In this May 2013 interview, MAJ Matthew Marfongelli, US Army, Armor, discusses his deployment to Iraq as an assistant operations officer and company commander for 2-7th Infantry Battalion, 1st Brigade, 3d ID in 2007 through 2008 in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF). MAJ Marfongelli talks about his mission of working with the Iraqi Security Forces. He describes how his unit was under the Marines and talks about his change of duties when he became company commander. He discusses some challenges he faced and shares how he fought complacency with his Soldiers. He shares a specific memory of having positive interactins with Iraqi children and discusses the handoff to the incoming unit. MAJ Marfongelli closes his interview by stating, ". . . the Golden Rule thing. . . We spent so many hours training on respecting their culture, learning about Ramadan, and whatever else. It's important to know their culture. I'm not negating that at all, but when push comes to shove, it comes down to how you treat them as people. They have some practices that we, as Americans, might find revolting. . . but when push comes to shove, they are still people -- they want the same things that we want. Whether it's an Afghan or Iraqi citizen or wherever else we go, if it's a husband and a father of three kids, they want their kids to be able to grow up and have a good life. Same thing an American parent wants for their kids. Treat them how you want to be treated because when push comes to shove, you're no better than they are. The world's eyes have become a lot more global in the last however many years it has been and for it to succeed, for it to keep going, we need to work together."

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