Major Tom Sachariason served with the 27th Trans Movement Control Battalion as the chief of operation and plans in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom from February 2003 until April 2004. Sachariason and the battalion staged their equipment at Ramstein prior to receiving official orders to deploy because they would not have received their equipment in time to effectively begin their mission once in theater. The battalion was testing new equipment coinciding with their movement for an exercise in Poland, which served as their predeployment training. Once in theater, Sachariason was attached to the COSCOM assault command post for General Fletcher at Assault Position Dawson. Sachariason discusses the movement and communications between the vehicles traveling from Kuwait to Balad, Iraq. During the course of his deployment, he was part of a team that traveled around Iraq to train soldiers on the JDLM software before returning back to the battalion as the chief of operations and plans. While Sachariason crossed into Iraq and was on the assault command post, they had an embedded reporter from South Korea shadowing the unit, to include getting into a vehicle alongside soldiers to get closer to reported enemy activity. During the movement back to Germany, Sachariason stayed in Kuwait until April to assist all battalion members in turning in equipment and transitioning back to Germany. While deployed, Sachariason was able to have a lot of personal and professional growth and learned the importance of preparation. Sachariason discusses the challenges he faced while in Iraq and how they were able to overcome each obstacle as it arose.

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