Major Charles St. Clair was a military transition team (MiTT) chief assigned variously to the Iraqi 3rd Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 6th Division and the Iraqi 2nd Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 6th Division in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom from November 2005 through November 2006. He discusses this deployment in this two-part interview. Once the members of the team were identified, they completed predeployment training at Fort Campbell, to include language and cultural awareness training. The team made the movement over in mid-November 2005, where they attended additional training at the Phoenix Academy and the COIN Academy. The team then moved to the eastern area of Baghdad to complete a handoff with the MiTT they replaced. The team was introduced to their Iraqi counterparts and they started to identify their strengths and weaknesses and what they needed to make their weaknesses stronger. They had sufficient interpreter support to assist in a wide range of tasks. St. Clair discusses the ethnic and sectarian makeup of the Iraqi battalions and how it affected working relationships. They did suspect some of the Iraqi battalion members were possibly Jaish al-Mahdi sympathizers or members. St. Clair discusses the casualties and the process of requesting replacements, as well as the wide range of coach, teach and mentor tasks they carried out with their Iraqi counterparts. He received support for supplies when he requested to assist with the mission. St. Clair also discusses the challenges both he and his team faced and how they overcame those challenges. There were lots of members of the media, both foreign and local, on base. St. Clair discusses his accomplishments and the one item he felt was not completed prior to movement back to the States. St. Clair offers his recommendations based off of this deployment. He also discusses how the family readiness group was able to assist deployed members and their family with family separation.

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