MAJ Eric Melloh served as company commander for Alpha Company 1-30th and Headquarters and Headquarters Company (HHC) 1-30th Infantry in Arab Jabour, Iraq during 2007 and 2008 in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF). In this November 2010 interview, MAJ Melloh discusses the area that his company was going to in terms of the inhospitable terrain and its reputation as an Al-Qaeda safe haven, the difficulties of keeping morale up under these circumstances, and his unit's hand-off to the Iraqi Army. MAJ Melloh concludes his interview with the observation, "In all reality you were safer out at the smaller patrol bases and just the travel back to the big FOBs cost us lives and limbs and a lot of heartache in our battalion. I knew right off the bat that it was going to be something dangerous and I kind of held the stance of unless all the conditions were right I wasn't letting guys go back and forth. Even though you might think, "This isn't a combat mission. I'm just moving from one post to the next post," any movement like that or anything to do with combat you have lives on the line and you need to take that into consideration."

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