![]() On the news, the world watched as Air Force F-117 stealth fighters attacked Saddam Hussein’s Dora Farms complex near Baghdad on March 19, 2003, and watched combat operations unfold the next day.įor the C-17 crews and paratroopers, they must have felt the anticipation of their scheduled air assault and wondered if their forefathers felt the same thing during Operations OVERLORD during WWII and TOMAHAWK during the Korean War. Then it was on to Aviano Air Base, Italy, where loadmasters and C-17 jumpmasters instructed paratroopers how to exit the C-17 platform. Staging took place at Charleston Air Force Base, South Carolina, and Rhein-Main Air Base, Germany, where mobility crews learned tactics and routes. Despite these challenges, they learned quickly as the goal was to take Bashur Airfield near Erbil and open a second front in Iraq after the initial invasion. Army paratroopers from the 173rd Airborne Brigade had never jumped from a C-17. ![]() The mission was historic because many pilots had never flown in low-altitudes using night vision goggles and many of the U.S. This airdrop became the largest troop drop since Operation JUST CAUSE in December 1989. Allardice, then 62d Airlift Wing commander, and planners from the 62d Operations Group and 62d Operations Support Squadron, planned the first ever low-altitude C-17 combat airdrop. This year marks the 20th anniversary of Operation NORTHERN DELAY, one of the opening salvos of Operation IRAQI FREEDOM. This is the lethality of what C-17 crews do, they bring the thunder through the men and women, who are specially trained to fight and win. However, watching as 17 C-17 Globemaster IIIs carrying over a thousand Army paratroopers fly directly over you is a show of mobility forces. When people think of mobility forces, lethality is not usually the first word that comes to mind.
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