Joint Task Force North (JTF North), formerly Joint Task Force Six (JTF-6), is a multi-service operation by the United States Department of Defense for counterdrug and anti-terrorist operations. JTF-North is headquartered at Biggs Army Airfield, Fort Bliss, Texas. United States Northern Command is the controlling Unified Combatant Command.
Major General Henry S. Dixon assumed command on 9 December 2024, and is the 12th Commander of JTF-N. [1]
Well-known former members of Joint Task Force 6 include: General Kevin P. Byrnes, U.S. Army, Ret., JTF-6 Commanding General; Colonel Robert Love, USMC, Ret., and current Senior Executive Service (SES) member to the DoD's Task Force for Business and Stability Operations (TFBSO); Special Forces LTC Eric Buckland, U.S. Army, Ret., and Captain Kirk Harrington, owner of EFMC, LLC.[ citation needed ]
On 21 May 1995, during JTF-6 Mission "Smugglers Blues" (a joint air reconnaissance mission conducted along the US and Mexico border near Nogales, Arizona) Chief Warrant Officer 2 (CW2) Kevin L. Jenkins and Chief Warrant Officer 2 (CW2) John D. Peterson, both from Alpha Troop, 1st Squadron, 6th Cavalry Regiment (1/6 CAV) station in Fort Hood, Texas, died when their OH-58C helicopter crashed during a night surveillance mission. [2]
On 2 June 1996, during JTF-6 Mission JT177-96, (a ground reconnaissance mission conducted in the Angeles National Forest, California) Lance Corporal Eric D. Davis of Company B, 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment (1/5) died as the result of a fall. [3]
On 20 May 1997, during an operation in Redford, Texas, near the United States–Mexico border, Corporal Clemente M. Banuelos, the leader of his squad, fatally shot 18-year-old American citizen Esequiel Hernández, Jr., on the American side of the border. He was holding a .22 caliber rifle he used to protect his herd of goats from predators. Marines alleged that he pointed the rifle at them, although they were some 200 yards away and heavily camouflaged in ghillie suits. No charges were brought at the time or subsequently. [3]
The shooting inspired the 2005 film The Three Burials of Melquíades Estrada by Tommy Lee Jones. [4] The 2007 documentary The Ballad of Esequiel Hernández explores the killing, [5] analyzing both sides of the issue by interviewing the Hernández family and friends, the Marines, and local officials. [6]
The United States Navy Sea, Air, and Land (SEAL) Teams, commonly known as Navy SEALs, are the United States Navy's primary special operations force and a component of the United States Naval Special Warfare Command. Among the SEALs' main functions are conducting small-unit special operation missions in maritime, jungle, urban, arctic, mountainous, and desert environments. SEALs are typically ordered to capture or kill high-level targets, or to gather intelligence behind enemy lines. SEAL team personnel are hand-selected, highly trained, and possess a high degree of proficiency in unconventional warfare (UW), direct action (DA), and special reconnaissance (SR), among other tasks like sabotage, demolition, intelligence gathering, and hydrographic reconnaissance, training, and advising friendly militaries or other forces. All active SEALs are members of the U.S. Navy.
Fort Bliss is a United States Army post in New Mexico and Texas, with its headquarters in El Paso, Texas. Named in honor of LTC William Bliss (1815–1853), a mathematics professor who was the son-in-law of President Zachary Taylor, Ft. Bliss has an area of about 1,700 square miles (4,400 km2); it is the largest installation in FORSCOM and second-largest in the Army overall. The portion of the post located in El Paso County, Texas, is a census-designated place with a population of 8,591 as of the time of the 2010 census. Fort Bliss provides the largest contiguous tract of restricted airspace in the Continental United States, used for missile and artillery training and testing, and at 992,000 acres (401,000 ha) boasts the largest maneuver area. The garrison's land area is accounted at 1.12 million acres, ranging to the boundaries of the Lincoln National Forest and White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. Fort Bliss also includes the Castner Range National Monument.
United States special operations forces (SOF) are the active and reserve component forces of the United States Army, Marine Corps, Navy and Air Force within the US military, as designated by the Secretary of Defense and specifically organized, trained, and equipped to conduct and support special operations. All active and reserve special operations forces are assigned to the United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM).
The Nineteenth Air Force is an active Numbered Air Force of the United States Air Force. During the Cold War it was a component of Tactical Air Command, with a mission of command and control over deployed USAF forces in support of United States foreign policy initiatives. The command was reactivated in 1993 under Air Education and Training Command with a mission of conducting AETC's flying training.
Joint Task Force 2 is Canada's Tier 1 special operations force mandated with protecting Canadian national interests and combating terrorism threats both domestic and abroad. JTF 2 serves under the Canadian Special Operations Forces Command of the Canadian Armed Forces and is typically compared to American Delta Force and SEAL Team Six, the British Special Air Service and Special Boat Service, the Australian Special Air Service Regiment and 2nd Commando Regiment, and the New Zealand Special Air Service. Most information concerning JTF 2 is classified and is not usually commented on by the Canadian Armed Forces or the Canadian government.
The United States Southern Command (USSOUTHCOM), located in Doral in Greater Miami, Florida, is one of the eleven unified combatant commands in the United States Department of Defense. It is responsible for providing contingency planning, operations, and security cooperation for Central and South America, the Caribbean, their territorial waters, and for the force protection of U.S. military resources at these locations. USSOUTHCOM is also responsible for ensuring the defense of the Panama Canal and the canal area.
