Airborne forces are ground combat units carried by aircraft and airdropped into battle zones, typically by parachute drop or air assault. Parachute-qualified Infantry soldiers serving in airborne force are also known as paratroopers.
The 101st Airborne Division is a light infantry division of the United States Army specializing in air assault operations. The Screaming Eagles were referred to as "the tip of the spear" by former U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and the most potent and tactically mobile of the U.S. Army's divisions by former Chief of Staff of the Army GEN Edward C. Meyer. The 101st Airborne can plan, coordinate, and execute multiple battalion-size air assault operations to seize key terrain and can work in austere environments with limited or degraded infrastructure. These operations can be conducted by mobile teams covering large distances and engaging enemy forces behind enemy lines. Its unique battlefield mobility and high level of training have kept it in the vanguard of U.S. land combat forces in recent conflicts, e.g. foreign internal defense and counterterrorism operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
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.
The Second Battle of Fallujah—code-named Operation Al-Fajr and Operation Phantom Fury—was a joint American, Iraqi-government, and British offensive in November and December 2004, the highest point of conflict during the Iraq War. It was led by the U.S. Marines against the Iraqi insurgents in the city of Fallujah, and was authorized by the U.S.-appointed Iraqi Interim Government. The U.S. military called it "some of the heaviest urban combat U.S. Marines have been involved in since the Battle of Huế City in Vietnam in 1968."
The 187th Airborne Infantry Regiment (Rakkasans) is a regiment of the 101st Airborne Division.
The 502nd Infantry Regiment, previously titled the 502nd Parachute Infantry Regiment, is an infantry regiment of the United States Army. The regiment was established shortly after the American entry into World War II, and was assigned as a regiment of the 101st Airborne Division, "The Screaming Eagles", one of the most decorated formations of the U.S. Army. The regiment saw substantial action in the European Theater of World War II and was inactivated in 1945, shortly after the end of the war. Reactivating in a new form in 1956, the 502d Infantry has served in the Vietnam War, the first Gulf War, Operation Iraqi Freedom, Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan, and Operation Inherent Resolve in Iraq. Since 1974, the regiment has been classified as an Air Assault unit. Currently, its 1st and 2nd battalions are active. Both battalions are assigned to the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division.
The Battle of Mosul was a battle fought during the Iraq War in 2004 for the capital of the Ninawa Governorate in northern Iraq that occurred concurrently to fighting in Fallujah.
Operation Airborne Dragon was a part of Operation Northern Delay in the 2003 invasion of Iraq. US airborne troops seized Bashur air base in northern Iraq, and were then reinforced by air with tanks and infantry fighting vehicles. The combined force held the airfield until the arrival of ground forces.
The 2008 Nineveh campaign was a series of offensives and counter-attacks between insurgent and Coalition forces for control of the Nineveh Governorate in northern Iraq in early-to-mid-2008. Some fighting also occurred in the neighboring Kirkuk Governorate.
The Battle of Samawah took place during the 2003 invasion of Iraq as American troops fought to clear the city of Iraqi forces. The city had been bypassed during the advance on Baghdad, leaving the task of clearing it to American paratroopers of the 82nd Airborne Division with mechanized infantry and armor provided by units of the 1st Battalion, 41st Infantry Regiment, and 2-70th Armor Battalions, along with 3rd platoon 59th Chemical Company tasked with finding and removing any potential chemical or biological weapons. The battle was the largest sustained urban combat that paratroopers of the 82nd Airborne had been involved in since World War II.
The 159th Combat Aviation Brigade (CAB) formerly supported the 101st Airborne Division, and was stationed at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. While active, 159th CAB made the 101st Airborne Division the only US Army Division with two organic aviation brigades, and currently the 101st CAB is the only CAB supporting the unit at Fort Campbell. The 159th CAB was inactivated on 15 May 2015.
The Combat Aviation Brigade, 101st Airborne Division is a Combat Aviation Brigade (CAB) of the United States Army. It was first organized in July 1968 as an aviation group and stands as the most decorated aviation unit in the United States Army. It was redesignated an aviation brigade in 1986. It has served in almost every single military operation since the Vietnam War. In support of the Global War on Terror, the CAB has distinguished itself as the military's premiere combat aviation unit during its two deployments to Iraq and five deployments to Afghanistan. The brigade has flown hundreds of thousands of hours during these combat tours, transporting millions of troops around the battlefield and providing close air support/aerial reconnaissance. The 101st broke its own record for longest air assault in history during the invasion of Iraq in 2003. Previously, the longest air assault was conducted in 1991 during Operation Desert Storm.
This is the order of battle for invasion of Iraq during the Iraq War between coalition forces and Iraqi regular forces supported by Fedayeen Saddam irregulars and others between March 19 and May 1, 2003.
Qayyarah Airfield West is an Iraqi Air Force base in the Qayyarah subdistrict of Mosul District in northern Iraq. It was captured by U.S. Army during Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003. It was also known as Q–West or Key West by the various U.S. Army Forces and civilian contractors stationed there. Control of the base was returned to Iraq in March 2020.
Tal Afar Air Base is a former Iraqi Air Force base near Tal Afar in the Nineveh Governorate of Iraq.
On 15 June 2014, U.S. President Barack Obama ordered United States forces to be dispatched in response to the Northern Iraq offensive of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) as part of Operation Inherent Resolve. At the invitation of the Iraqi government, American troops went to assess Iraqi forces and the threat posed by ISIL.
Operation Inherent Resolve (OIR) is the U.S. military's operational name for the International military intervention against ISIL, 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 air forces in support of local allies, most prominently the Iraqi security forces and Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). Combat ground troops, mostly special forces and artillery, have also been deployed, especially in Iraq. Of the airstrikes, 75–80% have been conducted by the military of the United States, with the other 20–25% by the United Kingdom, France, Turkey, Canada, the Netherlands, Denmark, Belgium, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Australia and Jordan.
The 101st Airborne Division is a specialized modular light infantry division of the US Army trained for air assault operations. The Screaming Eagles has been referred to by journalists as "the tip of the spear" as well as one of the most potent and tactically mobile of the U.S. Army's divisions. The 101st Airborne Division has a history that is nearly a century long. During World War II, it was renowned for its role in Operation Overlord, Operation Market Garden, the liberation of the Netherlands and its action during the Battle of the Bulge around the city of Bastogne, Belgium. During the Vietnam War, the 101st Airborne Division fought in several major campaigns and battles, including the Battle of Hamburger Hill in May 1969. In mid-1968, it was reorganized and redesignated as an airmobile division and then in 1974 as an air assault division. In recent years, the division has served in Iraq and Afghanistan. At the height of the War on Terror, the 101st Airborne Division had over 200 aircraft. The division now has slightly over 100 aircraft.
During the course of the Battle of Mosul (2016–17), an international coalition, primarily composed of the Iraqi Army, Kurdish Peshmerga, CJTF–OIR, along with the allied Popular Mobilization Forces, Company A, 2-502 Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division, captured Mosul from the Islamic State, which had used Mosul as the capital for the Iraqi half of its "caliphate".
This is the Military intervention against ISIL ground order of battle, which lists the American forces and allies aerial assets that have taken part in the Military intervention against ISIL between June 2014 and the present day.
