In this interview, MAJ Shylo Morrison, US Army, Signal, discusses her 12-month deployment to Iraq as a company commander for 40th Expeditionary Signal Battalion (ESB) in 2010 through 2011 in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF). MAJ Morrison talks about her experience with taking command and preparing her Soldiers before deployment. She talks about getting her company ready even though she did not have a full company until the last minute, resulting in additional training once they arrived in country. She describes the first couple of months in country and details out her day-to-day missions. She discusses her role in the drawdown of forces and closing down forward operating bases and contingency operating bases. She talks about the difficult challenges she faced with changing out of command in country and having to transition into a new role the last few months of deployment. MAJ Morrison defines her successes from her deployment and closes his interview by stating, "I think at that senior NCO level and having to coordinate with other first sergeants and platoon sergeants was a struggle for them; it really was. If they could get some more training and understanding of that, it would have probably helped them a little bit more."

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