Battleground Iraq - Journal of a Company Commander

The Army's 4th Infantry Division (Mechanized) spent a long and demanding year of successful combat operation in Iraq. As its commander, I daily witnessed the phenomenal courage, competence, compassion, and sacrifice of our soldiers. We experienced high points such as the capture of Saddam Hussein but also endured the rigors of extended operations against dogged opponent in a complex and often hostile environment. Soldiers en route to such a theater should be not only properly trained and equipped but also psychologically prepared. 


Capt. Robert ("Todd") Sloan Brown was among the best of our company commanders. He and the soldiers he led performed magnificently in some of the division's toughest and most critical operations. Indeed, some of the materials he wrote or briefed received wide currency within the division when preparing others to follow him into rough neighborhoods. I believe his journal can serve a similar purpose for those on their way to Iraq—or someplace like it. His narrative is not thoroughly analytical nor is it always fair; but it is gripping. It provides useful discussion of tactics, techniques, and procedures as they evolved in Iraq. It also touches on the conflict between combat operations and nation building. More important, it captures the stresses of combat and corresponding emotions as they accumulate over time in a combat outfit. Understanding these could prove invaluable to those who courageously serve our nation and will continue to endure them in the long war. However, this work should also be taken in context. The timeframe was 2003 to early 2004—tactics and the environment have changed over time.