AH-64 Apache Longbows moved forward of the division’s ground units to observe incoming artillery fire on Iraqi outposts near the border. The Vanguards’ mission started the minute the division crossed the international border between Kuwait and Iraq. The helicopters of 4th Brigade were with the division all the way, providing close air support, reconnaissance, resupply and casualty evacuation to the division’s forward combat assets. The brigade was supported throughout the war by 203rd Main Support Battalion, which made sure the front-line troops got the food and supplies they needed. The brigade fought off several Iraqi counterattacks, including an attack on its tactical operations center, over the course of April 6 and 7. They defended several bridges and kept Iraqi reinforcements from entering the city as 2nd BCT conducted the Thunder Run on April 7. After securing the objectives, the brigade allowed the rest of the division to pass it and move toward As Samawah. The brigade followed the 1st Brigade Combat Team through lanes in the berm that separated Kuwait from Iraq before 2nd Battalion, 69th Armor Regiment 1st Battalion, 15th Infantry Regiment and 1st Battalion, 30th Infantry Regiment attacked objectives Firebird, Clay and Liberty, which consisted of the air base and several key roads and bridges in its immediate area. A few days later, the major combat operations were over.Īfter spending almost all of the preceding year in Kuwait, the 3rd Brigade Combat Team’s Sledgehammers raced across southern Iraq to seize the 3rd Infantry Division’s first objectives in and around Tallil Air Base on March 21. On April 7 the Spartans attacked Baghdad. “Thunder Runs,” quick trips from Saints to Baghdad International Airport, began April 5. After securing this objective in order to facilitate occupation by division and corps support elements, the brigade continued to advance north to Objective Spartans through small arms, rocket-propelled grenade and indirect fire from conventional and irregular forces that, while at times sustained, were largely not coordinated. From March 23 to 25, the brigade fought Fedayeen forces as it attacked to Objective Rams. The Spartan Soldiers had their first significant enemy contact March 23. Bush addressed Americans and the world March 17, 2003, and gave Saddam Hussein 48 hours to get out of Iraq. The Spartans’ decisiveness, assertiveness and skill during Operation Iraqi Freedom started immediately after President George W. Bush declared an end to major combat operations in Iraq, the Raiders were already two weeks into stabilization and support operations. On April 9, Saddam Hussein’s regime officially crumbled when Baghdad fell to coalition forces led by the 3rd Infantry Division (Mechanized). From March 25-27, during a sandstorm that resulted in 25-meter visibility, the brigade recon team and elements of TF 3/69 Armor and TF 3/7 Infantry fought around the clock with regular and unconventional Iraqi troops in Al Kifl - a northern suburb of An Najaf on the Euphrates River.

For the next eight days, the Raiders staged operations from an assembly area northwest of An Najaf. In four days’ time, the 1st BCT crossed the border, secured an airfield, convoyed 30 hours straight and traveled 300 kilometers.

Led by Task Force 3/69 Armor, the Raiders crossed the border into Iraq around 8 p.m. On the night of March 20, the questions were answered. By March, following countless training exercises in the Kuwaiti desert and an ultimatum to Saddam Hussein from our commander in chief, the future seemed clear. Their mission was simple - deter Iraqi aggression in the region. The 1st Brigade Combat Team arrived in Kuwait, uncertain of what the future held, with many questions yet to be answered.

Operation iraqi freedom