Major David Creasman, in this first of two interviews, talks about his deployment as a joint intelligence staff battle captain on the Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force (CJSOTF) in Bagram, Afghanistan, from October through December of 2002 in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. An individual replacement transitioning from the 7th Special Forces Group to the 20th, Creasman notes that there was a little friction because they had more experience but it was largely seamless. The most useful part of predeployment preparation was using the various systems to view what the headquarters in Afghanistan was doing on a daily basis, allowing him to get a good feel for the situation before arriving. He notes that the CJSOTF was truly combined, including British, Australians, New Zealanders, Canadians and Germans, as well as being joint with Army, Navy and Air Force representation. Because of the mix of so many different forces, a real effort was made to assign tasks which best suited the attitudes and capabilities of the various units. Creasman said that the environment of Afghanistan was so foreign from previous experience that everyone going there had to overcome a learning curve, saying, "It seemed like we were heading in the right direction. It was getting better every day, which is the only thing you can ask for." He proudly talks about some of the predictive analysis they did on identifying mortar and rocket attacks, stating, "There were a couple near Lwara, which is right on the border of Pakistan and Afghanistan. We were able to do some analysis and pinpoint where we thought they were firing from and how we thought they were setting up. We found a couple things and were able to have close air support in the air when we thought they were going to fire." He explains that his deployment was three months because, at the time, all the deployments were only six-month tours with the idea of rotating many people through to gain operational experience, and as the commander of the military intelligence detachment for 7th Group, the group wanted him back at Fort Bragg. He closes this interview by saying that cultural differences need to be understood, the capabilities of coalition partners need to be recognized, and tasks need to be given to those units best suited for them.

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