Major Chad Ward served with the 2nd Squadron, 6th Cavalry from September 2002 until January 2003, at which time he took over as the 11th Regiment liaison officer (LNO) planner and worked in the fires and effect cell (FEC) during Operation Iraqi Freedom. Ward's daily operational tempo included sitting in on the battle update briefing (BUB) at the corps and the commander's planning group with General Wallace. He was involved in the planning, development and coordination of target sets with other US military forces. Challenges that presented themselves included the lack of passable intelligence that was not available able to be passed along to the planners. The distance the Hunter UAVs were able to fly to capture photographs of potential target sites also provided limited intelligence. Most of the aircraft had Grenadier beyond line-of-sight reporting and tracking (BRAT), however the system had a time delay and did not provide a visual reference. Ward believes that if all of the aircraft would have been equipped with Blue Force Tracker, the situational awareness would have been improved. The FEC had planned a mission to attack the Tallil Airbase, however due to weather the mission was never carried out. The first mission the FEC planned and carried out was against the Medina Division on 23 March 2003. The first indication that the attack against the Medina Division was not going as well as the FEC had planned was when Jason King was shot down and there were reports that there was more incoming fire than anticipated or planned. Looking back, Ward believes the attack would have gone differently if the planners would have been afforded more of the intelligence picture to allow for a more accurate analysis of the Medina Division, and decrease the risk to our military forces. But in the end, Ward enjoyed the experience working in the FEC and seeing the Medina fight evolve.

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