From March through November 2004 in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, Major Bill Adler served on a 10-man advisor support team (AST) made up of personnel from the Grizzly observer-controller (OC) team at the Combat Maneuver Training Center in Hohenfels, Germany. At the time, Adler was one of two captain staff officers and also acted as the logistics advisor on the team, headed by then-Major James Lechner, that was assigned to coach, teach and mentor the 7th Iraqi Army Battalion. Based at the Kirkush Military Training Base, Adler's AST and their Iraqi motorized infantry battalion most notably took part in Operation Baton Rouge in Samarra. In this interview, Adler also discusses the full range of his work with his Iraqi counterparts, candidly talking about both the difficult challenges they faced as well as the successes they achieved. He cited "unrealistic expectations" going in as their chief miscalculation, and further explained how "expectation management" was the most important thing to get a firm handle on when dealing with their mixed Shi'a, Sunni and Kurd battalion.

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