MAJ Jonathan Holland served as the brigade personnel officer (S1) with the 45th Sustainment Brigade at Forward Operating Base (FOB) Qayyarah West during 2006 and 2007 in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF). In this March 2010 interview, MAJ Holland discusses the major challenge of coordinating rest and relaxation (R&R) leave, his role in maintaining logistics convoys, and the great personal satisfaction he felt knowing that "the trucks just kept coming." MAJ Holland concludes his interview with the observation, "It was worth it. It was difficult. The environment was hard, the hours long, but I think we accomplished what we needed to accomplish. People will debate and maybe historians will agree eventually on why we went where we went. Jon Holland's take on it is that maybe there weren't really weapons of mass destruction; however, I know there were some left behind because some of the IEDs they employed had mustard gas in them. I actually read and then certified mustard gas burns in casualty reports for two incidents. We actually started carrying chemical gear and protective masks after those incidents. How much? I don't know but I know of at least two incidents where mustard gas shells were employed against our forces. Whether that leads any validity to the surge, if nothing else, it was a hell of a baited ambush and if you want to know, war should be an away game."

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