MAJ Seneca Peña-Collazo served as an AH-64 Apache pilot with the 1st of the 501st Attack Aviation Battalion in Baghdad, Iraq during 2003 and with the 3-159 Aviation Task Force at Joint Base Balad during 2008 and 2009, both in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF). In this August 2011 interview, MAJ Peña-Collazo discusses the capabilities and role of the AH-64 attack weapon platform, the initial push into Iraq, and the contrasts he noted during his second deployment five years later. MAJ Peña-Collazo concludes his interview with the observation, "[T]he demands of strategic policy makers and their level must be tempered with the realities of what we at the tactical level can do. If you tell me that I've got to train to do a low-density conflict in Afghanistan [with a] decentralized small unit force, it takes a lot to train that. It also takes a lot to train for the force-on-force stuff. . . We can't be experts at everything. I feel like if there's anything the Army needs to improve on as a whole, it's to take a real hard look at the doctrine; [FM]350-1 is everything you're supposed to do for your training. Take a real hard look at that, and then take a real hard look at the time it takes to become a proficient unit in your warrior task, and do a little analysis there. Realize you can't do everything, accept risk in doing these other things, and prioritize it for us. We're making the decisions, and hopefully the decision we make is in line with Army priorities."

Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited