Colonel Ralph Baker currently serves as division chief (J5) for the Middle East on the Pentagon Joint Staff. During the ground war phase of Operation IRAQI FREEDOM, he was in charge of the V Corps tactical command post and subsequently took command of 2nd Brigade, 1st Armored Division on 7 July 2003 in Baghdad. Almost immediately, Baker realized that his heavy mechanized combat brigade would have to significantly modify the way it operated to adapt to the heavily congested urban Baghdad environment. “It was a continuous learning process” he explained. 2nd Brigade was responsible for the Karradah and Karkh districts, the Green Zone and the Tuwaitha nuclear facility. The brigade was simultaneously engaged in peacekeeping operations, stability and support operations, information/intelligence operations, and full-blown combat operations from the outset. Baker planned and executed Operation Ironhammer, captured the insurgents responsible for the Al Rasheed Hotel rocket attack, and oversaw additional combat operations in Karbala, Najaf (the Moqtada al-Sadr/Mahdi Army uprising) and Al Kut. Brigade reconstruction and renovation projects included hospitals, clinics, schools, the electrical grid, sewers, water purification and trash removal. These activities were instrumental in improving the brigade’s intelligence gathering network in the Iraqi community. The first independently-operating Iraqi National Guard battalion was trained by Baker’s brigade. In addition, he developed a statistical system to track progress and help discredit the insurgency. The data collected became “talking points” at regular press conferences conducted by the brigade. In spring 2004, General John Abizaid unexpectedly extended 1st AD’s mission in Iraq by 120 days. The entire division eventually returned to Wiesbaden in September 2004.
