​Searching for Weapons of Mass Destruction

Twenty years ago, alleged credible sources reported Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. The U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell boldly stated Saddam Hussein had chemical weapons stored in Iraq. Saddam Hussein, the fifth president of Iraq, had used chemical warfare against Iraqi and Kurdish civilians during the Iran-Iraq War. He had also pursued an extensive nuclear weapon program, although there is no evidence a nuclear bomb was ever built. Within two months of the U.N. speech, President Bush ordered air strikes over Baghdad. Hussein's’s regime was toppled in a few weeks and the search for weapons of mass destruction began. Headquarters and Headquarters Battery (HHB), 75th Field Artillery Brigade, deployed in February 2003 as the Army’s first ever Exploitation Task Force (TF). The TF was responsible for searching for weapons of mass destruction (WMD). No WMD’s were ever found.
This week we salute Jeff Cookman. Jeff is a native Montanan from Rosebud, Montana. He served in the U.S. Army from 2002 to 2022 retiring as a Sergeant First Class (SFC). His military occupational specialty was 13M, Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS). He was stationed at Fort Sill, Fort Cavazos (Ft. Hood), Fort Liberty (Ft. Bragg) and Korea. During his military career, he was deployed three times to Iraq and once to Afghanistan. SFC Cookman was assigned to the 75th Exploitation Task Force, searching for WMD’s. Jeff works at First State Bank of Forsyth. He is married and he and his wife have two children. Jeff has a twin brother that also served. Hopefully, I will be able to interview him for a future article.
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Dr. Irene Dickerson has a doctorate in Business Administration and is a retired Army Colonel living her best life in Big Sky Country.