Kirkush Military Training Base was a United States Army installation near the city of Balad Ruz in Diyala Governorate, Iraq.
Forward Operating Base Caldwell was named for United States Army Specialist Nathaniel A. Caldwell of Omaha, Nebraska who was killed on May 21, 2003 when the vehicle he was riding in at night rolled over while traveling at excessive speed in Baghdad, Iraq. Caldwell was assigned to the 404th Aviation Support Battalion, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Hood, Texas.
Until the US Army arrived, FOB Caldwell was an abandoned Iraqi military base. Construction had begun in the mid-1980s by the Czechoslovakian government and ceased in the late 1980s or early 1990s. The entire facility covers about 100 acres (0.40 km2) and has several medium size groups of buildings called pods. A kilometer outside of Kirkush is a brick factory which has several black smoke stacks about 50 feet (15 m) high.
FOB Caldwell was located in a complex that was within Kirkush Military Training Base (KMTB), Iraq (Mercator Grid Reference System 38SNC 22027 30374) is approximately 70 miles (110 km) east of Baghdad, close to the Iranian border. Kirkush is located some 90 km northeast of Baghdad and 20 km from the Iranian border. Kirkush [33°43'10"N 045°17'24"E ] lies due east of Balad Ruz, Iraq.
Several US Army units lived and worked on FOB Caldwell and KMTB as a whole. Units that were located on FOB Caldwell proper included:
Coalition Military Training Team (CMATT) Advisors to the Base Operations, Iraqi CG, Base Defense Team 2005-2008 FOB Caldwell was dissolved into the larger KMTB on April 3, 2010 and turned over to the 5th Iraqi Army Division.
The 4th Infantry Division is a division of the United States Army based at Fort Carson, Colorado. It is composed of a division headquarters battalion, three brigade combat teams, a combat aviation brigade, a division sustainment brigade, and a division artillery.
The 39th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, also officially known as The Arkansas Brigade, is an infantry brigade combat team of the Army National Guard composed of personnel from the U.S. states of Arkansas, Missouri, and Nebraska. The unit is the largest Army National Guard command in Arkansas and is headquartered at the Camp Robinson Maneuver Training Center. It was ordered into federal service in 2003 in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom II. The 39th was attached to the 1st Cavalry Division and served in and around Baghdad for a year, returning to the United States in March 2005.
The 28th Infantry Division ("Keystone") is a unit of the Army National Guard and is the oldest division-sized unit in the Department of Defense. Some of the units of the division can trace their lineage to Benjamin Franklin's battalion, The Pennsylvania Associators (1747–1777). The division was officially established in 1879 and was later redesignated as the 28th Division in 1917, after the entry of America into the First World War. It is today part of the Pennsylvania Army National Guard, Maryland Army National Guard, Ohio Army National Guard, and New Jersey Army National Guard.
The 32nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team is an infantry brigade combat team in the United States Army National Guard. It was formed from the inactivated 32nd Infantry Division in 1967. It is the largest unit in the Wisconsin National Guard.
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The 9th Cavalry Regiment is a parent cavalry regiment of the United States Army. Historically, it was one of the Army's four segregated African-American regiments and was part of what was known as the Buffalo Soldiers. The regiment saw combat during the Indian and Spanish–American Wars. During Westward Expansion, the regiment provided escort for the early western settlers and maintained peace on the American frontier.
The 14th Cavalry Regiment is a cavalry regiment of the United States Army. It has two squadrons that provide reconnaissance, surveillance, and target acquisition for Stryker brigade combat teams. Constituted in 1901, it has served in conflicts from the Philippine–American War to the Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan.
Below is an estimated list of the major units deployed within the Multi-National Force – Iraq and other United States military units that were operating in Iraq under the U.S. Central Command (USCENTCOM) in 2009, during the Iraq War.
Camp Taji, also known as Camp Cooke, is a military installation used by Iraqi and Coalition forces near Taji, Baghdad Governorate, Iraq. The camp is located in a rural region approximately 27 km (17 mi) north of the capital Baghdad.
Majid al Tamimi Airbase, officially known as the Tikrit Air Academy and formerly as Al Sahra Airfield is an air installation near Tikrit in northern Iraq. The installation is approximately 170 kilometers north of Baghdad and 11 kilometers west of the Tigris River. Prior to 2003, Al Sahra Airfield was the main base of the Iraqi Air Force Air Academy. The Marines from Task Force Tripoli captured the base from the Iraqi Army during the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq and turned it over to the United States Army who used it as the headquarters of the United States Division–North. The airfield is served by two main runways measuring 9,600 feet (2,900 m) long with a shorter runway measuring 7,200-foot (2,200 m). The Americans named the airfield after Captain Michael Scott Speicher, a United States Navy pilot who was killed in action in Iraq during the Gulf War.
Forward Operating Base Kalsu, also known as 'FOB Kalsu', COS Kalsu or simply Camp Kalsu, was a U.S. Military installation in Iskandariya, Iraq, 20 miles south of Baghdad. It was officially closed by members of the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, on December 12, 2011 as part of the US Army's withdrawal from Iraq.
Forward Operating Base Iskandariyah (Arabic:إسكندرية), or FOB Iskandariyah, was a United States military forward operating base located on the grounds of the Musayyib Power Plant and the banks of the Euphrates River, north of the town of Musayyib, Babil Governorate, Iraq from 2003 to 2009.
The 20th Infantry Regiment is a United States Army infantry regiment. Currently only the 5th Battalion of the 20th Infantry still exists. Stationed at Joint Base Lewis-McChord and part of the 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, 5-20 Infantry was one of the original battalions selected to take part in the testing and fielding of the U.S. Army's then-new Stryker vehicle. During the Vietnam War, elements of the regiment carried out the My Lai massacre.
Andrew J. Olmsted was a major in the U.S. Army. He was born in Bangor, Maine, raised in Northborough, Massachusetts, and educated at St. John's High School in Shrewsbury, MA, and Clark University.
The 53rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team is an infantry brigade combat team of the Florida Army National Guard. The 53rd Infantry Brigade is the largest National Guard unit in the state of Florida. The brigade was one of fifteen enhanced readiness brigades, designed and trained to support active duty divisions. The brigade includes 32 units in Florida and Alabama with 4,166 authorized personnel.
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The 151st Cavalry Regiment was a United States Army cavalry regiment represented in the Arkansas Army National Guard by 1st Squadron, 151st Cavalry Regiment, headquartered in Warren, Arkansas, an element of the 39th Infantry Brigade Combat Team.
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The 1st Battalion, 107th Cavalry Regiment was a unit of the Ohio Army National Guard, with troops in multiple locations throughout northeastern Ohio and has served in the United States of America's major wars and conflicts since 1898 until its inactivation on 31 August 2007.