Task Force Viking
Encyclopedia
Division (military)
A division is a large military unit or formation usually consisting of between 10,000 and 20,000 soldiers. In most armies, a division is composed of several regiments or brigades, and in turn several divisions typically make up a corps...
from defending Baghdad
Baghdad
Baghdad is the capital of Iraq, as well as the coterminous Baghdad Governorate. The population of Baghdad in 2011 is approximately 7,216,040...
or reinforcing defensive operations against United States and British troops advancing in the south, and thwarted Turkish efforts to subvert Kurdistan. Task Force Viking conducted unconventional warfare
Unconventional warfare
Unconventional warfare is the opposite of conventional warfare. Where conventional warfare is used to reduce an opponent's military capability, unconventional warfare is an attempt to achieve military victory through acquiescence, capitulation, or clandestine support for one side of an existing...
, special reconnaissance
Special reconnaissance
Special reconnaissance is conducted by small units of highly trained military personnel, usually from special forces units or military intelligence organisations, who operate behind enemy lines, avoiding direct combat and detection by the enemy. As a role, SR is distinct from commando operations,...
, direct action
Direct action (military)
In the context of military special operations, direct action consists of: "Short-duration strikes and other small-scale offensive actions conducted as a special operation in hostile, denied, or politically sensitive environments and which employ specialized military capabilities to seize, destroy,...
, and call-for-fire
Artillery observer
A military artillery observer or spotter is responsible for directing artillery fire and close air support onto enemy positions. Because artillery is an indirect fire weapon system, the guns are rarely in line-of-sight of their target, often located tens of miles away...
missions in order to disrupt and fix Iraqi forces
Iraqi Army
The Iraqi Army is the land component of the Iraqi military, active in various forms since being formed by the British during their mandate over the country after World War I....
arrayed along the "Green Line", the nominal 1991 demarcation line between the Kurdish northern provinces of Iraq
Kurdistan Regional Government
The Kurdistan Regional Government , , is the official ruling body of the predominantly Kurds-populated Kurdistan Region in Northern Iraq...
and the remainder controlled by Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti was the fifth President of Iraq, serving in this capacity from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003...
.
JSOTF-N was composed of Special Forces units, the 173d Airborne Brigade, elements of the 10th Mountain Division and the United States Army Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations Command
United States Army Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations Command
The United States Army Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations Command , or USACAPOC, was founded in 1985. USACAPOC is composed mostly of U.S. Army Reserve Soldiers in units throughout the United States...
(USACAPOC) of the United States Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
; the 352d Special Operations Group
352d Special Operations Group
The 352d Special Operations Group is an operational unit of the United States Air Force Special Operations Command. It is stationed at RAF Mildenhall, England. Its heritage dates back to 1944 as an air command unit....
of the United States Air Force
United States Air Force
The United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on September 18, 1947 under the National Security Act of...
; the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit
26th Marine Expeditionary Unit
The 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit is one of seven Marine Expeditionary Units currently in existence in the United States Marine Corps. The Marine Expeditionary Unit is a Marine Air-Ground Task Force with a strength of about 2,200 personnel. The MEU consists of four major parts: a command element,...
; and indigenous Kurd
Kürd
Kürd or Kyurd or Kyurt may refer to:*Kürd Eldarbəyli, Azerbaijan*Kürd Mahrızlı, Azerbaijan*Kürd, Goychay, Azerbaijan*Kürd, Jalilabad, Azerbaijan*Kürd, Qabala, Azerbaijan*Qurdbayram, Azerbaijan...
ish Peshmerga
Peshmerga
Peshmerga or Peshmerge is the term used by Kurds to refer to armed Kurdish fighters. Literally meaning "those who face death" the Peshmerga forces of Kurdistan have been in existence since the advent of the Kurdish independence movement in the early 1920s, following the collapse of the Ottoman...
. All U.S. units were initially prepositioned in Constanţa
Constanta
Constanța is the oldest extant city in Romania, founded around 600 BC. The city is located in the Dobruja region of Romania, on the Black Sea coast. It is the capital of Constanța County and the largest city in the region....
, Romania beginning in February, 2003 except the 173d based in Vicenza
Caserma Ederle
Caserma Ederle is an Italian post where the U.S. Army has troops stationed located in Vicenza, Italy. A small number of members of other U.S. services are also stationed there. The post serves as the headquarters of United States Army Africa and the 173d Airborne Brigade. Caserma Ederle serves as...
