Task Force 20 - Knowledge (XXG)

633:), along with Qusay's son and a bodyguard, were hiding in the informer's home in Mosul. The 101st passed this information to their divisional special forces liaison, who passed it on to TF 20. Platoons from the 101st Airborne set up an outer cordon around the target house; a Delta assault team prepared to breach and clear the building from the entrance, whilst a Delta interpreter called upon the occupants to surrender. The informer and his two sons left the building as previously agreed. Delta operators breached and entered, upon which they were immediately engaged by small arms fire, which wounded one Delta operator. As they withdrew from the house, the occupants threw grenades from the second floor on them, and several Delta operators were lightly wounded by the grenade fragments; the stairs had also been blocked to impede any rapid assault. Another group of assaulters fast-roped from a MH-6 Little Bird onto the roof of the building to examine the possibility of entering the building through the roof, but this wasn't possible. The decision was taken to soften up the target with heavy weapons before another entry. After soldiers of the 101st Airborne engaged the building with .50 cal HMGs and M136 anti tank rockets, a third entry attempt was made, but was again driven back by intense gunfire. The 101st fired 10 TOW missiles from HMMWV-mounted 571: 54: 284:

billets, the 3-Star DCOM for Fleet and Joint Operations (DCOM-FJO) and the 2-Star DCOM for Fleet Management/Chief of Staff (DCOM-FM/COS). These two individuals will report directly to me for their respective portfolios. Recognizing the significant increase in direct report subordinate commands, I will also dual-hat the DCOM-FJO as Commander, Task Force 20 (CTF 20), with delegated command responsibilities for SECOND Fleet's subordinate commands (

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and/or his sons; other reports claimed the convoy was composed of oil smugglers. Once the convoy was destroyed by the AC-130s, TF 20 conducted a heliborne assault into a nearby compound that proved to be a Ba'athist safehouse for ferrying FREs (Former Regime Elements) across the border. The operators

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firing 2.75 rockets and .50 cal machine guns. Delta subsequently made a successful entry and moved up onto the second floor, finding Qusay and the bodyguard dead. Qusay's son was hiding under a bed and opened fired on the operators, leaving them no choice but to kill him. Uday was discovered wounded

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In effect, the tasks of the Second Fleet commander and staff were reassigned to Commander, Task Force 20 until Fleet Forces Command was reorganized on 14 September 2012. The Commander, Fleet Forces Command said on his blog that "It was for these reasons that I approved the establishment of two DCOM

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In the evening of 19 March 2003, Task Force 20, led by B squadron Delta Force (accompanied by several Air Force Special Tactics teams, a Delta intelligence and targeting cell, several military working dog teams and two Iraqi-American interpreters), was the first US SOF unit to enter western Iraq as

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On 9 April 2003, the combined team seized an airfield near Tikrit during a night attack, one tank drove into a 40 ft deep hole and flipped, injuring one of the crew and disabling the tank, which was later destroyed by another tank to deny it to the enemy. By mid-April, Delta had advanced into

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that had previously fought Task Force 7. Two Delta operators were wounded and the squadron requested aero medical evacuation and close-air support as a company of truck-borne Iraqi reinforcements arrived to bolster the Fedayeen assault. Two MH-60K Blackhawks carrying a para jumper medical team and

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Pete Blaber wanted to deploy his operators out into western Iraq and conduct strikes against enemy concentrations, tying up enemy forces that could otherwise be sent to reinforce against the Army and Marine advance from the south, such operation would also effectively deceive the Iraqis as to the

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George Fernandez died of his wounds. The DAPs stayed on station and continued to engage the Iraqis, destroying a truck carrying a mortar and several infantry squads, whilst Delta snipers killed Iraqi infantryman firing on the DAPs. A pair of A-10As arrived and dropped 500 lb airburst bombs

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the designator was reserved for the Second Fleet's Battle Force, and the commander of that force was to be Commander, Second Fleet. This was the documented case from 1978 to 1987, and from probably much earlier. The task force was probably intended primarily at that time to undertake attacks on

231:. She was off the port side firing 5-inch star shells for illumination, to spot icebergs, when there was a misfire. According to standard procedure the gunner began to point the barrel toward the water to wait out a hangfire. However, the round cooked off halfway down. The round hit the 276:'s position who also concurrently serves as the deputy commander of Fleet & Joint Operations, the deputy commander of U.S. Fleet Forces Command and the director of Combined Joint Operations From The Sea, Centre of Excellence. Task Force 20 was commanded by Vice Admiral 606:, who had been Saddam Hussein's personal secretary and had been ranked the fourth most important HVT. He was captured in a joint helicopter and ground assault on a safehouse in Tikrit without resistance or casualties, in what was considered a highly successful operation. 347:; Able Co. 1–15 Inf. 3rd Infantry Division 3rd Brigade (Audie Murphy Battalion) were the first unit to assist in QRF and HVT for the TF 20 at BIAP and as 3rd ID's mission was to return home after completing the Invasion of Iraq. Then a battalion strength element of the 598:

in May 2003, 80% of SOF assets were rotated out of the theatre at the conclusion of major combat operations, elements of Task Force 20 remained and continued to hunting HVT former Ba'athists under direct JSOC command and had several successes in its early operations.

