A land mine is an explosive device concealed under or on the ground and designed to destroy or disable enemy targets, ranging from combatants to vehicles and tanks, as they pass over or near it. Such a device is typically detonated automatically by way of pressure when a target steps on it or drives over it, although other detonation mechanisms are also sometimes used. A land mine may cause damage by direct blast effect, by fragments that are thrown by the blast, or by both.
The Purple Heart (PH) is a United States military decoration awarded in the name of the President to those wounded or killed while serving, on or after 5 April 1917, with the U.S. military. With its forerunner, the Badge of Military Merit, which took the form of a heart made of purple cloth, the Purple Heart is the oldest military award still given to U.S. military members. The National Purple Heart Hall of Honor is located in New Windsor, New York.
A car bomb, bus bomb, lorry bomb, or truck bomb, also known as a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device (VBIED), is an improvised explosive device designed to be detonated in an automobile or other vehicles.
An improvised explosive device (IED) is a bomb constructed and deployed in ways other than in conventional military action. It may be constructed of conventional military explosives, such as an artillery shell, attached to a detonating mechanism. IEDs are commonly used as roadside bombs, or homemade bombs.
A blast injury is a complex type of physical trauma resulting from direct or indirect exposure to an explosion. Blast injuries occur with the detonation of high-order explosives as well as the deflagration of low order explosives. These injuries are compounded when the explosion occurs in a confined space.
Robert Warren Woodruff is an American television journalist. Since 1996, he has served as a reporter for ABC News. Woodruff co-anchored ABC World News Tonight in 2006 alongside ABC News journalist Elizabeth Vargas. He was severely injured by an IED explosion during a reporting trip to Iraq that January, and slowly recovered over an extended period before returning to air.
Staff Sergeant George T. Alexander Jr. was the 2,000th American soldier killed in combat in Iraq since the beginning of the 2003 Invasion of Iraq, according to the Associated Press. He was serving as a crewman on a M2 Bradley combat vehicle when he was mortally wounded.
The United States Air Force Academy Cemetery is a cemetery at the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, El Paso County, Colorado. It is administered by the 10th Air Base Wing.
The United Kingdom was one of the first countries to take part in Operation Enduring Freedom against the Taliban regime in autumn 2001.
The NCAA Award of Valor is presented by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) to recognize "courageous action or noteworthy bravery" by persons involved with intercollegiate athletics.
732 ESFS/Detachment 3 and 732 ESFS/Detachment 2 was a United States Air Force Security Forces unit sent to support Police Transition Teams in Baghdad, Iraq from 2005 until July 31, 2010. It was a "Request for Forces" (RFF) #619 or "In Lieu Of" agreement between the United States Air Force and United States Army. Rff 619 earned multiple unit awards and its members receiving individual awards as the Army Combat Action Badge, Air Force Combat Action Medal, Purple Heart, and the Bronze Star. The 732 ESFS is one of the most highly decorated and regarded Air Force units that participated in OIF.
Al-Karmah, also sometimes transliterated as Karma, Karmah, or Garma, is a city in central Iraq, 16 km (10 mi) northeast of Fallujah in the province of Al Anbar.
The Joint Improvised-Threat Defeat Organization (JIDO) is a combat support organization of the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) organization under the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) that deals with improvised threats such as the improvised explosive device (IEDs) and small unmanned aerial systems (sUASs). JIDO was born from the Joint IED Defeat Organization (JIEDDO) established in 2006, which focused on IEDs. JIDO's mission is to "enable Department of Defense actions to counter improvised threats with tactical responsiveness and anticipatory acquisition in support of combatant commanders' efforts to prepare for, and adapt to, battlefield surprise." This mission supports counter-terrorism, counter-insurgency and other related mission areas including Counter-IED.
The 30th Armored Brigade Combat Team is a modular heavy brigade of the United States Army National Guard. 30th ABCT relieved 3rd ABCT/4ID in Kuwait, 1 November 2019. They returned to the U.S. in September 2020 and were replaced by the 2nd ABCT/1AD.
Henry Timothy Vakoc ("VAH-kitch") was a Roman Catholic priest and a United States Army chaplain during the Iraq War, attaining the rank of major. He was critically injured on May 29, 2004, when his Humvee was struck by an IED as he was returning from celebrating Mass for soldiers. He was also the first documented U.S. Army chaplain seriously injured during Operation Iraqi Freedom. He died on June 20, 2009.
Captain Lisa Jade Head was a British Army officer. She was the first female bomb disposal officer to be killed on operations. She died on 19 April 2011 at the age of 29, having sustained serious injuries on active service in Afghanistan. At the time of her death, Head was the first female officer and the second British servicewoman to die in Afghanistan since 2001, after Sarah Bryant, and the 364th member of the British armed forces in total.
Rico Roman is an American gold medal ice sled hockey player and Purple Heart recipient from Portland, Oregon who competed in 2014 Winter Paralympics in Sochi, Russia.
Megan Leavey is a former United States Marine Corps corporal who served as a Military Police K9 handler.
This is a timeline of events during the War in Iraq of 2013 to 2017 in its final year.
Monica Beltran is a soldier in the Virginia Army National Guard who was awarded the Bronze Star Medal with "V" device for actions during a 2005 battle in the Iraq War.