Joint Task Force-Global Network Operations (JTF-GNO) was a subordinate command of United States Strategic Command whose mission was to: direct the operation and defense of the Global Information Grid (GIG) across strategic, operational, and tactical boundaries in support of the US Department of Defense's full spectrum of war fighting, intelligence, and business operations.
The Air Force District of Washington (AFDW) is a Direct Reporting Unit of the United States Air Force. AFDW oversees Air Force operations in the Washington, D.C. region.
Joint Task Force-National Capital Region (JTF-NCR), formerly known as Joint Force Headquarters-National Capital Region (JFHQ-NCR), is directly responsible for ceremonial missions and the homeland security and defense of what is called the National Capital Region, which includes the Washington D.C. area as well as surrounding counties in Virginia and Maryland. Primarily made up of joint military units within the National Capital Region, the JTF-NCR assists federal and local civilian agencies and disaster response teams in the event that the capital area's security is or possibly could be breached by acts of terrorism. Officially activated on September 22, 2004, as JFHQ-NCR, the JTF-NCR is part of United States Northern Command.
In the United States Armed Forces, the ranks of warrant officer and chief warrant officer are rated as officers above all non-commissioned officers, candidates, cadets, and midshipmen, but subordinate to the lowest officer grade of O‑1. This application differs from the Commonwealth of Nations and other militaries, where warrant officers are the most senior of the other ranks, equivalent to the U.S. Armed Forces grades of E‑8 and E‑9.
Joint Task Force Lebanon (JTF-L) is a U.S. European Command (EUCOM) operational unit established in 2006 and assigned responsibility for U.S. military support to the American Embassy in Beirut and to help U.S. Department of State led humanitarian assistance efforts that are providing aid to the people of Lebanon. Led by Commander, U.S. Sixth Fleet Navy Vice Admiral John "Boomer" Stufflebeem, JTF Lebanon officially accepted the mission on August 23, 2006 from U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) units, which had been operating in the region since mid-July 2006 shortly after hostilities began between Israel and Hezbollah militants based in Lebanon.
Joint Task Force-Bravo is a forward-based expeditionary joint task force operating as U.S. Southern Command's (USSOUTHCOM) lead forward element in the Central America (CENTAM) region to promote stability and security and counter transnational and transregional threat networks (C-T3N). JTF-Bravo operates out of Soto Cano Air Base, Honduras, located 10 miles south of the city of Comayagua and 50 miles north of the capital city of Tegucigalpa.
The 193rd Infantry Brigade is a United States Army infantry brigade, which was originally constituted in the Army's organized reserves on 24 June 1922 as Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 193rd Infantry Brigade and assigned to the 97th Division. The brigade was converted and redesignated in February 1942 as the 97th Reconnaissance Troop, 97th Division. In February 1943, the Troop was ordered into active military service and organized at Camp Swift, Texas. It was reorganized and redesignated in October 1945 as the 97th Mechanized Cavalry Reconnaissance Troop.
The 77th Armor is an armored (tank) regiment of the United States Army. The 77th Armor Regiment is part of the U.S. Army Regimental System with only a single battalion, the 1st Battalion, 77th Armor Regiment, and is therefore classified as both a single battalion and the remainder of the Regiment itself. 1–77 AR is currently stationed at Fort Bliss, Texas as part of the 3rd Brigade "Bulldogs", 1st Armored Division and has transformed from a tank pure battalion into a combined arms battalion (CAB).
6th Communication Battalion is a communications battalion in the United States Marine Corps. It is part of Force Headquarters Group (FHG) Marine Forces Reserve. The unit is headquartered out of Floyd Bennett Field, Brooklyn, New York. The unit specializes in communications and is trained to provide radio, cyber, wire/switching, and satellite services to support Marine Expeditionary Forces (MEFs). 6th Communication Battalion also serves the surrounding New York community by running the Toys for Tots program in the New York City and Long Island area, attending parades and memorial services, and providing support for various other community activities that may arise.
The Canadian Joint Operations Command is one of the two unified commands of the Canadian Armed Forces, the other one being the Canadian Special Operations Forces Command. CJOC was announced in May 2012 as the result of the cost-cutting measures in the 2012 federal budget through the merger of Canada Command, the Canadian Expeditionary Force Command and the Canadian Operational Support Command under an integrated command-and-control structure. The command was stood up on 5 October 2012 to officially replace the three former organizations.
Juan Guadalupe Ayala is a retired two-star general in the U.S. Marine Corps and the former commander of the Marine Corps Installations Command (MCICOM) and Assistant Deputy Commandant, Installations & Logistics. Prior to assuming command of MCICOM, Major General Ayala served as Inspector General of the Marine Corps (IGMC). During his time in the Marine Corps, he served four tours in Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom and in Kuwait as part of Operation Enduring Freedom.
The 24th Press Camp Headquarters (PCH) is an active-duty unit in the United States Army headquartered at Fort Bliss, Texas. The unit consists of 31 public affairs and support personnel and is commanded by a lieutenant colonel assisted by a command sergeant major.
The 525th Expeditionary Military Intelligence Brigade (Expeditionary) is a unit of the United States Army specializing in the acquisition and analysis of information with potential military value. On 28 October 2014, the unit was reflagged from the "525th Battlefield Surveillance Brigade" to an expeditionary military intelligence brigade, the first of its kind.
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