In this two-part interview, Major Scott Kruse discusses his March 2003 to March 2004 deployment in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom with 1-4 Aviation Battalion, part of the 4th Infantry Division, during which he served initially as a battalion assistant operations officer and, later, as commander of Bravo Company, 1-4 Aviation. He talks about the battalion's arrival into theater, its movement north to Baghdad and then Tikrit, and his temporary assignment as a liaison officer helping coordinate aviation assets. Kruse took command of his AH64D attack company on 16 May 2003 and immediately was dispatched to Kirkuk to work with the 173rd Airborne Brigade, then subsequently to Balad and Ba'qubah to work with other maneuver brigades. "They only called when they really needed us," he said, "so when they called, we went. My guys never blinked twice. If we got a call about troops in contact, it didn't matter what else was happening, we were there." Kruse discusses 9-1-1-style and preplanned missions his Apache crews performed, as well as force presence missions and assisting in convoy operations. He also touches on various morale-raising techniques he employed in his company and offers his lessons learned from this yearlong deployment.

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