In this July 2014 interview, MAJ (Ret.) Gary Maixner, US Army Reserves, discusses his deployment to Iraq as a military transition team (MiTT) member in 2006 through 2007 in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF). MAJ Maixner talks about his mission of coaching, training, mentoring, and bringing coalition effects to the battlefield for the Iraqi Army. He describes how he came to be a MiTT member, his training and talks about some challenges the team faced. He discusses his responsibilities on the MiTT team and shares that one of his Reserve Officer's Training Corps (ROTC) Soldiers was killed while he was in country close to where he was stationed. He shares a specific memory of surviving two improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and discusses the readiness of various Iraqi Army units. MAJ Maixner closes his interview by stating, "My deployment you know now that I am back with all my pieces and parts in place and I look at it as it was an experience. It was quite an experience. You never can -- you cannot create that kind relationship in any other situation you have with your teammates, you know, you have a close group, platoon, or whatever small unit like that has to stick together because there was a lot of times that we only had each other."

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