In Strange Company: An American Soldier with Multinational Forces in the Middle East and Iraq

“Colonel Tiso’s experience with operational planning and combat service with multinational forces in Iraq provides an exceptional background for this riveting, exciting, and most interesting book that superbly captures the challenges of Coalition Warfare.” ― Lieutenant General (Retired) Joseph W. Kinzer, USA

The decision to not deploy reoriented, trained Iraqi divisions and other allied forces in numbers significant enough to adequately stabilize the situation in Iraq in 2003–04 resulted in significant shortages of manpower and equipment that eventually led to a less-than-satisfactory ending to the campaign, and significantly challenged the entire Coalition effort in the first year of Operation Iraqi Freedom. The roles and missions assumed by allies were vitally important in the under-resourced effort to bring order to the chaos of Iraq but would remain relatively unheralded throughout most of the campaign.

Colonel Tiso’s account of this time offers unique insights into the challenges of planning the Iraqi campaign and the intricacies and challenges of multinational service through the lens of his assignments as a war planner at U.S. Central Command, Senior Military Adviser of the Arab Peninsula Shield Force and the Polish-led Multinational Division (Central-South), and Chief of Staff and Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations (C-3) of the Coalition Military Assistance Training Team tasked to develop the New Iraqi Army. His observations cast significant light on the missions these units undertook and the challenges they confronted.

His firsthand account of operational planning for war in Iraq captures the concerns of the military planners and senior commanders to liberate and stabilize the country, enabling the reader to better understand the challenges of operational war planning, coalition warfare, the difficulty of stabilizing Iraq after the fall of Baghdad, the development of the New Iraqi Army, and ultimately a deeper understanding of America’s “long war” in Iraq.

Table of Contents

Foreword
Author’s Notes and Acknowledgements

Part I: Planning and Training for War
1 Multi-Cultural Experiences in Old New York
2 United States Central Command and the Central Region
3 Leading U.S. and Multinational Forces in the Sinai
4 Fighting the Force Protection Battle in Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan
5 Planning the Inevitable War

Part II: Operation “Iraqi Freedom” Special Missions
6 Staffing Post Hostilities Operations
7 Duty with the United Nations
8 Stability Operations in Iraq
9 Advising the Peninsula Shield Force
10 Reconnaissance of the Rumaylah Oil Fields
11 Redeployment of the Peninsula Shield Force
12 Assignment to the Coalition Military Assistance Team
13 Building the Foundation of an Army
14 Making the Most of Scant Resources
15 Recruiting, Organizing, and Training the New Iraqi Army

Part III: Soldiering With the Multinational Division Central-South
16 Preparing for Duty with a Combat Division
17 Serving with the Multinational Division Central South
18 The Challenges of Multinational Command
19 The Power of the Theater Commander
20 Patrolling with the Ukrainians on the Iranian Border
21 Preparing the Occupation of Iraq
22 Indications of a Growing Insurgency in Central South Iraq
23 Dealing with Generals
24 The War Comes to the Multinational Division Central South
25 Defeating the Enemy with Overwhelming Force
26 Fighting the Battle for Central-South Iraq
27 Combat Action in Al Kut
28 The American Bureaucracy in Baghdad
29 Developing a Strategy to Conduct the Long War
30 False Hope For Peace in Iraq
31 Christmas on the Iranian Border
32 Terrorist Attack and Tragedy in Karbala
33 Transitioning to a New Commander and Division Staff
34 Teaching the New Command to Conduct Combat Operations
35 A New Liaison Team Arrives at Camp Babylon

Part IV: Going Home: Reflections on the Long War
36 Going Home via Poland
37 Epilogue

Endnotes

Colonel Roland Tiso was commissioned a Second Lieutenant of Infantry upon his graduation from the Virginia Military Institute in 1973. He commanded infantry companies in Korea and the United States, the 1st Battalion, 508th Airborne Infantry in Panama, and United States Task Force Sinai, Multi-National Force & Observers in Egypt. He was the Chief of War Plans Division, U.S. Central Command in 1996–97, and was one of the primary planners of the Iraq War Plan. He was Executive Officer to the Commander of U.S. Central Command 1998-2000. He is a graduate of the U.S. Army War College, the Command & General Staff College, and the Armed Forces Staff College. Colonel Tiso was selected as a Distinguished Member of the 506th Infantry Regiment in 2022, and inducted into the U.S. Army Senior ROTC Hall of Fame in 2024.