In February 2004, Lieutenant Colonel Richard Pannell - then the operations officer for the 9th Engineer Battalion, supporting 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division - deployed to Salah ad Din Province, Iraq, in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Later, in August, while still in theater, he became the battalion executive officer. During his time in such places as Samarra, Tikrit, Balad and Baiji, Pannell dealt with captured enemy ammunition management and destruction; provincial reconstruction management; force protection construction on forward operating bases; training an Iraqi Army bomb disposal company; security on FOB Remagen; as well as a variety of mobility/route clearance tasks. "From the brigade commander's perspective," said Pannell, "we were the Swiss Army Knife. We were one of the few assets he could use to shape the battle for his subordinate commanders. That's how he used us." Pannell also talks about why he thinks the military is being too "heavy-handed" in Iraq and how leaders need to "subordinate themselves" more to Iraqi elected officials in order to give them more legitimacy. In closing, Pannell speaks very candidly about the family separation issue with respect to his 2004-05 deployment to Iraq, saying he wouldn't wish such a thing on anyone. "When I went to Desert Storm," he explained, "I was only there for about eight months and I told myself that I'd never go back to the Middle East, not for a million dollars, and I wasn't even married then. Now I'm married with a couple of kids and it was just indescribable. We're all volunteers so I can only blame myself for it. I can't do anything other than shake my head and thank my family for supporting it. I really didn't like it and I think it's very difficult for soldiers and newly married couples. I don't think people understand what they're getting into and I don't think the American population understands what the sacrifice is. That's where we are right now and it will continue this way for a while. I'm sure I'll have another chance to experience it," Pannell conceded, "although it's something I look upon with much dread."

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