MAJ Craig Love served as Alpha Company commander with 3-66 Armor in Baiji, Ira during 2003 and 2004 and with an Active Component/Active Reserve (AC/RC) unit in Baghdad, Tall Afar and Samarra, Iraq during 2005 and 2006 in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF). In this February 2010 interview, MAJ Love discusses his unit's arrival into Baiji on his first deployment and the apprehension of the local people on seeing tanks roll in, the challenges they faced fighting an insurgency when they had been trained and prepared for set battles, and the rapid degeneration of conditions at about six months when the events at Abu Ghraib came to light. MAJ Love observes: "The ability to adapt and keep doing what you're doing -- it never ceases to amaze me how we can get 17 and 18-year-olds in the Army and send them out to live like this and they're still doing what they're supposed to do and they're still doing the right thing. Leadership is a major part because it's going to suck; it is. If you're suck is no different than their suck and you're still doing it, they will keep doing it."

Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited