One of CPT Celeen’s first tasks, therefore, was to brief the capabilities and logistics requirements of the M1A1 Abrams tank. While the Ranger Regiment included some commanders with mechanized experience, most had not operated with armor for many years. CPT Celeen and his headquarters platoon leader then flew in and reported to the Ranger tactical operations center, where they discovered that the armor company, newly dubbed “Team Tank,” would fall under the operational control of 1/75th Ranger Battalion. At 0100 hours on 2 April 2003, C/2/70th Armor headed south.Īrriving at the air base approximately five hours later, CPT Celeen met with a liaison officer from the 75th Ranger Regiment. After waiting several hours for the promised HETs, CPT Celeen ordered the company to move out under its own power. CPT Celeen was ordered to leave one tank platoon with TF 1-41, and wait for heavy equipment transporters (HETs) to move his tanks south. 7 The next day Captain (CPT) Shane Celeen, the commander of C Company, received what some may have considered an early April Fool’s Day message after the hard fight north: move almost one hundred kilometers south to Tallil Air Base, located twenty kilometers southwest of An Nasiriyah, and then conduct an air movement back north to support CJSOTF-West. On 31 March 2003, C/2/70th Armor was fighting as part of TF 1-41 Infantry attached to the 82nd Airborne Division near As Samawah. After deployment to Kuwait in February 2003, C/2/70th Armor had fought from the Kuwaiti border to Objective Rams, just south of Baghdad, attached to 3rd Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division, before moving back south and being attached to Task Force 1-41 fighting near As Samawah. The company had previously spent six months in Kuwait under Operation DESERT SPRING (May–October 2002), returning to Fort Riley, Kansas, in November 2002. While it is not clear whether C/2/70th Armor was specifically selected for the mission or if it was simply luck, the Rangers were getting a very experienced armor unit. 4 The request for forces worked its way to Coalition Forces Land Component Command (CFLCC), down to 5th Corps headquarters, and ultimately to C Company, 2nd Battalion, 70th Armor Regiment (C/2/70th Armor). In the course of their operations in the western and northern deserts, however, the Rangers concluded that they required an armor force to confront Iraqi tanks, and to send the message that tanks were operating almost unopposed along Highway 1 north of Baghdad. The Regiment had discussed attaching an armor force during mission planning, but no formal arrangements were made. In a situation reminiscent of that faced by Darby and the Rangers in World War II, the 75th Ranger Regiment found itself in need of armor support in Iraq. 3 With such a tenuous association in the north, it again fell to the Rangers to prove the worth of armor in special operations. TF 1-63 only entered operations in the north as an occupying force in the cities controlled by TF Viking. In fact, three days after TF 1-63’s arrival, the major Iraqi elements in the north surrendered, and Kurdish Peshmerga and Task Force Viking (10th Special Forces Group) seized Kirkuk and Mosul. 2 After taking three days to arrive, however, the armor force was not able to effectively leave the airfield perimeter to provide an immediate impact on the combat situation in northern Iraq. 1 However, not until Operation IRAQI FREEDOM (OIF) did ARSOF again work with armor forces to any appreciable degree, and even then, the association was weak.Įarly in operations, armored Task Force (TF) 1-63 was airlifted into Bashur Airfield in support of Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force-North (CJSOTF-North). Darby formed the provisional “Cannon Company” of four M-3 half-tracks mounted with 75mm guns to give additional firepower to the Rangers during the Italian campaign. During World War II, the legendary Colonel William O. Although Army Special Operations Forces (ARSOF) are not usually associated with armored units, they have been known to work together when the situation has warranted heavy support.
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