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During the 2003 invasion of Iraq by a United States–led coalition, the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency developed a set of playing cards to help troops identify the most-wanted members of President Saddam Hussein's government, mostly high-ranking members of the Iraqi Regional Branch of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party or members of the Revolutionary Command Council; among them were some of Hussein's family members. The cards were officially named the "personality identification playing cards". As of 2021, all but four of the 52 most wanted have either died or been captured, eleven of whom have been released.
A private military company (PMC) or private military and security company (PMSC) is a private company providing armed combat or security services for financial gain. PMCs refer to their personnel as "security contractors" or "private military contractors".
Gen Con is the largest tabletop game convention in North America by both attendance and number of events. It features traditional pen-and-paper, board, and card games, including role-playing games, miniatures wargames, live action role-playing games, collectible card games, and strategy games. Gen Con also features computer games. Attendees engage in a variety of tournament and interactive game sessions. In 2019, Gen Con had nearly 70,000 unique attendees.
Academi, formerly known as Blackwater, is an American private military contractor founded on December 26, 1996, by former Navy SEAL officer Erik Prince. It was renamed Xe Services in 2009, and was again renamed to Academi in 2011, after it was acquired by a group of private investors. In 2014, Academi merged with Triple Canopy to form Constellis Holdings.
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.
QuakeCon is a yearly convention held by ZeniMax Media to celebrate and promote the major franchises of id Software and other studios owned by ZeniMax. It includes a large, paid, bring-your-own-computer (BYOC) LAN party event with a competitive tournament held every year in Dallas, Texas, USA. The event, which is named after id Software's game Quake, sees thousands of gamers from all over the world attend every year to celebrate the company's gaming dynasty.
A military exercise, training exercise, maneuver (manoeuvre), or war game is the employment of military resources in training for military operations. Military exercises are conducted to explore the effects of warfare or test tactics and strategies without actual combat. They also ensure the combat readiness of garrisoned or deployable forces prior to deployment from a home base.
Chainmail is a medieval miniature wargame created by Gary Gygax and Jeff Perren. Gygax developed the core medieval system of the game by expanding on rules authored by his fellow Lake Geneva Tactical Studies Association (LGTSA) member Jeff Perren, a hobby-shop owner with whom he had become friendly. Guidon Games released the first edition of Chainmail in 1971.
BlizzCon is an annual gaming convention held by Blizzard Entertainment to promote its major franchises including Warcraft, StarCraft, Diablo, Hearthstone, Heroes of the Storm, and Overwatch.
The United States bombardment of Fallujah began in April 2003, one month after the beginning of the invasion of Iraq. In April 2003 United States forces fired on a group of demonstrators who were protesting against the US presence. US forces alleged they were fired at first, but Human Rights Watch, who visited the site of the protests, concluded that physical evidence did not corroborate US allegations and confirmed the residents' accusations that the US forces fired indiscriminately at the crowd with no provocation. 17 people were killed and 70 were wounded. In a later incident, US soldiers fired on protesters again; Fallujah's mayor, Taha Bedaiwi al-Alwani, said that two people were killed and 14 wounded. Iraqi insurgents were able to claim the city a year later, before they were ousted by a siege and two assaults by US forces. These events caused widespread destruction and a humanitarian crisis in the city and surrounding areas. As of 2004, the city was largely ruined, with 60% of buildings damaged or destroyed, and the population at 30%–50% of pre-war levels.
Genericon was a modestly sized anime/science fiction/gaming convention held in Troy, New York on the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) campus for over 30 years, making it reportedly the longest-running college multigenre convention in the nation. It hosted theater-style auditoriums and had 24-hour anime viewing rooms, karaoke, cosplay events, 24-hour video game room/competitions, role-playing games, board games, and talks by guest speakers. The events usually began 6 p.m. on the Friday of the first weekend of March and continued until Sunday at 6 p.m. with a closing ceremony and announcement of the new "Con Chair". Starting with Genericon XXI, convention staff partnered with Jazzman's Cafe, located in the middle of the convention itself, to bring food and beverages to the convention.
Kobolds Ate My Baby! is an independently published role-playing game from 9th Level Games, a small-press publisher and designer of humorous role-playing games (RPGs) based in Pennsylvania. The name is a derivative reference to the Azaria Chamberlain disappearance and the famous misquote, "A dingo ate my baby!" The Super Deluxx Edition was still designed by 9th Level Games but is published by Dork Storm Press.
Support our troops is a slogan commonly used in the United States and Canada in reference to each country's military forces or troops. The slogan has been used during recent conflicts, including the Gulf War and the Iraq War.
Camp followers are civilians who follow armies. There are two common types of camp followers; first, the spouses and children of soldiers, who follow their spouse or parent's army from place to place; the second type of camp followers have historically been informal army service providers, servicing the needs of encamped soldiers, in particular selling goods or services that the military does not supply—these have included cooking, laundering, liquor, nursing, sexual services and sutlery.
Nasiriyah Airport is a public and military airport located 23 km (14 mi) southwest of Nasiriyah, Iraq.
Iraq for Sale: The War Profiteers is a 2006 documentary film made by Robert Greenwald and Brave New Films. Produced while the Iraq War was in full swing, the film deals with the alleged war profiteering and negligence of private contractors and consultants who went to Iraq as part of the US war effort.
K-1 Air Base, or Kaywan, is a former Iraqi Air Force base and military base in the Kirkuk Governorate of Iraq. It was captured by Coalition forces during Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003, later served as the headquarters of the 12th Division of the Iraqi Army. In 2014 it was taken over by the Kurdish Peshmerga. On October 16, 2017, the base was taken back by Iraqi special forces during the Battle of Kirkuk.
Gary Con is a gaming convention held in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin every year to celebrate the life and works of Gary Gygax, co-creator of Dungeons & Dragons and commonly considered the father of role playing games. Gygax was raised in Lake Geneva, where the company he later founded TSR, Inc. created and produced the Dungeons & Dragons game for 25 years.
Sean Patrick Fannon is an American role-playing game designer and writer. He has been working in the gaming industry since 1988, and is best known for his work with the Savage Worlds game system, including his epic fantasy setting, Shaintar, and his conversion of the classic game Rifts. He has also worked as a designer in the video game industry and a consultant in the film industry.