A year after the fateful 11 September 2001 attacks, the United States began to assemble a coalition of the willing for the second phase of the war on terrorism the liberation of Iraq. The United States and coalition allies built up forces in neighboring Kuwait and prepared for war. After diplomacy failed, the air and ground forces of the assembled coalition crossed the Iraqi border on 21 March, with V (U.S.) Corps leading the attack as the main effort. The attack, code-named Operation Iraqi Freedom, isolated Saddam Hussein's bases of power in Baghdad and Tikrit. The goal was to eliminate the regime quickly with a minimum loss of life and destruction of civil infrastructure in order to rapidly transition to Iraqi civil rule capable of ensuring peace, prosperity, and freedom for the Iraqi people. U.S. Army engineers played a crucial role during the initial attack and continue to do so during the follow-on stability and support operations and rebuilding effort. Every element of the Engineer Regiment has contributed to the fight: Active and Reserve Components and civilians; combat engineers of every type (armored, mechanized, airborne, wheeled, air assault), combat heavy, construction, bridging, and topographic, as well as divers (see article on page 28), fire fighters, well drillers, and utilities/ prime-power personnel (see articles on pages 52 and 55), facility engineer detachments and teams, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE). During initial combat operations, engineers assured the mobility of the ground forces, enabling coalition forces to move rapidly north and overwhelm Iraqi military forces. As the high-intensity fighting ebbed, engineers transitioned to stability and support operations, as well as humanitarian civic action (HCA), performing virtually every conceivable type of mission.
Victory Sappers: V Corps Engineers in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Part 1: The Attack to Baghdad and Beyond.
2003
10 pages
Report
No indication
English
Logistics Military Facilities & Supplies , Military Operations, Strategy, & Tactics , Iraqi war , Logistics support , Bridges , Combat support , Facilities , Humanitarian assistance , Infrastructure , Military engineers , Military equipment , Military forces(United states) , Military history , Military planning , Repair , Runways , Survivability , Terrain , Urban warfare , Task organization , V corps , Bed-down facilities , Breach border obstacles , Runway repair , Supply routes , Lsa(Logistics support areas) , Nonstandard missions , Assured mobility , Terrain analysis
Tigris bridge at Baghdad, Iraqi state railways
Engineering Index Backfile | 1948
Operation Iraqi Freedom: Coalition Operations
Online Contents | 2004
|NTIS | 2009
|535th ESC Supports Operation Iraqi Freedom
NTIS | 2009
|