, Italy, and the 26th MEU based aboard the Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group
Amphibious Ready Group
An Amphibious Readiness Group of the United States Navy consists of a Navy element—a group of warships known as an amphibious task force —and a landing force of United States Marines , in total about 5,000 people. Together, these elements and supporting units are trained, organized, and equipped...
in the Mediterranean Sea. The mix of conventional and special operations personnel for the task force numbered approximately 5,200 and fell under the United States Special Operations Command
United States Special Operations Command
The United States Special Operations Command is the Unified Combatant Command charged with overseeing the various Special Operations Commands of the Army, Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps of the United States Armed Forces. The command is part of the Department of Defense...
Joint Operations Center (USSOCOM JOC). The TF motto was "Concede Nothing."
Facing Task Force Viking were two divisions of the Iraqi Republican Guard
Iraqi Republican Guard
The Iraqi Republican Guard was a branch of the Iraqi military during the presidency of Saddam Hussein. It later became the Republican Guard Corps, and then the Republican Guard Forces Command with its expansion into two corps....
, two Mechanized infantry
Mechanized infantry
Mechanized infantry are infantry equipped with armored personnel carriers , or infantry fighting vehicles for transport and combat ....
divisions, one armored division, eight infantry divisions and Fedayeen Saddam
Fedayeen Saddam
Fedayeen Saddam was a paramilitary organization loyal to the former Ba'athist government of Saddam Hussein. The name was chosen to mean "Saddam's Men of Sacrifice". At its height, the group had 30,000-40,000 members.-Irregular forces:...
militia
Militia
The term militia is commonly used today to refer to a military force composed of ordinary citizens to provide defense, emergency law enforcement, or paramilitary service, in times of emergency without being paid a regular salary or committed to a fixed term of service. It is a polyseme with...
. Task Force Viking also had to contend with Ansar Al Islam, Ansar Al Sunna, and Kadek/PKK
Kurdistan Workers Party
The Kurdistan Workers' Party , commonly known as PKK, also known as KGK and formerly known as KADEK or KONGRA-GEL , is a Kurdish organization which has since 1984 been fighting an armed struggle against the Turkish state for an autonomous Kurdistan and greater cultural and political rights...
irregulars
Irregular military
Irregular military refers to any non-standard military. Being defined by exclusion, there is significant variance in what comes under the term. It can refer to the type of military organization, or to the type of tactics used....
and also with the dueling future political aspirations of the various Kurdish
Kurdish people
The Kurdish people, or Kurds , are an Iranian people native to the Middle East, mostly inhabiting a region known as Kurdistan, which includes adjacent parts of Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey...
factions (Patriotic Union of Kurdistan
Patriotic Union of Kurdistan
The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan is a Kurdish political party in Iraqi Kurdistan. The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan was founded on June 1, 1975, by coordinations between Jalal Talabani and Nawshirwan Mustafa...
& Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iraq), Turkomen (Iraqi Turkmen Front
Iraqi Turkmen Front
The Iraqi Turkmen Front is a political movement founded in 1995 which seeks to represent the Turkmen people of Iraq. Since the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003, the ITF has contested control of Kirkuk and other areas of northern Iraq....
), Yazidis, and the Sunni
Sunni Islam
Sunni Islam is the largest branch of Islam. Sunni Muslims are referred to in Arabic as ʾAhl ūs-Sunnah wa āl-Ǧamāʿah or ʾAhl ūs-Sunnah for short; in English, they are known as Sunni Muslims, Sunnis or Sunnites....
Arab
Arab
Arab people, also known as Arabs , are a panethnicity primarily living in the Arab world, which is located in Western Asia and North Africa. They are identified as such on one or more of genealogical, linguistic, or cultural grounds, with tribal affiliations, and intra-tribal relationships playing...
tribes.
