Multi-National Force West

Last updated
Multi-National Forces West
Logo of Multi National Force - West.svg
The logo for MNF-W
ActiveMarch 2004 – January 23, 2010
DisbandedJanuary 23, 2010 [1]
Country Flag of the United States.svg United States of America
AllegianceUSMC logo.svg United States Marine Corps
Branch United States Marine Corps
Type Division
RoleExpeditionary combat forces
Size Multi National Force - West.jpg 37,000 (Peak in February 2008) [2]
Part of Multi-National Force – Iraq, Multi-National Corps – Iraq
Garrison/HQ Camp Fallujah (2004–2008)
Al Asad Airbase (2008–2010)
Engagements Iraq War Al Anbar campaign
* Operation Vigilant Resolve
* Operation Phantom Fury
Commanders
Notable
commanders
James T. Conway
John F. Kelly

Multi-National Forces West (MNF-W) or United States Forces West (USF-W) was one of the coalition headquarters under Multi-National Force-Iraq. It was headquartered by either I or II U.S. Marine Expeditionary Force that rotated on a 12-month basis. Their area of operations was primarily the Al Anbar province which includes the cities of Ar Ramadi, Fallujah, Al-Qa'im, and Haditha. The force was the most important U.S. unit to take part in the Iraq War in Al Anbar Governorate.

Contents

Among the smaller multinational units operating within MNF-W was a platoon from the Azerbaijani Armed Forces.

Commanders

During the Iraq War, the Marine Corps regularly rotated command of MNF-W between the 1st and 2nd Marine Expeditionary Forces.

MEFCommanderFromTo
I MEF James T. Conway March 2004September 2004
I MEF John F. Sattler September 2004February 2005
II MEF Stephen T. Johnson February 2005February 2006
I MEF Richard C. Zilmer February 2006February 2007
II MEF Walter Gaskin February 2007February 2008
I MEF John F. Kelly February 2008February 2009
II MEF Richard Tryon February 2009January 23, 2010

For convenience, these changes of command are listed below and the Marine command in MNF-W is simply referred to as "MEF":

[3] [4] [5] [6]

As the Marine Corps withdrew from Al Anbar Governorate, by September 2009 they were replaced by a single brigade, the 1st Brigade of the 82nd Airborne Division. The brigade was bolstered with an additional 16 advisers, though this did not reach the 48 assigned advisors that were supposed to be part of an 'Advise and Assist' brigade. [7]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">82nd Airborne Division</span> Active duty airborne infantry division of the US Army

The 82nd Airborne Division is an airborne infantry division of the United States Army specializing in parachute assault operations into hostile areas with a U.S. Department of Defense mandate to be "on-call to fight any time, anywhere" at "the knife's edge of technology and readiness." Primarily based at Fort Liberty, North Carolina, the 82nd Airborne Division is part of the XVIII Airborne Corps. The 82nd Airborne Division is the U.S. Army's most strategically mobile division.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">XVIII Airborne Corps</span> American military formation

The XVIII Airborne Corps is a corps of the United States Army that has been in existence since 1942 and saw extensive service during World War II. The corps is designed for rapid deployment anywhere in the world and is referred to as "America's Contingency Corps." Its headquarters are at Fort Liberty, North Carolina.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">First Battle of Fallujah</span> Operation of the Iraq War

The First Battle of Fallujah, code-named Operation Vigilant Resolve, was an operation against militants in Fallujah as well as an attempt to apprehend or kill the perpetrators of the killing of four U.S. contractors in March 2004.

Coalition Forces Land Component Command, or CFLCC, is a command directing all land forces of different allied countries on behalf of a combatant commander or Joint task force commander.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United States Army Forces Command</span> United States Army command

The United States Army Forces Command (FORSCOM) is the largest United States Army command. It provides expeditionary, regionally engaged, campaign-capable land forces to combatant commanders. Headquartered at Fort Liberty, North Carolina, FORSCOM consists of more than 750,000 active Army, U.S. Army Reserve, and Army National Guard soldiers. FORSCOM was created on 1 July 1973 from the former Continental Army Command (CONARC), who in turn supplanted Army Field Forces and Army Ground Forces.

Al-Asad Airbase is an Iraqi Armed Forces base located in al-Anbar Governorate of western Iraq. It was originally known as Qadisiyah Airbase.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marine Air Support Squadron 1</span> Military unit

Marine Air Support Squadron 1 (MASS-1) is a United States Marine Corps aviation command and control unit that provides the Direct Air Support Center to coordinate close air support for the II Marine Expeditionary Force. Callsign "Chieftain," the squadron is based out of Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, North Carolina, and falls under the command of Marine Air Control Group 28 and the 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Multi-National Corps – Iraq</span> Military unit

Multi-National Corps – Iraq (MNC-I) was a formerly multinational, later U.S. only, army corps created on 15 May 2004, fighting the Iraq War. Its superior body, the Multi-National Force-Iraq (MNF-I) had replaced Combined Joint Task Force 7 on May 15, 2004. The change was made due to "concerns that had existed for some period of time, that the Combined Joint Task Force 7 headquarters was not sufficient to handle the range of military operations in Iraq, including peace support, civil military operations, and at the same time conduct strategic engagement such as talking to the sheiks and talking to the political authorities."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Iraq War order of battle, 2009</span>

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Ramadi (2006)</span> 2006 battle in the Iraq War

The Battle of Ramadi was fought during the Iraq War from March 2006 to November 2006, for control of the capital of the Al Anbar Governorate in western Iraq. A joint US military force under the command 1st Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division and Iraqi Security Forces fought insurgents for control of key locations in Ramadi. Coalition strategy relied on establishing a number of patrol bases called Combat Operation Posts throughout the city.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Baqubah</span> Battle of the Iraq War

