Task Force Viking
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Task Force Viking
Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force – North (CJSOTF–N), also known as Task Force Viking, was the U.S. joint task force responsible for the northern front during the initial period of the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq (OIF Rotation I). It secured Kirkuk, Mosul, and the northern oil fields; prevented 13 Iraqi Army divisions from defending Baghdad or reinforcing defensive operations against American and British troops advancing in the south, and thwarted Turkish efforts to subvert Kurdistan. Task Force Viking conducted artillery observer, direct action, special reconnaissance, and unconventional warfare missions in order to disrupt and fix Iraqi forces arrayed along the "Green Line", the nominal 1991 demarcation line between the Kurdish northern provinces of Iraq and the remainder controlled by Saddam Hussein.McCool, John (2005)Interview with Major David Harris, USAF ''Operational Leadership in the Global War on Terrorism''. Combat Studies Institute, Ft. Leavenworth, K ...
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Iraq Invasion Northern Front
Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, the Persian Gulf and Kuwait to the southeast, Saudi Arabia to the south, Jordan to the southwest and Syria to the west. The capital and largest city is Baghdad. Iraq is home to diverse ethnic groups including Iraqi Arabs, Kurds, Turkmens, Assyrians, Armenians, Yazidis, Mandaeans, Persians and Shabakis with similarly diverse geography and wildlife. The vast majority of the country's 44 million residents are Muslims – the notable other faiths are Christianity, Yazidism, Mandaeism, Yarsanism and Zoroastrianism. The official languages of Iraq are Arabic and Kurdish; others also recognised in specific regions are Neo-Aramaic, Turkish and Armenian. Starting as early as the 6th millennium BC, the fertile alluvial plains between Iraq's Tigris and Euphrates R ...
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Special Forces (United States Army)
The United States Army Special Forces (SF), colloquially known as the "Green Berets" due to their distinctive service Berets of the United States Army, headgear, are a special operations special operations force, force of the United States Army. The Green Berets are geared towards nine doctrinal missions: unconventional warfare (United States), unconventional warfare, foreign internal defense, direct action (military), direct action, counter-insurgency, counterinsurgency, special reconnaissance, counter-terrorism, counterterrorism, information operations, counterproliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and security force assistance. The unit emphasizes language, cultural, and training skills in working with foreign troops; recruits are required to learn a foreign language as part of their training and must maintain knowledge of the political, economic, and cultural complexities of the regions in which they are deployed. Other Special Forces missions, known as secondary ...
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Peshmerga
The Peshmerga ( ku, پێشمەرگه, Pêşmerge, lit=those who face death) is the Kurdish military forces of the autonomous Kurdistan Region of Iraq. According to the Constitution of Iraq, the Peshmerga, along with their security subsidiaries, are responsible for the security of Kurdistan Region, due to the fact that the Iraqi Armed Forces are forbidden by Iraqi law to enter Iraqi Kurdistan. These subsidiaries include Asayish (intelligence agency), '' Parastin u Zanyarî'' (assisting intelligence agency) and the Zeravani (Gendarmerie). The history of Peshmerga dates back to 18th century, starting out as a strictly tribal pseudo-military border guard under the Ottomans and Safavids and later changing to a well-trained, disciplined guerrilla force in the 19th century. Formally, the Peshmerga are under the command of the Kurdistan Regional Government's Ministry of Peshmerga Affairs. In reality, the Peshmerga force itself is largely divided and controlled separately by the two re ...
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Kurd
ug:كۇردلار Kurds ( ku, کورد ,Kurd, italic=yes, rtl=yes) or Kurdish people are an Iranian peoples, Iranian ethnic group native to the mountainous region of Kurdistan in Western Asia, which spans southeastern Turkey, northwestern Iran, northern Iraq, and northern Syria. There are exclaves of Kurds in Central Anatolia Region, Central Anatolia, Khorasan Province, Khorasan, and the Caucasus, as well as significant Kurdish diaspora communities in the cities of western Turkey (in particular Istanbul) and Western Europe (primarily Kurds in Germany, in Germany). The Kurdish population is estimated to be between 30 and 45 million. Kurds speak the Kurdish languages and the Zaza–Gorani languages, which belong to the Western Iranian languages, Western Iranian branch of the Iranian languages. After World War I and the defeat of the Ottoman Empire, the victorious Allies of World War I, Western allies made provision for a Kurdish state in the 1920 Treaty of Sevres, Treaty ...
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26th Marine Expeditionary Unit
The 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit (26th MEU) is one of seven such units currently in existence in the United States Marine Corps. It is an air-ground task force with a strength of about 2,400 personnel when at full strength during a deployment. It consists of four major parts: a command element, a ground combat element, an aviation combat element, and a logistics combat element. Since its establishment in the early 1970s as the 26th Marine Amphibious Unit, it has deployed extensively, and participated in numerous combat and contingency operations, as well as training exercises. The 26th MEU is based out of Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Current major subordinate elements As of 6 December 2013, the 26th MEU is decomposed and does not have reinforcing commands. The following units participated in the MEU's deployment from March–November 2013: Ground Combat Element: Battalion Landing Team 3/2 Aviation Combat Element: Marine Medium Til ...
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United States Marine Corps
The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through combined arms, implementing its own infantry, artillery, aerial, and special operations forces. The U.S. Marine Corps is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. The Marine Corps has been part of the U.S. Department of the Navy since 30 June 1834 with its sister service, the United States Navy. The USMC operates installations on land and aboard sea-going amphibious warfare ships around the world. Additionally, several of the Marines' tactical aviation squadrons, primarily Marine Fighter Attack squadrons, are also embedded in Navy carrier air wings and operate from the aircraft carriers. The history of the Marine Corps began when two battalions of Continental Marines were formed on 10 November 1775 in Philadelphia as ...
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352d Special Operations Group
The 352nd Special Operations Wing is an operational unit of the United States Air Force Special Operations Command currently stationed at RAF Mildenhall, United Kingdom. The unit's heritage dates back to 1944 as an air commando unit. The 352nd Wing serves as the focal point for all U.S. Air Force special operations activities throughout the European theater for U.S. European Command (USEUCOM), as well as Africa for U.S. Africa Command (USAFRICOM) and Southwest Asia and the Middle East for U.S. Central Command. The wing (military aviation unit), wing is prepared to conduct a variety of high priority, low-visibility missions supporting U.S. and allied special operations forces during peacetime, joint operations exercises, and combat operations. It trains and performs special operations primarily in the USEUCOM and USAFRICOM area of operations, including establishing air assault landing zones, controlling close air support by strike aircraft and gunships, and providing trauma care ...
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United States Air Force
The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal Corps, the USAF was established as a separate branch of the United States Armed Forces in 1947 with the enactment of the National Security Act of 1947. It is the second youngest branch of the United States Armed Forces and the fourth in order of precedence. The United States Air Force articulates its core missions as air supremacy, global integrated intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, rapid global mobility, global strike, and command and control. The United States Air Force is a military service branch organized within the Department of the Air Force, one of the three military departments of the Department of Defense. The Air Force through the Department of the Air Force is headed by the civilian Secretary of the Air Force ...
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8th Military Information Support Group
The 8th Psychological Operations Group (Airborne) or 8th POG(A) is one of the United States Army's active Psychological Operations units alongside the 4th Psychological Operations Group (Airborne). The unit was activated August 26, 2011. The activation ceremony was held on Meadows Field at the U.S. Army Special Operations Command headquarters. Lt. Gen. John F. Mulholland, Jr., served as a host. The 8th Group assumed responsibility for the 1st, 5th and 9th Psychological Operations battalions. The unit is based at Fort Bragg, North Carolina and is a part of the 1st Special Forces Command (Airborne). As of June 2015, both the 4th POG(A) and the new 8th POG(A) are operational. However, the group's former parent unit (originally envisioned as a Brigadier General-level command) known as Military Information Support Operations Command (MISOC) (Airborne) and created at the same time as 8th MISG, in 2011, enjoyed only a very brief operational existence before being dissolved in 2014. Th ...
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528th Support Battalion (United States)
528th Support Battalion "The 528th Support Battalion's mission is to provide rapidly deployable CSS and HSS to ARSOF as directed. The 528th Support Battalion's strengths lie in its capability to support ARSOF-unique and low-density weapons and vehicles. The 528th complements rganic22 ARSOF CSS, HSS, and signal units. The support battalion consists of a headquarters and main support company (HMSC), three forward support companies and may receive augmentation from Theater Army. As part of Army Special Operations Command the unit, along with the 112th Signal Battalion, is tasked to provide full logistical support to Army Special Operations Forces forming along with several other units what was known as Special Operations Support Command, later reorganized as the 528th Sustainment Brigade (A). The Brigade Troops Battalion includes a wide variety of military occupation specialists: riggers, drivers, medics, mechanics, engineers, fuelers, cooks, etc. ARSOF Support Historical Overvi ...
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10th Mountain Division (United States)
The 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry) is a light infantry division in the United States Army based at Fort Drum, New York. Formerly designated as a mountain warfare unit, the division was the only one of its size in the US military to receive specialized training for fighting in mountainous conditions. More recently, the 10th Mountain has been conducting operations in Iraq and Syria advising and assisting Iraqi Security Forces and People's Defense Units. Originally activated as the 10th Light Division (Alpine) in 1943, the division was redesignated the 10th Mountain Division in 1944 and fought in the mountains of Italy in some of the roughest terrain in World War II. On 5 May 1945 the division reached Nauders, Austria, just beyond the Reschen Pass, where it made contact with German forces being pushed south by the U.S. Seventh Army. A status quo was maintained until the enemy headquarters involved had completed their surrender to the Seventh. On 6 May, 10th Mountain troop ...
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