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 Jeff Struecker Combat Studies Institute Fort Leavenworth, Kansas UNCLASSIFIED Abstract MAJ Jeff Struecker served as a chaplain with the 82nd Airborne Division and Ranger Regiment in multiple places in Iraq and Afghanistan from 2003 through 2009 in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) and Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF). In this July 2010 interview, MAJ Struecker discusses the challenges of being a chaplain in a combat situation, the benefits his 13 years prior enlisted gave, and the difficulties he faced in being everywhere he felt he needed to be on any given deployment. MAJ Struecker concludes his interview with the observation, "I'll tell you what, I've had a chance to go back and watch some of America's greatest warriors; some of the best warriors that our nation has ever produced and I'm amazed at their resiliency. I'm amazed at their commitment to the cause of freedom. These guys, for the most part, if they've been around the SOC, specifically the JTF since before 9/11, they have not had a break from war since 2001. If you think back on it now, and as a historian you'll understand this, we have not asked that of anybody in the history of our country, certainly not with an all volunteer force. We've forced some people through the draft to do that but we've never done it with an all volunteer force before. It's nothing short of amazing to see. I've sat back and wondered, "Why are these guys continually giving so much? They could go do something much easier and take a break." The conclusion I've come to is that it isn't just patriotism and nationalism but it's the cause of freedom that means so much to them. What's at stake if we don't win is so important to them that they're willing to continue and endure, at this point now, 10 years of persistent conflict. That's something I don't think the average person in our country understands, especially not of that guy who hasn't had a break." UNCLASSIFIED Interview with MAJ Jeff Struecker 19 July 2010 JF: My name is Jenna Fike (JF) and I'm with the Operational Leadership Experiences Project at the Combat Studies Institute, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. I'm interviewing MAJ Jeff Struecker (JS) on his experiences during Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) and Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF). Today's date is 19 July 2010 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. Before we talk about your deployments, can you give a brief history of your background with the Army? JS: Yeah. I have about 23 years of active service. I was an enlisted guy; an Infantryman by trade and spent almost all of my enlisted time -- 13 years -- in the Ranger Regiment. I became an Active Duty Army chaplain about 10 years ago and have served the last 10 years in the 82nd and the Ranger Regiment with a very brief period of time in the Ranger Training Brigade (RTB). JF: What made you decide to move out of Infantry and become a chaplain? JS: That is probably THE most asked question and the short one-word response to that is Somalia. JF: If you'd like, would you expand on that a little bit? JS: I was an enlisted guy in the Ranger Regiment in Bravo Company 3rd Ranger Battalion and I deployed to Somalia as part of Task Force Ranger. I had a very strong faith while I was an Infantryman in the Ranger Regiment and my faith made a very profound difference in how I fought during that firefight. During the events of Black Hawk Down, but more specifically afterwards, God was showing me that he was leading me to do something else with my life. It became ministry and specifically ministry in the military. JF: I can tell from the look on your face but [let me ask], do you enjoy it? JS: Yeah. JF: Are you glad you did it? JS: Yes. JF: Thank you for sharing that. How many deployments in support of the Global War on Terror (GWOT) have you had? JS: I've been deployed to Afghanistan nine times and to Iraq five. JF: That sounds like a really big number. Do you want to explain why it is that you have had so many deployments? Operational Leadership Experiences Project, Combat Studies Institute, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas 3 UNCLASSIFIED JS: Yeah. I've deployed with the 82nd Airborne Division on a long deployment to Afghanistan early in GWOT and the rest of my deployments have all been with the Ranger Regiment. Those deployments with the Ranger Regiment, although somewhat shorter in nature, have taken me all over Iraq and Afghanistan. Sometimes when I'm deployed, I'm deployed to both theaters of operation at the same time and sometimes only to one theater of operation. Sometimes it is for a few weeks and just for a specific mission or specific reason and sometimes it's for a specific period of time as part of the joint task force (JTF) over there. JF: Most people who hear, 'deployment,' think one year or 15 months. That's obviously not the case every time. JS: In my case I've been deployed about 40 months. JF: You said you deployed mostly with the 82nd? JS: One long deployment with the 82nd in 2003 to Afghanistan and all of the rest were with the Ranger Regiment. JF: Why don't we talk about that long deployment to Afghanistan first? JS: Sure. JF: When did you first find out that you would be going on that deployment? JS: 2002 and I deployed in January 2003 with 1st Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division. JF: This was the initial [push]? JS: By then the US had been in Afghanistan for about 18 months. The first six months or so we were doing special operations targets and very limited ground engagements. This rotation was called OEF III but really the ground forces in OEF started OEF II in early 2002 and the buildup of ground forces in 2002. We took over in January 2003 until about August of that year. JF: Where in Afghanistan did you serve? JS: At that point one brigade of the 82nd had operational control of the whole country. There was a battalion in the north part of the country who had operational control of the whole north. There was a battalion in the south that had operational control of the entire south. My battalion had operational control of the entire eastern border region of Afghanistan. JF: Where was your headquarters? JS: My headquarters moved around a bit. It started in Khost around Forward Operating Base (FOB) Salerno and from there we moved to Kandahar for a month or two. Eventually we set up shop -- we built up a base in Orgun-e. For the rest of that deployment that was where our battalion headquarters was based out of. The battalion was geographically dispersed across the entire border and my mission was to cover the whole border region. JF: So you were busy. JS: Well, everybody was busy. Operational Leadership Experiences Project, Combat Studies Institute, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas 4 UNCLASSIFIED JF: Okay. Can you talk a little about what your battalion's mission was? JS: Yeah. It kind of ranged. We had a company, maybe a company (+) from the 82nd that did operational theater level targets because there really were no big battalion sized targets to hit at that point. I think we did one battalion (-) the entire time we were there. One company remained in a quick reaction force (QRF) mode up north and a company remained in QRF mode down south and they were able to respond to theater wide targets. The rest of the battalion was split into squads, sections, and platoons and they had the FOB security mission for a host of FOBs all along the border. They did continue to patrol and do combat operations but for the most part it was pulling guard and guarding the US FOBs along the borders. JF: Okay. What did you do specifically? JS: As a chaplain I kind of just traveled. Because my battalion had the whole geographical center part and the whole eastern border part of Afghanistan, I kind of just did nothing but travel to all of these bases. I think at that point we only had nine bases along the border and it was my job to cover the entire border region and just travel constantly. I spent two or three days in each location. JF: For people who may not necessarily be familiar, what is the job of the chaplain in a combat situation? JS: That's a good question. In the Army the job of an Army chaplain in a combat situation is to provide the free exercise of religion for all the service members -- Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps and the contracted civilians in our area of operations (AO). I specifically do counseling and provide religious services for people who are of my faith.