MAJ Kenny Kuniyuki served as the assistant brigade intelligence officer (S2) with the 1st Brigade, 1st CAV during 2004 and 2005 in Sadr City in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF). In the first of two January 2009 interviews, MAJ Kuniyuki discusses the training that, in hindsight, would have been beneficial for the deployment, one particular engagement with the Jaish al Mahdi (JAM) in April of 2004, and the frustrations of passing good intelligence up to brigade only to have it disregarded. MAJ Kuniyuki concludes this part of the interview by sharing his biggest lesson learned: "You never know what you need to know when you need to know it, so you have to start prepping well in advance."

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