My name is Monroe Mann. I am an intelligence officer with the 42^nd Infantry Division, New York Army National Guard, and I just returned from Iraq on 5 NOV 05. I am from Port Chester, NY, in Westchester Country, and am currently a First Lieutenant in the Army National Guard.




















I was a military intelligence advisor to the 4^th Iraqi Army for my last seven months in theater. Stationed in Tikrit, Tuz, and briefly in Taji, I advised and mentored on such matters as interrogation, source handling, map reading, terrain analysis, and intelligence analysis, as well as acting as the primary advisor to the 4^th IA Headquarters Service Company as well as the 4^th IA Military Police Company.

I helped the 4^th IA Division Headquarters G2 (Intel) get up and off the ground, helped them in recruiting and training, and finally assisted them as they conducted their own counter-insurgency intelligence operations through the North-Central area of Iraq, which included Tikrit, Samarra, Bayji, Sulaymaniyah, and Kirkuk. I also assisted the entire division headquarters with weapon accountability, anti-terrorism force protection (guard towers, badging, etc), and combat patrol training (i.e. how to avoid IEDs, how to protect yourself in an ambush, etc).




















While the Iraqi Army is not in a position to take over for American troops right at this moment, I know firsthand that—while slow—progress is assuredly steady. My estimate is that the Iraqi Army will be able to take over for coalition forces in approximately 2 – 4 years. If I could improve anything we are doing over there with the Iraqi soldiers/Police, I would give them uparmored vehicles as soon as possible (in lieu of the Nissan pickup trucks which is their primary gun truck). I would also provide them with better combat boots. I know, of course, that this is a financial issue mostly, but it is one that definitely needs to be considered. Last I heard, rumor is that the coalition will be leaving behind our humvees for the Iraqi Army once we feel we’re in a solid position to withdraw—once the job is done.




















My unique position allowed me to interact with not only Arab Iraqi Army Soldiers, but also Kurdish Iraqi Army soldiers, and to participate in many local cultural events such as a Kurdish wedding. In the 4^th Iraqi Army Division Headquarters, while there were Kurds and Arabs, there were in reality no Kurds and no Arabs—just Iraqis. While there is certainly a strong attachment to ‘Kurdistan’ among the Kurds, there is an equally strong desire to see a strong and united Iraq. Just as the three disparate groups in Bosnia recently united, I too see something similar happening in Iraq. It is difficult to be sure, and the future of Iraq is still tenuous in the eyes of its citizens, but if we stay the course, most Iraqis believe the country will do well. We should not let them down.




















I was also the patrol leader on over 75 combat patrol missions, responsible for the safety and welfare of 16 personnel and 3 uparmored M1114 humvees. Like many others, I drove the 550-miles from Kuwait up to Tikrit, in what has now been called, ‘Farmer Armor’. Farmer Armor is what is known as Level III armor. There are three levels of armor in Iraq: Level I, II, & III. Level I is a vehicle factory built with state-of-the-art uparmor, as well as an armored gun-turret, such as the M1114 Humvee. Level II is a normal vehicle that has Level I quality armor fastened to it while in Iraq, but does not cover the entire vehicle. Level III is a normal vehicle that has armored plates cut from thin sheets of armor, attached to the sides of the vehicle. Makeshift armored turrets are often made to accompany this Level III, Farmer Armor. There are a number of Level III vehicles that were still operating in Iraq when I left that looked as if they came out of ‘Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome’, i.e. armor just tacked on here, piled on there, turrets made from scrap armor, etc. A shortage of Level I armored vehicle in Iraq remains a problem. Yet, even Level I armor is not foolproof. While they are very effective against small arms direct fire, they are increasingly proving to be ineffective against the most recent types of IED terrorist ambushes. While the vast majority of IED incidents do no damage to Level I vehicles or personnel, the terrorists in Iraq do exhibit a very high learning curve when it comes to adapting their tactics to evolve with our armor technology. That being said, you can imagine how tenuous the protection in Level III vehicles (which have open, unarmored windows).




















I was also the primary navigator for my (at the time) unit’s over 35 vehicles. My imagery briefing in Kuwait was so thorough that I became the ‘go-to’ guy for the intel pre-briefing on how to navigate up MSR Tampa into Iraq, get through Baghdad without making wrong turns to Fallujah, or into Baghdad Int’l Airport, and then finally completing the mission up through the Samarra Bypass into Tikrit. Getting lost on the way up through Baghdad was a common problem. Units would either miss the turn into Baghdad and continue into Fallujah (which is—I believe—what happened with Jessica Lynch’s unit) or they would make that turn, but then miss the next one in Baghdad and end up smack dab into the middle of the city, right near Baghdad Int’l Airport. Either scenario: not palatable.

Monroe Mann, 28, wrote and published a book while he was in Iraq entitled, "Battle Cries for the Underdog -- Fightin' Words for an Extraordinary Life" which talk-show host G. Gordon Liddy says is "filled with some of the finest insights to be found in history". In the civilian world, Monroe is a published author, runs the Unstoppable Artists Business School in Manhattan, plays with his 7-piece ROMP band, ‘Running for Famous’, and is producing the world’s first wakeboarding feature film, "In the Wake"shooting on location in Orlando Fall 2006.

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