On Point: the United States Army in Operation Iraqi ... - Boekje Pienter

Camp PENNSYLVANIA—The Alleged Murder of Two OfficersTwo days prior to crossing the border into Iraq, in what it believed to be a secure location in its desert encampmentin Kuwait, the 1st BCT, 101st Airborne Division, was preparing for combat operations when it suffered anemotionally devastating nighttime attack on the soldiers who operate the tactical operations center (TOC). Theattack on the sleeping men, however, was not due to enemy action; it was apparently perpetrated by one of their own.Captain Christopher Seifert, the assistant brigade S2, and Major Gregory Stone, the air liaison officer, were killedin the attack. Their deaths and the injury of 14 other staff members shocked the brigade to its core. In this attack,every staff section received injuries, but losing Captain Seifert was particularly devastating to the S2 Intelligencesection. Seifert was a well-liked and respected officer within the staff and among subordinate battalions. Anoutstanding officer, he possessed all the strengths of character and professional competence that anyone couldhope for in a subordinate. Perhaps most significantly, Seifert was the perfect counterpart to the brigade S2,Major Kyle Warren. They complemented each other’s strengths and weaknesses. In eight months, they built arelationship based on mutual respect and admiration.Captain Seifert was, as Major Warren recalled, his tall center around whom the rest of the team revolved. Losinghim in the final hours before war affected the S2 section so deeply that it literally took most of the war for thesection to recover. Warren, like most Army officers, had built his team around his strongest officer. Seifert was ameticulous operator who did not tolerate sloppy work. He was also an expert on intelligence systems who knewhow to leverage the architecture to meet requirements. As the intelligence planner, Seifert maintained a forwardlook to support planning.Although this was his official capacity as the senior intelligence captain, there was more to it than that. CaptainSeifert carried a natural air about him that expressed confidence, know-how, and a passion to train. Seifert’s deathaffected the S2 section in several ways. The first was obviously the loss of the soldier. The war was literally twodays away and Major Warren knew he had to maintain the section’s focus on the fight while dealing with a host ofemotional and operational issues. Warren simply asked his team to “take commands from the tower” and to trusthis leadership in the days to come. The only way they could move forward—figuratively and emotionally—waswith a strong unity of effort. Anything less than a total commitment would have been a disservice to CaptainSeifert and Major Stone.Major Warren reflected on how to deal with a death that is so close and personal and yet still maintain the focusto fight. Captain Seifert’s personal items were a reminder of the magnitude of the unit’s loss. His uniforms withhis nametape sewn on, his books, and personal photos were still with the section, and these had to be packed andsent home, and Warren still had to write a letter to Seifert’s widow, Terri. Some of Warren’s soldiers were justplain afraid and struggled to sleep through the night. Warren recalls how God gave him strength to get through it.He was blessed to have a strong NCOIC and to have had the composure that was truly “beyond himself.”The day following the attack, the Army’s Criminal Investigation Command conducted its investigation, followedthe next day by a short memorial service. Upon its conclusion, the BCT mounted its vehicles and, following 3rdID, began its attack into Iraq toward the city of An Najaf. Within 60 hours, they were in combat. Here, they faceda deliberate foe in the streets of An Najaf, a city of 800,000 citizens. The S2 section had to describe and predictan enemy who held nearly every asymmetric quality as the brigade committed to the urban fight.A replacement S2 planner arrived on the third day of the An Najaf fight, and the section began the arduoustask of training a new team. Rebuilding the team focused on reworking SOPs and shifting Captain Seifert’swork to others. Scores of things that resulted from his death were a constant challenge, like finding the threatstudies he had produced, operating intelligence systems, and maintaining the high standards that Captain Seifertso diligently enforced. The brigade excelled in the fight for An Najaf, proceeded to Al Hillah, Karbala, andcontinued to execute SASO in northern Iraq. In Major Warren’s words, “it certainly was not pretty, but CaptainSeifert would have been proud of the results.”Compiled from interviews with Major Kyle Warren,1st BCT brigade intelligence officer,101st Airborne Division103