The 2nd Brigade of the 101st Airborne Division discovered in the summer of 2004 that they had to prepare for war in the Middle East and specifically Iraq. With Colonel Todd Ebel in command of the 2nd Division with a year to prepare over 3,400 men and women, he immediately got to work. Colonel Ebel began by choosing his staff and who he deemed fit to take charge and conduct this increasingly complicated war. There was a huge religious civil war going on in Iraq at the time with the Sunnis warring against the Shiites and after Saddam's capture the insurgency immediately began to rise. This revolt, along with that of Muqtada al-Sadr, a key leader who had many violent followers, soon morphed into a form of militia called the Mahdi Army, which became another huge problem for the United States because the border between a movement legitimate populist and a The huge theocratic circle of organized crime and terrorism was subtle. The 2nd Brigade's infantry battalions consisted of the 1-502nd (First Strike) and 2-502nd (Strike Force) and the 2nd Brigade as a whole is known as the "Black Hearts". Ebel's mission was to deny rebel access to Baghdad through its AO and, as intelligence increased, to root out and destroy rebel safe havens, while also training the AI ​​so they could ensure the stability of the region thereafter. Ebel selected Lieutenant Colonel Kunk as commander of the 1-502nd "First Strike" and Lieutenant Colonel Haycock as commander of the 2-502nd "Strike Force". Based on Ebel's personality assessments of Kunk and Haycock, he decided that Kunk would work in the area that involved him being more engaged where there were populist centers and would work more with local officials and Haycock in combat areas. Kunk was in command of 3 rifle companies, 1 weapons company, 1 logistics company... middle of paper... the leadership trait that came to mind was how Capt. John Goodwin was his resilience in getting through all the horrible parts of this deployment and he stayed there and worked as hard as he could without a break until he was forced to go on that leave to rest and then as soon as he felt something bad had happened, he stopped everything what he was doing and got back to his men as quickly as possible, showing how much he cared, he also listened to his men and what they needed and tried to help them continuously. One thing he didn't do a good job of was letting Kunk get to him and break down his confidence and take care of his own health so he could be awake and alert as company commander every day. His soldiers mentioned how weak, tired and malnourished he looked from being around the radio 24/7, which should never happen when you're the one making the decisions..