The Battle of Baqubah II took place during the Iraq War in the capital of the Iraqi province Diyala, to the north-east of Baghdad. It began in early March 2007, when U.S. and Iraqi forces commenced preliminary operations to "establish a presence in Diyala beyond their Forward Operating Base".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Operation Phantom Thunder</span>

Operation Phantom Thunder began on 16 June 2007, when Multi-National Force-Iraq launched major offensive operations against al-Qaeda and other extremist terrorists operating throughout Iraq. It was the largest coordinated military operation since the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Operation Phantom Thunder was a corps level operation, including Operation Arrowhead Ripper in Diyala Province, Operation Marne Torch and Operation Commando Eagle in Babil Province, Operation Fardh al-Qanoon in Baghdad, Operation Alljah in Anbar Province, and continuing special forces actions against the Mahdi Army in southern Iraq and against Al-Qaeda leadership throughout the country. The operation was one of the biggest military operations in Iraq since the U.S. invasion in 2003.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">82nd Sustainment Brigade</span> Military unit

The 82nd Airborne Division Sustainment Brigade is a sustainment brigade of the United States Army based at Fort Liberty, North Carolina. It provides logistical support to and is part of 82nd Airborne Division.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anbar campaign (2003–2011)</span> Campaign during the Iraq War

The Anbar campaign consisted of fighting between the United States military, together with Iraqi security forces, and Sunni insurgents in the western Iraqi governorate of Al Anbar. The Iraq War lasted from 2003 to 2011, but the majority of the fighting and counterinsurgency campaign in Anbar took place between April 2004 and September 2007. Although the fighting initially featured heavy urban warfare primarily between insurgents and U.S. Marines, insurgents in later years focused on ambushing the American and Iraqi security forces with improvised explosive devices (IEDs), large scale attacks on combat outposts, and car bombings. Almost 9,000 Iraqis and 1,335 Americans were killed in the campaign, many in the Euphrates River Valley and the Sunni Triangle around the cities of Fallujah and Ramadi.

Combined Joint Task Force 7 was the interim military formation that directed the U.S. effort in Iraq between June 2003 and May 2004. It replaced the Coalition Forces Land Component Command on 14 June 2003. CFLCC was the land forces component of United States Central Command that carried out the initial invasion of Iraq, was established by Commander, U.S. Army Forces Central Command, in 2002/3, to oversee two corps-sized organizations, I Marine Expeditionary Force and V Corps. These two corps-level formations carried out Operation Iraqi Freedom which began on 20 March 2003.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 11th Airborne Division</span> Active US Army formation

The 2nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 11th Airborne Division is an airborne infantry brigade combat team (BCT) of the United States Army. The unit is stationed at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska and is the only airborne brigade combat team in the Pacific Theater. It is also the newest airborne Infantry BCT and one of only five in the United States Army; the others are the three Infantry BCTs of the 82nd Airborne Division and the 173rd Airborne Brigade.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Iraqi Ground Forces Command</span> Military unit

The Ground Forces Command at Victory Base Complex near Baghdad Airport was the most important fighting formation in the Iraqi Army. The headquarters of the Iraqi Ground Forces Command and the Iraqi Joint Forces Command are the same entity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Operation Sayeed</span>

Operation Sayeed also known as Operation Hunter in English, was a series of operations conducted in western Al Anbar Governorate by the United States Marine Corps in 2005. It was an umbrella operation, consisting of at least 11 named operations between July 2005 to December 2005. The purpose was to drive Al-Qaeda in Iraq forces from the Western Euphrates River Valley. Some parts of Operation Sayeed were Operation Steel Curtain and Operation Iron Fist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">American occupation of Ramadi</span>

Ramadi, the capital of Iraq's Al Anbar Governorate, was under U.S. military occupation during the Iraq War. It was a focal point of Iraqi insurgency, which erupted into open armed conflict in 2004 and in 2006, part of the Iraq War in Anbar Province. Operation Murfreesboro was a U.S. offensive in February 2007 intended to cut off the Ma'Laab district of eastern Ramadi from the rest of the town in order to drive out Zarqawi's Al-Qaeda in Iraq.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Operation Inherent Resolve</span> Military intervention against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant

Operation Inherent Resolve (OIR) is the United States military's operational name for the international war against the Islamic State (IS), including both a campaign in Iraq and a campaign in Syria, with a closely related campaign in Libya. Through 18 September 2018, the U.S. Army's III Armored Corps was responsible for Combined Joint Task Force – Operation Inherent Resolve (CJTF—OIR) and were replaced by the XVIII Airborne Corps. The campaign is primarily waged by American and British forces in support of local allies, most prominently the Iraqi security forces and Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). Combat ground troops, mostly special forces, infantry, and artillery have also been deployed, especially in Iraq. Of the airstrikes, 70% have been conducted by the military of the United States, 20% by the United Kingdom and the remaining 10% being carried out by France, Turkey, Canada, the Netherlands, Denmark, Belgium, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Australia and Jordan.

References

  1. Marines transfer Anbar command, exit Iraq Archived 2010-02-05 at the Wayback Machine
  2. U.S. hands over Anbar, Iraq's once-deadliest region
  3. Schlosser 2010 , pp. 239–244
  4. McWilliams 2009 , pp. 215, 241 (Vol 1)
  5. "Marines transfer Anbar command, exit Iraq" (Press release). 82nd Airborne Division, United States Army. 25 January 2010. Retrieved 11 December 2011.
  6. West 2005 , p. 55
  7. Gordon, Michael R.; Trainor, Bernard E. (2012). The Endgame: The Inside Story of the Struggle for Iraq, from George W. Bush to Barack Obama. New York: Pantheon Books. p. 603. ISBN   978-0-307-37722-7.