MAJ Brennan Cook served as the Security Company Advisor to the 3rd Motor Transport Regiment (Iraqi Army) in 2006 and 2007 in Al-Kisik, Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF). In this 11 August 2009 interview, MAJ Cook discusses the deficiencies and beneficial aspects of his pre-deployment training, the challenges of working with Sunnis and Kurds together, and the difficulties caused by multiple ownership of the battle space. MAJ Cook observes that a better grasp of the culture and language would have been of great benefit to himself and his soldiers, in conjunction with a more rigorous selection process for teams assigned to this type of mission.

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