MAJ Stephen Capehart served as the headquarters and headquarters company (HHC) executive officer (XO) in Baghdad, Iraq during 2003, as intelligence officer (S2) and company commander with 3-7 Infantry in West Rashid, Iraq during 2005 and 2006, and again as company commander in Musayyib, Iraq during 2007 and 2008, all in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF). In this October 2010 interview, MAJ Capehart discusses the effects of the stop-loss during his first deployment, the frustrations of waiting for company command, and the leadership challenges he faced when he did take command in 2005. MAJ Capehart concludes his interview with the observation, "I was a big believer in common ground. I know that I don't have all the answers. Sometimes that's hard. Your Type A personality -- I'm not that guy now. I'm a big believer in, "What does my first sergeant bring? What does my platoon leader bring? What does the S3 bring? How can we shape our environment and take that patience to think and visualize how we're going to do an operation?" With COIN, if you have the time, that's how it works. I even think in full spectrum operations that's what you have to do. You've got to be able to build that team and that team will surprise you every time."

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