173rd Airborne Brigade Jump Into Northern Iraq (2003)

On March 26th, 2003, the 173rd Airborne Brigade conducted a Combat Parachute Assault into Northern Iraq. Operation "Northern Delay" secured Kirkuk, Mosul and the northern oil fields; preventing 13 Iraqi Army Divisions' from defending Baghdad or reinforcing defensive operations against U.S. and British forces advancing in the south, and thwarted Turkish efforts to subvert Kurdistan. This would be the dawn of the Northern front in Iraq. (See Link:) http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia... "Somewhere in the world, people are sleeping in warm beds. Tonight they will not know, that you'll be laying in mud, nor will they know that you'll patrol broken grounds with heavy loads while they sleep in safe houses." -

Col William Mayville [Day of jump]