anon-834360 about 1 year ago

The call to war is often met by young Soldiers who lack an understanding
of what they are about to encounter. These young Soldiers must be trained,
prepared, and then led in battle by those with experience and understanding---the
Noncommissioned Officer Corps. In an effort to preserve the history of the US
Army Noncommissioned Officer and to provide future noncommissioned officers
with an understanding of the actions necessary to prepare Soldiers and to lead
them in war, the US Army Sergeants Major Academy undertook a program to
gather and publish the stories of NCOs who had served in both Afghanistan and
Iraq. Most of the papers received were from students of the US Army Sergeants
Major Course who had already deployed to either Operation Enduring Freedom
or Operation Iraqi Freedom. This work highlights a few of those stories. A wide
range of topics have been chosen to allow the reader to understand the preparations,
training, and actions needed for NCOs to accomplish their missions.
The work is prepared in two sections: the first we call Stories from
Afghanistan and the second, Stories from Iraq. Stories from Iraq is further broken
down into “Fighting the Iraqi Army” and “Fighting the Insurgency.” Each story
has a brief introduction to provide the reader with a background and setting for
the story. Timelines are also provided to assist the reader in following the stories
in relation to other events that are taking place during the same time frame. In
addition, maps provide the reader with an understanding of where in Afghanistan
or Iraq those events occurred.