From July 2006 through July 2007 in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, Major Bryan Jones served as the assistant operations officer for the 336th Transportation Group - the unit charged with running theater transportation from its base in Camp Arifjan, Kuwait. In this interview, Jones discusses his mobilization and predeployment training at Camp Atterbury, Indiana; the group's wide-ranging theater mission involving some 3,000 contracted and Army trucks; and how their mission was impacted by the addition of five brigade combat teams into Iraq in 2007 as part of the surge. "Whoever planned the surge," Jones said, "God bless their souls, only thought combat power, and the combat service support elements to support it were almost like an afterthought." Jones also talks about the group's lack of adequate force protection assets and details the potentially serious risks inherent in relying too heavily on contractor personnel for transportation.

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