Talking With Heroes

Program Schedule

January 16, 2008 

More from Eastern Baghdad,Iraq

2nd Brigade Combat Team and

3rd Cavalry 61 Regiment 2nd BCT

From Ft Carson  

Thank you to Patti Bader and SoldiersAngels.Org

The Main Sponsors for our Third Trip to Iraq

Thank you also to Alan Gray with www.newsblaze.com

Host: Bob Calvert

Filmed by: Jim Martin, CEO of Altitude Sports and Entertainment

Guests:

Lt Col Walsh

MITT Brigade Team Chief

LtCol Walsh has been in the Army for 18 years. He is one of the MITT (Military Transition Team) Team Leaders in the Eastern Baghdad area. This is LtCol Walsh’s second tour to Iraq. His first tour was also in Baghdad with a different Transition Team. LtCol Walsh is based out of Ft Riley in Kansas.

LtCol Walsh’s main job is training the Iraqi Army. His counter part in the Iraqi Army is with the 4^th Infantry Brigade 1^st Iraqi Army Division. They came to Baghdad from the Anbar Province.

LtCol Walsh is a Brigade Team Chief. He has 10 man teams with 3 Battalion Team under a District in Baghdad. He gives us a great overview of the results of training the Iraqi Army and overall progress in Iraq.

LtCol Walsh

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Colonel Jeffrey L. Bannister

Commander 2ID 2BCT from Ft Carson

Col Bannister has served in the Army for 26 years. He has served in the Airborne, Rangers, has been a Bradley Tank Commander and he took command of 2ID2BCT in 2005.

Col Bannister talks about some of the history of 2BCT including them being in Fallujah, going to Ft Carson and now serving in Baghdad. 10 months after coming to Ft Carson from Fallujah they were deployed to Baghdad. Fifteen months later they will be back home towards the end of 2007.

When they arrived in Baghdad they were the only Coalition Force US Brigade on the US side of Baghdad. They now have 3 Brigades. Col Bannister says that they now have 12 Maneuver Battalions as a result of the Surge. They have 8 Battalions partnering with 3 Iraqi Battalions and 3 Districts of Iraqi Police.

They started with 2 Forward Operating Bases (FOB’s) one of them being in Camp Rustmayeh. Now they have 21 Outposts in Baghdad with soldiers living among the Iraqi population along with Iraqi Army and Iraqi Police.

Col Bannister gives a great overview of what Eastern Baghdad was like when they arrived and what it is like today. He explains some of what they did. And continue to do every day that makes Eastern Baghdad a safer place for all Iraqis and our troops.

He talks about some of the markets that have blossomed as more and more Iraqis feel safer to come out and shop.

Colonel Jeffrey L. Bannister standing to the right of Bob

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Chaplain Major Jeff Zust

2BCT Chaplain

Major Zust has been a Chaplain for 21 years in the Military with 6 of those years in the Air Force Reserve and the rest with the Minnesota National Guard. He was Pastor of an Evangelic Lutheran Church of America. He has been a Youth and Education Pastor at Augustine Lutheran Church in Denver and Pastor at Bernadette Lutheran Church in Minnesota.

Major Zust says he loves working with people one on one. He gets out with the Soldiers where they are including in the battlefield with them. He said there are 4,000 Soldiers in the Brigade with 10 Chaplains and 10 Chaplain Assistants.  He says “we go to work with our parishioners quite literally”. He also says “we come to believe in the power of prayer very deeply”.

He talks about support from back home. He says “the outpouring for our wounded warriors has been outstanding especially in the Colorado Springs area”.

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Captain Timothy Little

Public Affairs Officer and Squadron Effects Coordinator

Third Cavalry 61^st Regiment 2BCT

At Camp Rustamiyah in Eastern Baghdad

Captain Little organized the interviews and shout outs from Camp Rustamiyah that we bring back to America.  Captain Little has served 11 years in the military between active duty and the National Guard. He and his wife live in Colorado Springs.

His wife SGT Lauren Little is also in the Army from Ft Carson and is currently deployed also at Camp Rustamiyah. She has served 2 ½ years active duty and 4 ½ years in the National Guard.

Captain Little is on his second deployment with his first being in Ramadi and now in Baghdad. He says that Camp Rustamiyah is divided in half with their American Soldiers and Iraqi Army. He talks about the importance of care packages some of which end up going to Iraqi Army soldiers too.

Captain Little talks about what it was like in Ramadi on his first deployment in 2004-2005 and the turnaround there since. He talks about his mission and what he does as a Public Affairs Officer. He talks about progress in Iraq including about entire neighborhoods in SE Baghdad that had been abandoned due to Militias and now the people are coming back.