Interview with MAJ Kell Glass
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UNCLASSIFIED A project of the Combat Studies Institute, the Operational Leadership Experiences interview collection archives firsthand, multi-service accounts from military personnel who planned, participated in and supported operations in the Global War on Terrorism. Interview with MAJ Kell Glass Combat Studies Institute Fort Leavenworth, Kansas UNCLASSIFIED Abstract In this May 2009 interview MAJ Kell Glass, Military Police (MP) discusses his deployment to Iraq as a member of an Iraqi National Police Transition Team (NPTT) in from August 2007 through August 2008. MAJ Glass discusses his pre-deployment training at Fort Riley, Kansas and how his team came together and gelled as a team prior to deploying. MAJ Glass discusses his deployment to Iraq, his follow-on training in Kuwait and in Taji and improvements that should be made to that training. MAJ Glass describes challenges he had on this deployment with working on a NPTT and the satisfaction he received from working with his Iraqi counterparts from the 7-2 Brigade INP. MAJ Glass concludes his interview by stating that if asked he would not want to deploy as part of a transition team again but rather with a whole unit. UNCLASSIFIED Interview with MAJ Kell Glass 22 May 2009 LL: My name is Lawrence Lessard (LL) and I'm with the Operational Leadership Experiences Project at the Combat Studies Institute, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. I'm interviewing MAJ Kell Glass (KG) on his experiences during Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF). Today's date is 22 May 2009 and this is an unclassified interview. Before we begin, if you feel at any time that we're entering classified territory, please couch your response in terms that avoid revealing any classified information, and if classification requirements prevent you from responding, simply say that you're not able to answer. How did you find out that you would be on a transition team? KG: I was actually working in the Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) and the message came out to the Military Police (MP) Corps saying there was a shortage of captains and majors for the military transition team (MiTT). At first they asked for volunteers but I still had a commitment to fill with ROTC. After about six months I got another letter that said, "How would you like to be on a MiTT?" and it was addressed to me. I didn't have a problem with it it was just that at the time my boss wanted me to complete an entire year. Once I got to that point I volunteered and said, "Yeah, I'll go on a MiTT?" LL: Where were you at the time? KG: Norfolk State University, Norfolk, Virginia; Army ROTC as an assistant professor of military science (APMS). LL: When did you say, "Yes, I'll go on the MiTT?" KG: I think I officially said it in January of 2007. I talked to my branch manager and said I wouldn't mind going. As a matter of fact I told him, "Yeah, I want to go on the MiTT." LL: Where did you go for pre-deployment training? KG: Fort Riley, Kansas. LL: When did you go there? KG: After volunteering in January I received orders in February -- about two weeks later -- and I reported to Fort Riley on 20 May, my wife's birthday. LL: I'm sure she was happy about that. Operational Leadership Experiences Project, Combat Studies Institute, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas 3 UNCLASSIFIED KG: She wasn't too happy about that. We celebrated early that's all. LL: When you first arrived at Fort Riley did you know what kind of transition team you'd be on and was the team already formed? Or, was it formed after you'd been at Fort Riley for a while? How did that work? KG: They actually sent me a roster but no, I didn't know what type of MiTT I was going to be on. They sent me a roster of everyone who was going to be on the team so I tried to figure out by looking at the branches what type of team it was. I was the only MP; everybody else was either -- we had one Aviation major, one Logistics major, one Military Intelligence (MI) captain, and a lieutenant colonel who was infantry. All the NCOs were infantry except for the one medic. So no, I didn't know the type of team I was going to be on. I thought it was going to be an Iraqi Army transition team but it turned out to be a National Police Transition Team (NPTT) once I got there. The teams were already formed; they had a roster ready and we all met up once we got to Fort Riley. LL: What's your professional assessment of the pre-deployment training you received at Fort Riley? KG: I think it was worth it and it was welcomed. I left command in 2004, so for 2005, 2006, and part of 2007 I was doing ROTC and a lot of the Army had changed. Blue Force Tracker (BFT) was talked about when I was in command and by the time I got to Fort Riley it was in existence; it was out there and fielded. Some other devices that were talked about when I was in command were now being fielded. We had a chance to play with different radio sets and different equipment and get ourselves back up to speed as far as our combat tasks. LL: Of all the different pieces of the pre-deployment training that you received there at Fort Riley, in retrospect what was the most valuable for you and the team once you got downrange? KG: Improvised explosive device (IED) awareness and IED response; how to react to IEDs. I think that was the most valuable. Also, getting to know each other at Fort Riley; spending those three months at Fort Riley getting to know the team. It's a little bit different than being in a regular unit. We were in a smaller element and we were stationed at Joint Security Station (JSS) Dora which is an Iraqi compound. We spent a lot of time together right underneath each other. It's like taking a family of 11 and they all live in the same house. It can get hectic at times but once you get to know each other and everybody's likes and dislikes we got along fairly well. Yeah, there were some bumps and bruises. LL: Were there any blocks of training which in retrospect were basically time better spent doing something else? KG: I would have to say no. I think everything that was going on at the time was well planned out. The language training we received, the cultural training we received, the weapons training Operational Leadership Experiences Project, Combat Studies Institute, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas 4 UNCLASSIFIED we received, the equipment training, and convoy security training was all well worth it. What you're doing is taking senior leadership -- NCOs and officers -- and you're throwing them together but they all have different backgrounds and they all have different ways of doing things. That training gave us some time to sit down with each other and figure out, "Okay. How exactly are we going to do cordon and search? How exactly are we going to do room clearing?" By going through the training you realized that you have a bunch of infantry NCOs. One was stationed in Germany most of his time. Another one was stationed at Fort Bragg, North Carolina most of his time. Another one was stationed at Fort Lewis, Washington most of his time. Another one, who was an infantry NCO, spent most of his time at the school house. They have three different concepts about how to clear a room. I'm not saying any of them are wrong but the bottom line is we needed to pick the best one for this team that was going to work for us. We had a chance to do that at Fort Riley. The time spent at Fort Riley was well deserved to the point where a lot of times the training we were doing -- it was almost like they were force feeding us. We got up at every morning at 0500 and most times you didn't get back to the barracks until the sun had gone down and that was Monday through Saturday. LL: Knowing what you know now if you could magically go back in time and give yourself and your team one single block of instruction to better get you prepared for going downrange what would you have given yourselves? KG: Leadership, a class on leadership; learning how to work with senior leadership. You cannot lead senior leaders the same way you lead Soldiers. Senior leaders think; they just don't react. They're going to think about it and then they're going to react. That's all I have to say. LL: How was the team chemistry? KG: The team chemistry was good and it started off real well at Fort Riley. Everybody got along; all 11 of us. It started to break apart within our second month in Iraq. That's when it really started to break apart. It broke apart because of that lack of leadership; not knowing how to lead senior leaders. Not knowing that you need to be honest with senior leaders because they're going to see through it. That's when it really started to break apart to the point where it was almost us against them.