MAJ Donald Smith served as a Howitzer platoon leader and battalion ammunition officer at Logistics Support Area (LSA) Anaconda during 2003 and as battalion fire support officer and company commander at Forward Operating Base (FOB) Q-West during 2006 and 2007 in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF). In this May 2011 interview, MAJ Smith discusses the movement into Iraq two weeks after initial US forces reached Baghdad, the uncertainty of his unit's mission during this first deployment, and the challenges of counterinsurgency and full-spectrum operations during his second deployment. MAJ Smith concludes his interview with the observation, "I just think it would be so much more conducive to building relationships and trust with the population if you had the same units over there staying there the whole time. You wouldn't have this massive loss of information during RIP/TOA. It would eliminate that whole RIP/TOA problem which, in my opinion, is the biggest problem we have right now."

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