The 173rd Airborne Brigade deployed to Afghanistan in March 2005 under the command of Colonel Kevin Owens, in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. While there, he consumed extensive propaganda from numerous extremist groups, including O9A and ISIS, and routinely downloaded and accessed videos of jihadist attacks and executions, court documents showed. "Grand Junction Police approached Peters in a bagel shop in Feb. 8, 2022, to execute a warrant related to her iPad, on which she is suspected of improperly recording a court hearing for her deputy clerk," said the report. A former soldier was sentenced to 45 years in prison for attempting to plot with a hate group to attack his unit. He was the first living Medal of Honor recipient since the Vietnam War. The dust-offs started coming within 30 minutes. (47.9 32.5 cm) [66] The company commander, Captain Robert Helmick, was awarded the DSC. General Deane sent his forces 20 kilometres (12mi) west and southwest of Dak To to search for the PAVN 24th Regiment. Click here. To walk away from Hill 875 would have diminished the importance of their sacrifices, Murphy concluded. He then began passing information to O9A members using an encrypted application. arrested for plotting to attack Baltimores energy grid. .] In approximately October 2019, Melzer deployed abroad with the Army to Italy as a member of the 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team. Cataloguing data may change with further research. . [Y]ou just gotta understand that currently I am risking my literal free life to give you all this, he told members of O9A on an encrypted messaging application. Melzer pleaded guilty in June 2022 to charges of attempted murder of U.S. Army soldiers, illegally sharing national security information and providing and attempting to provide terrorists with material support. [143] On 13 May 2014, former 503rd Infantry Regiment Sergeant Kyle White received the Medal of Honor during a White House ceremony. U.S. Army paratroopers assigned to 2nd Battalion, 503rd Airborne Infantry Regiment, 173rd Airborne Brigade and Cypriot troops train on the M4A1, Tavor x95, MG3, Negev 7.62, and RPG-7V in Larnaca . But Murphy says that during the actions around Dak To, 376 Americans were killed and 1,441 wounded. The online process consists of the following 2 easy and fully-integrated steps: Step 1 - Fill out all of the required information in the membership application; you will be presented with interactive forms based on your profile and circumstances (e.g. Company D, 16th Armor was engaged in a battle that took place on 4 March 1968 at North Tuy Ha. The 3rd Brigade went off jump status on 1 April 1974, the same date on which the Airmobile Badge (Air Assault Badge as of 4 October 1974) was introduced. A and D companies of 1st Bn., 12th Inf. The weather, however, during the Nov. 1-23 continuous battles was excellent, according to F. Clifton Berry, Jr., in The Illustrated History of Sky Soldiers, The Vietnam War, with dry conditions and daily high and low temperatures between 91 and 55 degrees. Within a week these units began to fall apart due to desertions. Bnh nh was not easily pacified by military action alone. Besides Melzer and O9A, the Neo-Nazi group Atomwaffen whose leader was arrested for plotting to attack Baltimores energy grid and other groups have tried to recruit active-duty and veteran service members or have their own members join the military for training. Artillery support was rendered ineffective by the limited range of visibility. [18] 340 of the 570 173rd Airborne troops who attacked the hill became casualties. The 1-508th (minus Company B) conducted combat operations in eastern Afghanistan, attached to 1st Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division. This dynamic was intended to last only until additional facilities were constructed at the Dal Molin, now Del Din, airbase near Caserma Ederle at Vicenza. A former U.S. Army soldier was sentenced Friday to 45 years in prison, the maximum, for plotting what prosecutors described as a "murderous ambush" overseas on members of his own troop. Her awards include a 2021 Society of Professional Journalists Washington Dateline Award and an Honorable Mention from the Military Reporters and Editors Association for her coverage of crime at Fort Hood. We were surrounded, and we were firing in all directions.. [3][15], From 1961 to 1963, the Army began reorganizing its force so that each division would have a similar structure, which would vary depending on the type of division it was. The 173rd Airborne Brigade prides itself on being a forward stationed high-readiness unit, available to deploy to U.S. African, European and Central Commands within 18 hours of notification. Only two weeks before the brigade was to return to Europe, a platoon of 45 soldiers from the brigade stationed in the Dara-I-Pech district was attacked by a large force of insurgents during the Battle of Wanat. In-Depth Coverage . But they certainly did no more than the many other non-elites did, like 4th Division grunts, the artillery and others.. Email: wambicook@aol.com 1st Cavalry Division units1st Bn., 12th Cav Regt., and 2nd Bn., 8th Cavalryalso played a part in the campaign. Battle for Hill 875 - or the Siege of Dak To - The 2nd battalion of the 173rd Airborne Brigade with over 300 soldiers advanced up this hill with artillery . [76] However, this plan fell through when the government of Turkey would not allow offensive operations to be conducted from its soil, and the entire 4th Infantry Division was left stuck on ships in the Mediterranean for the opening of the operation. In the process the American officers tried to increase pressure on local enemy forces through intensive patrolling and to encourage ARVN battalion, company, and platoon-level leadership through longer, more decentralized operations. 