CPT Macharrie opens his interview by describing the process his fixed wing Aviation company underwent in deploying from Germany to Joint Base Balad in Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Macharrie relates having to plan and coordinate training so his crews could transition from the C-12U to the C-12V aircraft equipped with updated avionics. Upon deployment to Iraq, Macharrie found his crews flying double the 30-40 hours per month they were accustomed to flying in Germany. Macharrie himself had to manage his priorities differently; flying early missions in order to free his afternoons for flight planning and performing commander's business. CPT Macharrie compares and contrasts missions in Iraq with missions in Germany, noting the similarities with handling Distinguished Visitors (DV) and Very Important Persons (VIP). CPT Macharrie relates having to make flights as efficient as possible to minimize the impact on his crews. One measure was the inclusion of more legs, which reduced time waiting on passengers but at a cost of increased flight hours and a longer duty day for the crews. He describes many landing strips in Iraq as nothing more than primitive, with packed dirt runways, no Air Traffic Control (ATC) services, and often not secured by an adjacent Forward Operating Base (FOB). CPT Macharrie describes having to periodically negotiate changes in routes and missions with the J33 (USF-I Aviation Operations) to balance his workload. CPT Macharrie describes wanting to understand the "why" behind missions in order to help in prioritization, since he "had the feeling that many trips were 'just flying' and not truly critical missions." He also described some frustration in matching his assets and crews to DV missions, preferring that the better staffed J33 handle the troop to task analysis. CPT Macharrie relates his concerns that the Counter Missile Warning System (CMWS) – being an aftermarket system – was not fully tested prior to deployment, and was possibly not functioning as intended. In closing his interview, CPT Macharrie talks about his challenges in supervising UC-35 operations, since he was not qualified to fly the aircraft. He also relates his frustration in not receiving timely planning guidance from his parent Combat Aviation Brigade (CAB) headquarters in Germany, which gave him only three months to plan and prepare for the deployment.

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