in Baghdad; as well as his general assessment of Iraq itself, including the tremendous dichotomy he observed between urban and more rural dwellers. With respect to the type of fighting they ended up having to do, McCoy said that, "We definitely anticipated it to be a lot of open terrain, desert warfare and we definitely didn't anticipate a lot of the urban fighting we would get into." If he had it to do over again, he said he "would definitely do more military operations on urban terrain training with my troop." McCoy also relates his relationship with the Air Force, with members of the media, and closes by alerting the military powers that be that, in his estimation, "Our current effort of modularity and transformation" has resulted in us really having "lost the capability to conduct the counter reconnaissance fight at division and brigade level."

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