Originally, the task force planned to infiltrate Northern Iraq via Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
. However, Turkey did not grant permission for an invasion of Iraq from its soil or over its airspace. Coalition
Coalition of the willing
The term coalition of the willing is a post-1990 political phrase used to collectively describe participants in military or military-humanitarian interventions for which the United Nations Security Council cannot agree to mount a full UN peacekeeping operation...
commanders instead undertook a complicated and roundabout infiltration via Jordan
Jordan
Jordan , officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan , Al-Mamlaka al-Urduniyya al-Hashemiyya) is a kingdom on the East Bank of the River Jordan. The country borders Saudi Arabia to the east and south-east, Iraq to the north-east, Syria to the north and the West Bank and Israel to the west, sharing...
ian airspace beginning the evening of 20 March 2003. This operation was known as "Ugly Baby". The "Ugly Baby" operation was the longest infiltration mission since WWII and the longest MC-130 Combat Talon infiltration in history.
After much diplomatic maneuvering, Turkey finally allowed US overflights on 23 March. This allowed Task Force Viking to expand to 50 individual Special Forces Operational Detachments-Alpha (ODAs) (formerly known as A-Teams.) Reinforcing the ODAs on 26 March, the 173rd made a combat
Combat
Combat, or fighting, is a purposeful violent conflict meant to establish dominance over the opposition, or to terminate the opposition forever, or drive the opposition away from a location where it is not wanted or needed....
jump
Paratrooper
Paratroopers are soldiers trained in parachuting and generally operate as part of an airborne force.Paratroopers are used for tactical advantage as they can be inserted into the battlefield from the air, thereby allowing them to be positioned in areas not accessible by land...
onto Bashur airfield 40 miles (64.4 km) north of the "Green Line". This was the largest airborne assault since World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. The 173d fully secured Bashur, enabling airborne insertion of 1st Infantry Division armor
Armoured warfare
Armoured warfare or tank warfare is the use of armoured fighting vehicles in modern warfare. It is a major component of modern methods of war....
on 7 April, followed by the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit
26th Marine Expeditionary Unit
The 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit is one of seven Marine Expeditionary Units currently in existence in the United States Marine Corps. The Marine Expeditionary Unit is a Marine Air-Ground Task Force with a strength of about 2,200 personnel. The MEU consists of four major parts: a command element,...
.
A friendly fire incident near Pir Daoud on Sunday, 6 April 2003, killed 18 members of Task Force Viking and injured 45. An F-15
F-15E Strike Eagle
The McDonnell Douglas F-15E Strike Eagle is an all-weather multirole fighter, derived from the McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle. The F-15E was designed in the 1980s for long-range, high speed interdiction without relying on escort or electronic warfare aircraft. United States Air Force F-15E Strike...
mistakenly dropped a bomb on the position of US Special Forces and Peshmerga
Peshmerga
Peshmerga or Peshmerge is the term used by Kurds to refer to armed Kurdish fighters. Literally meaning "those who face death" the Peshmerga forces of Kurdistan have been in existence since the advent of the Kurdish independence movement in the early 1920s, following the collapse of the Ottoman...
troops instead of on the Iraqi tank
Tank
A tank is a tracked, armoured fighting vehicle designed for front-line combat which combines operational mobility, tactical offensive, and defensive capabilities...
1 miles (1.6 km) away. One of the injured was Wajih Barzani, the brother of Masoud Barzani, leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP).
Shortly after its 10 April 2003 liberation, the Turkish government began to covertly dispatch their own special forces
Special forces
Special forces, or special operations forces are terms used to describe elite military tactical teams trained to perform high-risk dangerous missions that conventional units cannot perform...
troops to Kirkuk. Disguised as aid workers, they were to train and equip members of the Iraqi Turkmen Front to destabilize Kurdistan and provide Turkey a pretext to intervene with a large "Peace Keeping" force. Elements of the 173d under the command of Colonel William Mayville identified and intercepted the Turkish soldiers, and escorted them back across the border with no shots being fired.
TF Viking Milestones:
Kirkuk
Kirkuk
Kirkuk is a city in Iraq and the capital of Kirkuk Governorate.It is located in the Iraqi governorate of Kirkuk, north of the capital, Baghdad...
Liberation – 10 April 2003
Mosul
Mosul
Mosul , is a city in northern Iraq and the capital of the Ninawa Governorate, some northwest of Baghdad. The original city stands on the west bank of the Tigris River, opposite the ancient Assyrian city of Nineveh on the east bank, but the metropolitan area has now grown to encompass substantial...
Liberation – 11 April 2003