OP: EPHEMERAL SPECTRE VI - 17th Sep 2010 to 19th Sep 2010
genre : Modern
AO :
AO Pineland
OPCOM : WO1 Dan Gonzalez
3MAR2003 - US Special forces recon teams link up with Kurkish Peshmurga fighters to prepare The Northern Front of OIF. These were the advance forces of Task Force Viking.
Joint Special Operations Task Force - North (JSOTF-N), also known as Task Force Viking was the command responsible for the northern front during Operation Iraqi Freedom Rotation I (2003–2004). It secured Kirkuk, Mosul, and the northern oil fields; prevented 13 Iraqi Army divisions from defending Baghdad 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, special reconnaissance, direct action, and call-for-fire 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.[1][2]
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 (USACAPOC) of the United States Army; the 352d Special Operations Group of the United States Air Force; the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit; and indigenous Kurdish Peshmerga. All U.S. units were initially prepositioned in Constanţa, Romania beginning in February, 2003 except of the 173d based in Vicenza, Italy. The mix of conventional and special operations personnel for the task force numbered approximately 5,200[3] and fell under the United States Special Operations Command Joint Operations Center (USSOCOM JOC). The TF motto was "Concede Nothing."
Facing Task Force Viking were two divisions of the Iraqi Republican Guard, two Mechanized infantry divisions, one armored division, eight infantry divisions and Fedayeen Saddam militia.[3] Task Force Viking also had to contend with Ansar Al Islam, Ansar Al Sunna, and Kadek/PKK irregulars and also with the dueling future political aspirations of the various Kurdish factions (Patriotic Union of Kurdistan & Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iraq), Turkomen (Iraqi Turkmen Front), Yazidis, and the Sunni Arab tribes.
Joint Special Operations Task Force - North (JSOTF-N), also known as Task Force Viking was the command responsible for the northern front during Operation Iraqi Freedom Rotation I (2003–2004). It secured Kirkuk, Mosul, and the northern oil fields; prevented 13 Iraqi Army divisions from defending Baghdad 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, special reconnaissance, direct action, and call-for-fire 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.[1][2]
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 (USACAPOC) of the United States Army; the 352d Special Operations Group of the United States Air Force; the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit; and indigenous Kurdish Peshmerga. All U.S. units were initially prepositioned in Constanţa, Romania beginning in February, 2003 except of the 173d based in Vicenza, Italy. The mix of conventional and special operations personnel for the task force numbered approximately 5,200[3] and fell under the United States Special Operations Command Joint Operations Center (USSOCOM JOC). The TF motto was "Concede Nothing."
Facing Task Force Viking were two divisions of the Iraqi Republican Guard, two Mechanized infantry divisions, one armored division, eight infantry divisions and Fedayeen Saddam militia.[3] Task Force Viking also had to contend with Ansar Al Islam, Ansar Al Sunna, and Kadek/PKK irregulars and also with the dueling future political aspirations of the various Kurdish factions (Patriotic Union of Kurdistan & Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iraq), Turkomen (Iraqi Turkmen Front), Yazidis, and the Sunni Arab tribes.
Desert OP from Northern Iraq operations. MOD Robin Sage/Pineland