imported>Chunbum Park |
imported>John Stephenson |
| (23 intermediate revisions by 4 users not shown) |
| Line 1: |
Line 1: |
| == '''[[Iraq War, major combat phase]]''' ==
| | {{:{{FeaturedArticleTitle}}}} |
| ----
| | <small> |
| After a buildup by [[special operations]] forces and an intensification of air attacks under the [[Operation NORTHERN WATCH]] and [[Operation SOUTHERN WATCH]] "no fly" programs, major ground forces began to move into Iraq on March 20, 2003.
| | ==Footnotes== |
| | |
| As with any war, no plan survives contact with the enemy. Both sides did consider Baghdad the key [[centers of gravity (military)|center of gravity]], but both made incorrect assumptions about the enemy's plans. The U.S. was still sensitive over the casualties taken by a too-light raid in [[Operation GOTHIC SERPENT]] in [[Mogadishu]], [[Somalia]]. As a result, the initial concept of operations was to surround Baghdad with tanks, while airborne and air assault infantry cleared it block-by-block. <ref name=Zucchino>{{citation
| |
| | author = David Zucchino
| |
| | title = Thunder Run: the Armored Strike to Capture Baghdad
| |
| | publisher = Atlantic Monthly Press | year = 2004 | ISBN = 0871139111}}, p. 3</ref>
| |
| | |
| The U.S. also expected the more determined Iraqi forces, such as the [[Special Republican Guard]] and the [[Saddam Fedayeen]], to stay in the cities and fight from cover. Before the invasion, the Fedayeen were seen as [[Uday Hussein]]'s personal paramilitary force, founded in the mid-1990s. They had become known in 2000 and 2001, beheading dissenting women in the streets claiming they were prostitutes. "It was a very new phenomenon, the first time women in Iraq have been beheaded in public," Muhannad Eshaiker of the California-based Iraqi Forum for Democracy told ABC. <ref name=ABC>{{citation
| |
| | title = Who Are Saddam's 'Fedayeen' Fighters? A Look at Iraq’s Brutal Paramilitary Group, the Fedayeen Saddam
| |
| | author = Leela Jacinto
| |
| | date = 24 March 2003 | url = http://abcnews.go.com/International/story?id=79602&page=1
| |
| | journal = ABC News}}</ref> They had not been expected to be a force in battle. It was clear that the fedayeen had minimal military training. They seemed unaware of the lethality of the U.S. armored vehicles, and aggressively but haphazardly attacked them. <ref>Zucchino, pp. 14-15</ref> Senior Iraqi Army officers seemed to believe their own propaganda and assume that the war would go well, and there would never be tanks in Baghdad. It was only Special Republican Guard, Saddam Fedayeen, and unexpected Syrian mercenaries that seemed to understand the reality.<ref>Zucchino, pp. 35-36</ref> In an interview after the end of high-intensity combat, MG [[Buford Blount]], commander of the [[3rd Infantry Division]], said "...there were many, I think, Syrian and other countries that had sent personnel; the countries didn't, I think individuals came over on their own that were recruited and paid for by the Ba'ath Party to come over and fight the Americans. We dealt with those individuals there for a two- or three-day period, had a lot of contact with them, but have not seen a reoccurrence of that at this point."<ref name=DLink2003-05-15>{{citation
| |
| | journal = Defenselink
| |
| | author - Army Maj. Gen. Buford C. Blount III | date= May 15, 2003
| |
| | title = 3rd Infantry Division Commander Live Briefing from Iraq
| |
| | url = http://www.defenselink.mil/transcripts/transcript.aspx?transcriptid=2608}}</ref>
| |
| | |
| ''[[Iraq War, major combat phase|.... (read more)]]''
| |
| | |
| {| class="wikitable collapsible collapsed" style="width: 90%; float: center; margin: 0.5em 1em 0.8em 0px;"
| |
| |-
| |
| ! style="text-align: center;" | [[Iraq War, major combat phase#References|notes]]
| |
| |-
| |
| |
| |
| {{reflist|2}} | | {{reflist|2}} |
| |}
| | </small> |
Latest revision as of 10:19, 11 September 2020
The Irvin pin. The eyes have always been red, but there are
urban legends about the meanings of other colors.
A pin from another company, possibly Switlik or Standard Parachute. This style is common in catalogs and auctions of military memorabilia.
The Caterpillar Club is an informal association of people who have successfully used a parachute to bail out of a disabled aircraft. After authentication by the parachute maker, applicants receive a membership certificate and a distinctive lapel pin.
History
Before April 28, 1919 there was no way for a pilot to jump out of a plane and then to deploy a parachute. Parachutes were stored in a canister attached to the aircraft, and if the plane was spinning, the parachute could not deploy. Film industry stuntman Leslie Irvin developed a parachute that the pilot could deploy at will from a back pack using a ripcord. He joined the Army Air Corps parachute research team, and in April 1919 he successfully tested his design, though he broke his ankle during the test. Irvin was the first person to make a premeditated free fall jump from an airplane. He went on to form the Irving Airchute Company, which became a large supplier of parachutes. (A clerical error resulted in the addition of the "g" to Irvin and this was left in place until 1970, when the company was unified under the title Irvin Industries Incorporated.) The Irvin brand is now a part of Airborne Systems, a company with operations in Canada, the U.S. and the U.K.[1].
An early brochure [2] of the Irvin Parachute Company credits William O'Connor 24 August 1920 at McCook Field near Dayton, Ohio as the first person to be saved by an Irvin parachute, but this feat was unrecognised. On 20 October 1922 Lieutenant Harold R. Harris, chief of the McCook Field Flying Station, jumped from a disabled Loening W-2A monoplane fighter. Shortly after, two reporters from the Dayton Herald, realising that there would be more jumps in future, suggested that a club should be formed. 'Caterpillar Club' was suggested because the parachute canopy was made of silk, and because caterpillars have to climb out of their cocoons and fly away. Harris became the first member, and from that time forward any person who jumped from a disabled aircraft with a parachute became a member of the Caterpillar Club. Other famous members include General James Doolittle, Charles Lindbergh and (retired) astronaut John Glenn.
In 1922 Leslie Irvin agreed to give a gold pin to every person whose life was saved by one of his parachutes. By 1945 the number of members with the Irvin pins had grown to over 34,000. In addition to the Irvin Air Chute Company and its successors, other parachute manufacturers have also issued caterpillar pins for successful jumps. Irvin/Irving's successor, Airborne Systems Canada, still provides pins to people who made their jump long ago and are just now applying for membership. Another of these is Switlik Parachute Company, which though it no longer makes parachutes, still issues pins.
