MAJ Jerome Parker served as an Infantry officer on multiple deployments to Iraq in 2007, 2008 and 2009 in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF). In this December 2011 interview, MAJ Parker discusses very broad themes rather than tactical operations, such as civil-military cooperation, infrastructure rebuilding and management, and Iraqi self-governance. MAJ Parker concludes his interview with the observation, "I honestly believe that my generation is the Greatest Generation. I'll tell you why. Or, I'll tell you this group of Soldiers fighting this war is the Greatest Generation and I'll tell you why. They're fighting it for a 10-year period, which is much longer than the Greatest Generation fought their war, and they're fighting it with an all-volunteer force, which the Greatest Generation did not, and they're fighting it without the United States going in an all total war effort, which the Greatest Generation had. When you take that into account, am I surprised that most people wouldn't have any clue what's going on? Absolutely, most people don't have a clue of what's going on. I think they don't need to. Honestly, that's why we do what we do. It's the greatest country in the world and you have a choice whether you want to do X, Y, or Z. All of these choices that America has is what makes this country great; it's what makes people want to defend those choices. Am I surprised? No. Would I want it to be different? No."

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