In this third of three interviews, Major John Martin talks about commanding Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 3rd Battalion, 319th Field Artillery in Kandahar, Afghanistan, from March 2005 through February 2006 in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. He discusses deploying on the advanced party because the battalion executive officer (XO) was injured, filling in as the XO until a replacement could be found, how the battalion was missing their primary staff officers for personnel and logistics, and the real need to be very flexible for vastly differing missions. He also talks about trying to put an Afghan face on things but ultimately having to do most of everything, how they could have done a better job at figuring out the web of relationships between all the local tribes, their lack of adequate numbers of troops for the province, and the relatively easy time his soldiers had at applying the rules of engagement to the situations they found. Martin closes the interview by saying that they did not overcome their maintenance problems until they got the right transmissions and leaf-springs for the uparmored Humvees.

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