In this January 2012 interview, MAJ Brian Sweigart, US Army, Armor; discusses his deployment to Taji and Tikrit Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF). MAJ Sweigart talks about his 2003 deployment as a scout platoon leader with 4th Infantry Division (ID), 1-66th Armor. He talks about his pre-deployment training and shares a special memory from his flight into country. He talks about overcoming fatigue as he transitioned into his missions. He talks about learning to speak basic language through his interpreter in efforts to communicate with the local village. He recalls an incident where he interacted with one of the US media reporters and he talks about some differences he noticed over his yearlong deployment. MAJ Sweigart describes communication back home while he was deployed and he closes his interview with a closing observation in terms of training, "I think guys were very, very controlled at the beginning and I think where we started to lose that was during the insurgency."

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