Special Operations Forces in Iraq by Leigh Neville

Author:Leigh Neville
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Special Operations Forces in Iraq
ISBN: 9781849088268
Publisher: Osprey Publishing
Published: 2011-03-29T16:00:00+00:00

HUNTING WMD

Intelligence indicating that chemical and biological weapons stocks may have been located at a complex known as the Al Qadisiyah Research Centre led to a TF-20 operation being launched on the evening of 26 March 2003. B Company, 2/75 Rangers supported a SEAL element from the DEVGRU. The target of the operation was one of the regime’s palaces nestled along the shore of the Al Qadisiyah Reservoir, which had been outfitted as a research laboratory amongst both residential and government buildings. The mission package included two AH-6Ms and a pair of MH-60L DAPs providing fire support, along with a pair of MH-6Ms carrying DEVGRU sniper teams. The Rangers would insert from four MH-60Ks into blocking positions around the site, followed minutes later by a pair of MH-47Es that would insert the DEVGRU team beside the target building. A second pair of Chinooks orbited nearby carrying a Ranger QRF and the dedicated CSAR element in the event of a helo being downed.

The operation went smoothly until the first MH-60 landed and was engaged by small arms fire from a nearby building. An AH-6 identified the aggressors from their muzzle flashes and fired a 2.75in rocket into the location, silencing the small arms fire. The second MH-60 was also struck by small arms fire, which was rapidly suppressed by its door-gunner’s minigun. It was quickly becoming clear that the site was a hot LZ. The DAPs engaged nearby electricity transformers in an attempt to black out the area, but this resulted in a series of explosions and a fire which lit up the sky, pinpointing the orbiting helicopters. Small arms fire increased as the last two Black Hawks inserted their blocking teams, and a Ranger suffered a gunshot wound to his back that punctured a lung. The helo carrying the wounded Ranger deposited it’s passengers and immediately departed, with two 160th crew and a SEAL working to stabilize the casualty; at a forward site the Ranger was transferred to a field surgical team aboard an idling HH-130.

The AH-6s and DAPs continued to suppress targets as the MH-47Es closed on the target, with the DEVGRU snipers sitting on the bench seats of the MH-6s engaging numerous gunmen and vehicles. The Chinooks landed under small arms fire, with rounds punching through their thin skin; both managed to safely insert their assaulters, but as they lifted off a 160th SOAR crewmember was shot in the head, the round striking him in the jaw. The crew chief and door-gunners applied immediate first aid in an attempt to staunch blood loss; half way to the airstrip and the waiting HH-130, the wounded airman stopped breathing, but after five long minutes of CPR respiration was restored. Soon afterwards the Chinook landed and transferred the wounded aviator to the HH-130 which took off with both wounded men on board; they both survived.

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