MAJ Justin Cole served as battery executive officer (XO) and intelligence officer (S2) in Baghdad, Iraq during 2003 and 2004, and as S2 in Ba'qubah, Iraq during 2007 and 2008 in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF). In this August 2011 interview, MAJ Cole discusses the difficulties of adjusting to the intelligence officer role as a Field Artilleryman, the challenges of transitioning from major combat operations to a "clear, hold and build strategy," and the changes he observed between his first and second deployments. MAJ Cole concludes his interview with the observation, "I think the observation we've touched on multiple times is that it seems that each commander that came in had one thing in mind and that was that their mission must be successful. I think their definition of successful was always the number of people captured, the number of SIGACTs going down as opposed to what should really be the end state when we leave."

Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited