The 2nd Brigade of the 101st Airborne Division discovered in the summer of 2004 that it must prepare for the war in the Middle East and more particularly for that in Iraq. With Colonel Todd Ebel in command of the 2nd Division and having a year to prepare more than 3,400 men and women, he immediately got to work. Colonel Ebel began by choosing his staff and who he believed was fit to take charge and direct this increasingly complicated war. It was a huge religious civil war going on in Iraq at the time, with the Sunnis at war with the Shiites and after Saddam was captured, the insurgency immediately began. This uprising, along with that of Muqtada al-Sadr, a key leader who had many violent supporters, quickly evolved into a form of militia called the Mahdi Army, which became another major problem for the United States, because the border between a legitimate populist movement and a legitimate populist movement. The enormous theocratic network of organized crime and terrorism was thin. The 2nd Brigade's infantry battalions consisted of the 1-502nd (First Strike) and the 2-502nd (Strike Force) and the 2nd Brigade as a whole is known as the "Black Hearts". Ebel's mission was to prevent insurgents from gaining access to Baghdad through his AO and, as intelligence increased, to uproot and destroy insurgent safe houses, while training the AI ​​so that it can ensure the stability of the region thereafter. Ebel selected Lt. Col. Kunk as commander of the 1-502nd "First Strike" and Lt. Col. 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 becoming more engaged where the populist centers were and working more with local officials and Haycock in combat zones. Kunk commanded 3 rifle companies, 1 weapons company, 1 logistics company...... middle of paper ...... the leadership characteristic that came to mind was how Cap . John Goodwin showed resilience to overcome all the horrible parts of this deployment and always stuck with it and worked his hardest without interruption until he was forced to take this leave to rest and then as soon as 'he learned that something bad had happened, he stopped everything he was doing and got back to his men as quickly as possible, this showed how much he cared, he also listened to his men and what they needed and tried to help them all the time. One thing he didn't do a good job of was letting Kunk get to him, making him lose confidence in himself and taking care of his own health so he could be awake and alert as a commander companionship every day. His soldiers mentioned how weak, tired and undernourished he looked because he was next to the radio 24/7, which should never happen when you take the lead..