In this interview, LTC (ret) John Curatola, US Marine Corps, Logistics, discusses his deployment to Iraq as the operations officer for the Marine Forces Central Command (MARCENT) coordination element in Kuwait in 2003 through 2004 in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF). LTC Curatola talks about his mission of coordinating with CFLCC to receive and send forward into Iraq the 1st MEF. He describes how he traveled to Kuwait and some of the logistical problems all services faced with the small port facilities and insurgent activity. He discusses some difficult challenges he faced getting lift assets at a critical time and shares how they overcame some of those issues. LTC (R) Curatola closes his interview by stating, "I can't articulate enough to have an understanding of the service cultures and the missions and the roles, because quite frankly I went there not understanding what the Army's four missions were under CFLCC and they didn't understand what ours were."

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