445:, securing the site as a staging area for operations in western Iraq. Delta's reconnaissance of the dam indicated that a much larger force was needed to capture it, so C squadron Delta squadron was dispatched from 422:, Rangers were later flown in to garrison the base; unofficially, Task Force 20 had been in Iraq, along with British SOF Task Force 7 and 14, and the Australian SOF Task Force 64. Delta Force then proceeded to the 224:. Between 27 November and 4 December, she participated in cold-weather exercises in Davis Strait, between Greenland and East Baffin Island, as part of Task Group 20.2. An incident during that cruise involving the 167:. In its Second Fleet role, TF-20 served as that fleet's Battle Force. In its subsequent role in the Fleet Forces Command, TF-20 served in a training role for U.S. naval units preparing to deploy to the 528:

within 20m of Delta positions and killed a large number of Iraqi infantry who had been gathering in a wadi. The DAPs spotted several Iraqi units and engaged them until they were dangerously low on fuel.

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true intentions of the coalition forces and precisely where the main effort would be concentrated. However, Dailey wanted the Delta squadron to stay at Ar'Ar Air Base and only launch against suspected

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on the signal bridge, killing Coxswain Robert Fountain and starting a fire involving an acetylene tank which was lashed to the railing. One or two officers' cabins were destroyed as well.

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responded and engaged the Iraqis, which allowed the Delta operators to move their casualties to an emergency HLZ, after which they were medevaced to H-1 Air Base, escorted by a pair of

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then came under fire from Syrian border guards, leading to a firefight that left several of the border guards dead with 17 more captured who were immediately released.

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The post of Commander, Task Force 20, which was an additional post for the fleet's commander during the fleet's existence, has been maintained as a three-star

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gunships guided in by TF 20 operators destroyed a convoy of Ba'ath Party members escaping to Syria. Intelligence indicated that the convoy may have included

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in the Atlantic from after the Second World War. This was part of the formal United States Military Communications-Electronic Board system.

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to H-1 Air Base and then to MSS (Mission Support Site) Grizzly – a desert strip established by Delta Force which was located between

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who went with Blaber's plan. TF 20 was tasked with seizing airfields deep in Iraq and capturing HVTs along with providing long-range

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On 16 June 2003, operators from G Squadron, SAS (part of Task force 14) and B squadron, Delta Force, captured Lieutenant-General

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On 22 July 2003, a former Ba'athist regime member used an informer to pass intelligence to the 101st Airborne Division that

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is a temporary combat force designation that has been used several times and may still be used by separate parts of the

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Throughout April, TF 20 continued to raid suspected WMD sites, sometimes only hours ahead of the official Army WMD

384: 265:), assigned to the Second Fleet, became the core of Task Group 20.5, the carrier task group that would support the 187: 160: 133: 129: 103: 172: 168: 506:, tying up Iraqi forces in the region and attempting to capture fleeing high-value targets trying to escape to 255: 480:, north of Haditha, they engaged numerous gunmen but there was no chemical or biological weapons at the site. 575: 392: 269:. On 25 October 1983, aircraft from Independence's embarked air wing flew missions supporting the invasion. 225: 399: 348: 218: 552: 503: 496: 492: 473: 427: 415: 313: 113: 352: 289: 207: 364: 266: 244: 371: 262: 143:, one of the designations used by the JSOC high value targets task force which began its life as 75: 428:

deception operations to confuse the Iraqis as to the disposition of Coalition forces in the west

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Task Force 20 was disestablished effective 1 October 2012, and its functions transferred to

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team as major combat operations were winding down TF 20 transitioned to hunting HVT former

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was en route to Davis Strait as part of Task Group 20.2, which also included the cruiser

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On 1 April 2003, DEVGRU along with Para Rescue Jumpers and Combat Controllers from the

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in the Atlantic, and was previously one of the task force designators assigned to the

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Task Force Black: The Explosive True Story of the Secret Special Forces War in Iraq

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On 24 March 2003, Delta Force recce operators drove through Iraqi lines around the

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before the main invasion. They later assisted coalition SOF in the capture

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and 2nd battalion 75th Ranger Regiment and other forces took part in the

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On 26 March 2003, the DEVGRU component in TF 20 supported by B company

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Polmar, Ships and Aircraft of the US Fleet, Fourteenth Edition, 1987,

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from 30 September 2011 until its disestablishment on 24 August 2012.

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and were assigned to western Iraq, the TF (Task Force) was led by

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in the East Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea, as well as the

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The other iteration was a much more temporary task force of the

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did not get back to Norfolk until 13 December 1946. Commander

777:"USFF Commanders Guidance Brief to Senior Staff 17 Sep_FINAL" 465:; C Squadron, Delta Force was flown directly to MSS Grizzly. 26: 476:– a suspected chemical and biological weapons site at the 497:

captured the Haditha Dam and held it for a further 5 days

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served as CTG 20.2 for a Mediterranean deployment aboard

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Task Force 20 was a task force for the now-deactivated

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