During his 2003 deployment in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, Major Russ Meyer commanded Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment, part of the 101st Airborne Division. In this interview, he discusses leading his rifle company through combat operations in Kifl, Hillah and Karbala and subsequent security ops in Haditha and Mosul. He also talks about how fighting the Fedayeen was akin to a junior varsity football team playing the New England Patriots; shares some valuable cultural relations lessons he learned the hard way; relates the difficulties he faced in getting his men to switch almost instantly from a combat mentality to a stability and support mentality; says how between 30 and 40 percent of the media's was information wrong; and tells why if he ever meets a certain US Army chaplain again, he'll "punch him in the mouth." Meyer closes his interview by stressing the importance of realism in training, why he feels the Army should set up two entire divisions that do solely counterinsurgency and/or stability operations, and also highlights perhaps his most significant takeaway: "The American soldier is so much better equipped and trained than soldiers in the rest of the world that it is mindboggling."

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