In this second of three interviews, Chaplain (Major) Merrell D. Knight Jr. discusses his deployment as the chaplain for the 1st Battalion, 505th Parachute Infantry to the Fallujah area of Iraq from July 2003 through April 2004 in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. In preparation for the deployment, Knight was able to spend a good deal of his time with young couples helping to build stronger, more ready families. He notes that because the battalion had recently returned from a deployment to Afghanistan, the unit was much more willing to let their soldiers spend the time they needed with the families. One issue he had to face was the motorization of his foot-mobile unit which meant that he lost his vehicle, an obstacle he overcame by becoming a driver with the battalion command post. Upon deploying to Iraq, the battalion found itself temporarily located at Baghdad International Airport and was able to conduct a number of small operations in the nearby neighborhood of Mahmudiyah, providing the battalion an invaluable opportunity to acclimate to a new environment and work out their standard operating procedures in a low-threat situation. When the battalion relocated to Forward Operating Base (FOB) Dreamland, later FOB Volturno, the unit was centrally located, allowing a battle rhythm which provided for regular religious ministry on Sundays, regular visits by a Catholic priest from a nearby FOB, and a minimum of missions conducted on Fridays out of respect for the Muslim holy day. According to Knight, "The amount of combat missions was huge, so at any given hour, really, there would be some-sized force leaving FOB Volturno to go into Fallujah to do various things," but it was never difficult fitting into the battalion's tempo and he was frequently asked to accompany various missions. He states that Army leaders need more training on dealing with combat stress, saying, "I think as an Army we've gotten better through professional military education (PME) at getting it to officers, but I'm not sure the NCO side of PME has caught up with it to make sure that NCOs understand it." Knight also says that the Chaplain Corps needs to do a better job of sending a neutral party to conduct critical event debriefs to units which experience high casualty rates because the unit chaplain will be involved and will have to deal with his own grief and survivor-guilt issues. He closes this interview by stating, "I would hate to think what would have happened," if the unit hadn't devoted the time it did to giving soldiers time off, helping families prepare for the separation, and training with the family readiness group.

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