Jim Doyle:
Last year we had the largest operation of deployment of our guard since World War II. More than 4,000 Wisconsin soldiers and airmen. They have performed dangerous missions with bravery. And while 3200 of them came home this month, many of them still serve.

Frederica Freyberg:
Among those now home with the 32nd brigade is Lt. Col. Tim Donovan. Reporter Art Hackett talked with Col. Donovan about his experience overseas.

Art Hackett:
Thank you for joining us.

Tim Donovan:
My pleasure.

Art Hackett:
Before you left, you talked about how you had never served in a combat zone before. This was your first chance. And I'm curious how the experience paired up with your expectations.

Tim Donovan:
Well, there are combat zones and there are combat zones. I was in the International Zone of Baghdad, which is technically a combat zone. But it didn't really feel like a combat zone most of the time. Once in a while it did if there was a direct fire attack on the IZ but it certainly wasn't combat the way combat has been experienced by members of the 32nd division in two world wars or earlier by Wisconsin National Guard troops and others in Iraq from 2003 on. Technically a combat zone, every once in a while it felt like one, but usually not. Usually it just felt like being in a big city. This is the government quarter of Baghdad, the capital of a sovereign nation, the government, the embassy, some military installations, far fewer of those as we left Baghdad in early January than there were when we got there in May. But it's a big city. It's a beautiful city in many ways. And an odd city, with really kind of garish monuments and garish palaces. That's the environment we lived and worked in. But that's only 140 members. Others were working and living throughout Iraq.

Art Hackett:
I gather that a lot of them were running security details, escorting convoys, what have you.

Tim Donovan:
One of the big missions was detaining operations. The largest detention facility on earth as we began our mission in May was at Camp Bucca in the far south of Iraq. One of the missions of 32nd Brigade troops was to operate that facility and to close it. So by the time we left Iraq three weeks ago now, that facility had been closed for a couple of months with detainees moved to other detention facilities and that camp being dismantled as a detention facility. So detainee operations were pretty big in the International Zone. We were in charge of property management and turning over a lot of U.S.-controlled properties to the government of Iraq. A lot of security missions, securing the International Zone. All things that needed to be done in 2009 and into 2010, but completely different than the things that needed to be done back in 2003 when this all began.

Art Hackett:
What was your typical day like?

Tim Donovan:
The days are long and they came one after the other, day after day, week after week, month after month. But we usually started pretty early. My shop needed to deal with people back in Wisconsin, so we adjusted our hours a little bit to extend into business hours here in Wisconsin. So we worked from about seven in the morning until seven or eight at night.

Art Hackett:
Since you've gotten back, there have been some rather large bombings in Baghdad. You, I assume, have seen those on the news. Having been there only a few weeks ago, what goes through your head when you see those?

Tim Donovan:
Well, we experienced them too. We didn't experience them very close, close-up, which is a good thing, but these are pretty big bombs occasionally that are detonated. And they shake buildings miles away. And we heard and felt some of those very same explosions. I think the most recent large attack was on a — in a neighborhood across the Tigris River from where we were near a couple of large hotels, and we feel for the victims of those attacks. The enemy doesn't care who the enemy hurts and there are innocents killed and maimed in these explosions and it's a terrible thing and we just hope it doesn't set back a lot of progress that's been made in Iraq.

Art Hackett:
One thing that was said about those bombings that the people in Baghdad noticed was that U.S. troops were no longer the first responders, that this was now the duty of the Iraqi police, the Iraqi army. Do you feel like they're ready for that based on what you observed?

Tim Donovan:
I do. Great strides have been made. The U.S. got out of the combat and the city's business at the end of June. Since then, the Iraqi security forces are responsible for the security of Iraq, as they must be, because at the end of the day, when this is all over, Iraq needs to secure itself. We're there to help them, but the face of security is an Iraqi face. The U.S. forces still in Iraq are there to assist.

Art Hackett:
Leaving aside the definition of what constitutes a combat zone, you said before you left that you felt it was important as a career soldier to be in that type of environment at least once in your career. Why was that so important to you?

Tim Donovan:
Well, it's not really a career enhancer, and if I gave you that impression, I didn't mean to. It's something...

Art Hackett:
It was something you wanted to do personally.

Tim Donovan:
Fulfills you as a person. I've been serving in a military uniform for more than 38 years. And I had never until the very end of my career had an opportunity to do that which we're trained and prepared to do. So for me it was just personally fulfilling. Is it a career enhancer? It's not going to help my career much. But I found it fulfilling to be there, to do the things that I've been trained and prepared for 38 years to do.

Art Hackett:
Tim Donovan, thank you very much for joining us.

Tim Donovan:
My pleasure.

Frederica Freyberg:
Welcome home to Col. Donovan and the rest of the 32nd. Some remain on duty in southern Iraq, due to return to Wisconsin sometime in May.