OIF/Liberation of Iraq (2003)/Operation Airborne Dragon
From Month/Year
April / 2003
To Month/Year
April / 2003
Description BAYONET 6, this is Dragon 6. I can be roll ing to Irbil in 4 hours with tanks and Bradleys. Over." Lieutenant Colonel Ken Riddle, Commander, 1st Battalion, 63d Armor and Task Force (TF) 1-63 initiated this radio transmission from the Bashur Airfield in northern Iraq to his newly assigned parent unit, the 173d Airborne Regiment on 7 April 2003. The communication marked the beginning of the first expeditionary insertion of a U.S. armored force (1st Armored Division elements) into combat by air.
Task Force 1-63's lead elements: an MlAl tank, an M2 Bradley Fighting Vehicle, an M113 armored personnel carrier, mortars, and a battalion command post (CP) equipped with satellite communications arrived at Bashur Airfield to support the opening of the northern front in Iraq. With them came scouts, military police (MPs), and a combat service support platoon.
Task Force 1-63's armor systems were nearly impervious to Iraqi weapons systems. Therefore, it was no surprise that shortly after TF 1-63's arrival in the Iraqi Theater of operations, enemy divisions in northern Iraq began to disintegrate. Much of the Iraqi military capitulated in the north by 10 April 2003. Following the Iraqi regime's rapid collapse, TF 1-63 and the remainder of the 173d Airborne Regiment were attached to the 4th Infantry Division (ID) and rapidly transitioned to stability operations near Kirkuk.
This historic, successful airborne insertion is a tribute to the soldiers of TF 1-63 and to U.S. Army, Europe's (USAREUR's) ability to rapidly organize, deploy, and sustain this force. USAREUR's strategic forward positioning in Germany was an essential factor in furthering this achievement.