3. . However, in the long run the operation appeared no more successful than Fairfax's efforts to clean up Gia Dinh Province around Saigon prior to the Tet Offensive. Meanwhile, NVA soldiers began a ferocious attack on A Company at the bottom of the hill. NAME AND TYPE OF OPERATION: Unnamed ambush patrol on Route 19, RVN. "He is not the unrepentant monster the prosecutors and the Court portrayed him to be," defense attorney Jonathan Marvinny said by email. We need to let kids be kids, and our laws need to set appropriate boundaries that respect the rights and responsibilities of parents, while protecting children from the serious health, safety, and welfare consequences of social agendas that are totally inconsistent with how the overwhelming majority of parents want to raise their children.. [73], In 2002, 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry (2-503rd) activated, providing a second infantry battalion. The centerpiece of the battle was the 110-hour fight for Hill 875. A South Vietnamese Marine, severely wounded in a Viet Cong ambush, is comforted by a comrade in a sugar-cane field at Duc Hoa, about 12 miles from Saigon, on August 5, 1963. . The New York Times. The investigation was carried out by the FBI New York Joint Terrorism Task Force, with assistance from the FBIs Legal Attach Office in Rome, U.S. Army Counterintelligence and the Air Force Office of Special Investigations, among others. Following on the heels of TF Blacks ordeal, A and B companies from the 2nd Bn., 503rd Inf., fought for more than four hours near Fire Support Base 16, located about five miles south of Hill 823. The sharp ridges are covered with double- and sometimes triple-canopy jungle. Articles may contain affiliate links which enable us to share in the revenue of any purchases made. [7] The 1st Battalion, 508th Infantry colors were moved to Ft. Bragg, North Carolina to serve under the 82nd Airborne Division. Ethan Phelan Melzer, 24, who also goes by Etil Reggad, pleaded guilty last June to charges of attempting to murder U.S. service members, providing and attempting to provide material support to terrorists, and illegally transmitting national defense information during the days leading up his units mid-2020 deployment. On 23 November, 2-503 and 4-503 were ordered to renew their assault while the 1st Battalion, 12th Infantry assaulted 875 from the south. Div., at Dak To. [140] Lloyd G. McCarter and Ray E. Eubanks earned the medal while fighting with the 503rd Infantry in World War II, while 13 other soldiers earned medals fighting under the 173rd in Vietnam; John A. Barnes III, Michael R. Blanchfield, Glenn H. English Jr., Lawrence Joel, Terry T. Kawamura, Carlos J. Lozada, Don L. Michael, Charles B. Morris, Milton L. Olive III, Larry S. Pierce, Laszlo Rabel, Alfred Rascon, and Charles J. On 23 June, the 1st Battalion, 12th Cavalry Regiment (1st Brigade, 1st Air Cavalry Division) arrived to bolster the 173rd. The 173rd Airborne Brigade ("Sky Soldiers"[1]) is an airborne infantry brigade combat team (IBCT) of the United States Army based in Vicenza, Italy. Melzer, who was a private assigned to the 173rd Airborne Brigade in Vicenza, Italy, planned a jihadist attack on his Army unit in the days leading up to a deployment to Turkey and sent. "He used his membership in the military to pursue an appalling goal: the brutal murder of his fellow U.S. service members in a carefully plotted ambush.". [There were] heaps of dead after that bomb, a survivor remembered. I wouldve died successfully . Some 42 Americans (many of them already wounded) were killed and 45 wounded in the wars worst friendly fire incident. [94] The entire battle for Kirkuk cost the brigade only nine casualties. Del Din hosts 173rd Brigade Headquarters, 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment, the Brigade Support Battalion, and the Brigade Special Troops Battalion. . For example, Melzer also promised to leak more information once he arrived at the Military Base including real-time photographs of the facility and the frequency and channel of U.S. Army radio communications in order to maximize the likelihood of a successful attack on his unit or on a replacement unit deployed to the Military Base. Address: 18458 East Orkney Street, Azusa CA 91702-0219. [71] The 173rd Airborne Brigade was reactivated in 2000 at Caserma Ederle in Vicenza, Italy,[3][5] using the assets of the SETAF Infantry brigade, primarily the 1st Battalion, 508th Infantry and Battery D, 319th Field Artillery. Melzer, who also goes by the name Etil Reggad, joined the Army in 2018. McKinney. These warnings, however, made little impression on the paratroopers, who were about to become victims of their own overconfidence. First Military Choice. MICHAEL LEVENSON. The success of the program varied greatly from unit to unit, but the programs of the 173rd and Task Force South were generally regarded as effective. The most prominent of these is the 2006 single released by the country music duo Big & Rich, entitled "8th of November". The complaint also argues that the Trump campaign broke the law by not disclosing the contribution. US Army soldier gets 45 years for neo-Nazi plot to ambush his own paratrooper unit . Marvinny and two other attorneys on Melzer's defense team argued in a sentencing memo last year that Melzer should get 15 years, plus 10 years' supervised release. [34] The 1st Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment[35] and the 161st Battery, Royal New Zealand Artillery[36] were attached to the brigade for one year in 1965. Harold B. Birch, battalion commander at the time, recalled that about 14 Red Warriors were wounded in the attack, some by a misdirected American helicopter gunship.. A former Army paratrooper was sentenced to 45 years in prison Friday for plotting with a violent extremist group to ambush and kill members of his own Italy-based unit, federal law enforcement officials said.