Jocko Willink

Number one, our mission from the siege of Sodef was to train and fight company and platoon-sized elements of Iraqi soldiers.

So that means we are supposed to train them and go and fight with them.

company and platoon-sized elements, not special mission units, not DA units, company and platoon-sized elements of infantry soldiers.

That's what we were supposed to, that's what our task was.

We put together some scouts, we put together some special mission units, but that was our task.

They don't have night vision.

They didn't even have flashlights.

We used to give like a fire team of Iraqis a flashlight.

So for them to do a clearance operation at night was like just a non-starter.

So that means they're going to go out in the day.

Well, since we're training and fighting them, guess who's out in the day?

We are.

So now since I got my guys out in the field during the day, I want to protect them.

So what am I doing?

Overwatch positions.

What time is it?

Daytime.

And by the way, we killed 99% of the enemy was during the daytime.

Because at nighttime, the enemy came out a lot less.

So that, and again, one of the big mistakes that I made was I never really explained that outside of my chain of command.