MAJ Judy Anthony served as commander of Alpha Company, 530th Logistical Task Force (LTF) in Uzbekistan and Bagram, Afghanistan during 2001 and 2002 in support of Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF), and as the supply and service officer with the 16th Sustainment Brigade at Qayyarah West, Iraq during 2008 and 2009 in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF). In this April 2011 interview, MAJ Anthony describes the lack of pre-deployment training for her first deployment very soon after 9/11, the much more rigorous training program in place for her third deployment, and the challenges and accomplishments of both deployments. MAJ Anthony concludes her interview with the observation, "I would say direct training as opposed to just having that prior to deployment ramping up on the training. Make training part of your requirement throughout the year. I know a lot of units who have actually gone that way to where if you're going to the field you're going to conduct water purification. You're going to set up a SSA. You might not bring your entire SSA but you're going to issue parts. "Hey, maintenance unit. You're going to fix parts out here." A lot of the time folks don't necessarily focus on that. I think its key because if you're able to execute your job in a garrison environment, even though it's just training and you're constantly conducting the training, I think you'll be a little more successful. It may be a different environment in a theater of operation but you're still doing the mission that you specifically trained for. I would just say more emphasis on military occupational specialty (MOS) training; the actual hands on experience."

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