2023-01-18: Company Command In Babil, Part 1

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Col. Matt Hardman — Commander of the Operations Group at Ft. Polk
Grew up in a military community and in a military family
ROTC scholarship
Thought he was going to do 4 years and then go to law school, but ended up staying a lot longer
What changed his view on leaving the military was the experience of losing people in Iraq — didn't feel like it was fair to leave people that he'd shared this experience with
Taught at West Point
Commanded the 10th Mountain Division
Multiple tours of duty in Iraq
Joined the Army prior to 9/11
Was a platoon leader by the time of the Iraq War
First deployment was to Afghanistan in 2003
At that time Afghanistan was a much different operating environment
- Company and battalion-sized air assaults
- Similar to the large-scale training operations that he'd participated in
2004 Iraq was his first introduction to counterinsurgency
- Subordinated to a Military Police (MP) brigade
- Had to patrol a large area (800 km²) with a light formation
- The experience of doing this was crucial in teaching him the value of discipline and consistency
Deployed to Iraq on short notice — only 90 days after the unit's return from Afghanistan
Only had approximately 10 days of formal preparation time
Lost soldiers within the first week of being deployed to Iraq
Regrets the loss of life, but, at the same time, felt like the company handled the loss well and continued "putting in the work" for the mission
"The fundamental determinant of success in combat is how a soldier feels about his or her peers and immediate leader"
When he took command, the company was in a good place, thanks to good discipline and practices put in place by his immediate predecessor
How did soldiers and families react to the short notice deployment
- Hard for the families
- Had one soldier lose his marriage because of the rapid turnaround
- However, most of the soldiers themselves were enthusiastic
- Many soldiers were new to the company, as there had been significant turnover since the company's return from Afghanistan
- Battalion commander and battalion sergeant major did a good job not just with the soldiers but also with their families
- Another thing that mitigated the shock of the sudden deployment was the fact that this was the 82nd Airborne
  - Traditionally high readiness unit
  - Trained to deploy at short notice
Mission was unclear when the arrived in Iraq
- Was not given a mission statement or objective by his commander prior to deployment — had to write it himself with assistance from the battalion commander
- No intelligence briefings describing the situation that they would be entering
- Mission ended up being keeping the ground lines of communication open in their area of operations
- Provide a way station and casualty evacuation point for other units
- Patrol to address the IED threat on MSR Tampa, one of the most targeted routes in southern Iraq for IEDs
How were operations in Iraq different from Afghanistan?
- In Afghanistan, the company was moving together, on foot, in large operations that lasted 4-7 days
- In Iraq, there was much more vehicle mounted patrolling due to the size of the area of operations
- Company was split more often into platoon sized units
- Much more use of sniper units
- Mortar platoon was a new addition to the team, and a much appreciated one
Hardman was impressed with the professionalism with which his soldiers conducted after-action reviews of missions in which they took casualties
- No talk of revenge
- Heavy focus on what they could do better next time
Fundamentals matter! Even when support is inadequate, having good discipline about the fundamentals of soldiering can help stack the deck in your unit's favor
Learned, via involvement in the Iraq War History Project that the lack of understanding re: the situation in Iraq in 2004 was pervasive
It's no surprise that he didn't know what was going on, because no one knew what was going on
The patrol that led to the first deaths his unit experienced in Iraq was a routine one
- Company was new in its area of operations
- Platoon had a new platoon leader, but was an otherwise experienced platoon
- Purpose of patrol was to help familiarize that platoon with the area of operations
- Platoon leader's gunner noticed something in the oncoming lane as they were driving
- Their vehicle turned around to investigate
- As they realized it was an IED, the IED detonated, killing the platoon leader and two others, and wounding three more, two of them severely
- Squad leader and senior NCOs did a good job of collecting the casualties and organizing the evacuation
- The company had recently conducted a casualty handling drill, and that training was put to good use — wounded were stabilized, treated, and evacuated in under 30 minutes
One thing that lulled the platoon into a false sense of security was the fact that the IEDs they'd encountered in Afghanistan all had command wires
- Thought that the IED was incomplete or abandoned
- Didn't know that, by 2004, the insurgency in Iraq had more sophisticated radio controlled IEDs that did not require a command wire
Had to compartmentalize the emotional impact of losing a platoon leader, because this occurred at the start of their deployment
Needed to work to project outward calm, in order to provide leadership for the remaining troops
Fortunate to receive a lot of support from higher headquarters (both brigade and division)
Credits his wife with providing support to the families of the wounded and killed soldiers
The hurt of losing someone under your command never goes away, but with time, you learn to carry it