Screaming Eagles Through Time
July 2003












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29 July 2003
  • Soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) conducted a raid on a local café in search of a person who allegedly attacked various police stations in the Mosul area. The soldiers detained 10 individuals and confiscated two AK-47s and 400,000 Iraqi Dinars.

28 July 2003
  • The 2nd Brigade Combat Team of the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) detained two former regime loyalist brothers, confiscating $100,000 to $200,000, 30-40 million Iraqi Dinar and three AK-47s in the process.

24 July 2003

  • Three 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) soldiers were killed when their convoy was ambushed by small arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades, while traveling to Qayarrah West outside of Mosul, at approximately 2:30 a.m. July 24. The ambush site was secured and the soldiers were evacuated to a nearby medical facility. The unit found two RPGs and an AK-47 at the site.
  • A rotation schedule for replacing the troops that fought in Operation Iraqi Freedom was announced by Gen. John Keane, at a Pentagon press conference held Wednesday, July 23. The 3rd Infantry Division will be the first to be rotated out when they are replaced by elements of the 82nd Airborne Division in September. According to the Gen. Keane's plan, the 101st Airborne will be replaced in February and March of 2004 by a multinational force yet to be constituted.
  • In Mosul, the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) has recently completed repairs at the detention center located in the Al Najar neighborhood. The soldiers worked with Iraqi contractors to fix locks, windows and doors at the jail. They also repaired holes in the jails outer wall, fixed barbed wire and repaired the generator. The detention center will hold up to 150 people.

23 July 2003

  • Soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) and special forces personnel conducted an operation in Mosul the afternoon of July 22 resulting in the deaths of Qusay and Uday Hussein. Qusay and Uday, sons of Saddam Hussein, were listed as numbers 2 and 3 on U.S. Central Commands Top 55 most wanted list. The division conducted the operation after receiving information from an Iraqi source stating the brothers were hiding out in a house on the northern edge of town. During the six-hour operation, four Coalition soldiers were wounded. Two other unidentified Iraqis were also killed in the operation. The wounded soldiers were evacuated to a nearby medical facility for treatment.
  • One 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) soldier was killed and seven 101st AD soldiers wounded when an improvised explosive device struck two military vehicles traveling on Highway 1 outside of Mosul July 23 at approximately 6 a.m. The soldiers were evacuated to the 21st Combat Support Hospital for treatment. The names of the soldiers are being withheld pending next-of-kin notification.
  • Signal teams from the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) identified areas where telephone lines had been cut or damaged and are working to repair connections throughout Nineveh province. Due to looting as well as outdated and neglected telephone equipment only 15 percent of the households in Mosul have working telephones and people in the outlying countryside have no service at all. However, on July 19 due to the efforts of the 101st AAD the areas telephone system has processed more than 37,000 calls.
  • Soldiers from the 101st AAD along with the Mosul Olympic Committee have established a youth soccer program for youth males ages 8 to 18. More than 120 teams made up of players from both sides of the Tigris River are in the league, which started July 19. The 103-game season is scheduled to last until the beginning of the school year in September and is a feeder program for the Iraqi Olympic soccer team.

22 July 2003

  • Statement from US Central Command:

    On Tuesday, July 22, forces associated with the 101st Airborne Division and Special Operations Forces conducted an operation against suspected regime figures at a residence in Mosul, Iraq. The site is currently being exploited. Four Iraqis were killed in the operation. We have confirmed that two of the dead were Saddams sons Uday and Qusay.

21 July 2003

  • The names of the 101st soldiers killed in Iraq on July 20, 2003, have been released: Sgt. Jason D. Jordan, 24, of Elba, Alabama, and Sgt. Justin W. Garvey, 23, of Townsend, Mass. Both were with the Headquarters & Headquarters Company, 1-187th Infantry, and were killed when the vehicle they were riding in was hit by an RPG (rocket propelled grenade).

20 July 2003

  • Two soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division were killed and one wounded when their unit was ambushed with rocket-propelled grenades and small arms fire near Tal Afar July 20. The soldiers were transported to the 21st Combat Support Hospital for treatment. Two soldiers later died of their wounds. There were no reported enemy casualties. The victim's names are being witheld pending notification of next of kin.
  • MOSUL, Iraq (Army News Service, July 17, 2003) - Soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) took time away from fighting the huge sulfur-plant fire in Qayyarah today to attend a memorial service for an Iraqi firefighter killed and they honored those who fought bravely during the first days of the blaze. Firefighters and engineers from the 101st are still working to extinguish the fire that began June 26.in Qayyarah, a small city south of Mosul. The 101st ceremony honored the division's 326th Engineer Battalion and the 938th Fire Fighting Detachment from New York who worked around the clock with bulldozers, fire trucks and other fire fighting equipment to contain the blaze. During the ceremony, 11 soldiers gave 11 Iraqi firefighters new jumpsuits with the 101st Screaming Eagle patch sewn on. On the soldier's side, several received Army Commendation Medals for their work battling the fire. Mayors from provinces throughout Nineveh, key leaders from the 101st and NBC Nightly News anchorman Tom Brokaw attended the ceremony. "The fire was a great tragedy, one lost his life and several others were injured by the fire," said Maj. Gen. David Petreaus, commanding general of the 101st Abn. Div. The response by the Iraqi firemen and U.S. soldiers says much about the relationship between coalition forces and local citizens, Petreaus said. "U.S. soldiers, Arabs, Kurds and Turkmen came together and risked their lives to extinguish this fire for the last 24 days. While we mourn the loss of a brave man, we will celebrate the work done by these two groups because it shows the work toward a new Iraq," he said. A special fund has been set up by U.S. forces and Iraqi leaders to help families affected by the fire.

18 July 2003

  • The 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) continued training and equipping Iraqi security forces, the Iraqi police force, New Iraqi Army personnel, Iraqi Border Guards, Facility Protection Services, Joint Integrated Security Company and the New Iraqi Security Forces, in order to transition responsibilities for a safe and secure environment to an Iraqi force.

17 July 2003

  • The remains of an estimated 200 people were found by soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) recently in a mass grave in Al Hatra, about 40 miles south of Mosul. A mass grave assessment team, including members of the division's Criminal Investigation Division and Division Surgeon sections, confirmed the find by partially excavating the site located on a slight depression on the edge of a wadi, or dry riverbed. Two pieces of clothing were found at approximately six-feet deep and multiple remains were uncovered at approximately 10-feet deep. About 25 sets of human remains were pulled from the hole, with an unknown number still buried.
    According to reports gathered from local civilians and estimates based on the size of the depression as many as 200 to 400 bodies could be buried there. The team now has help from specialists from the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, a Department of Defense asset, which arrived in Mosul July 14.

16 July 2003

  • A 32-year-old Army sergeant accused of killing two officers in a grenade attack on fellow American troops in Kuwait in March will face a court-martial trial on murder charges that could bring the death penalty, the U.S. military said on Wednesday. Maj. Gen. David Petraeus, commander of the Army's 101st Airborne Division, accepted a recommendation made by an investigating officer last month that Sgt. Hasan Akbar face a court-martial, officials at Fort Campbell in Kentucky said in a statement. Master Sgt. Kelly Tyler, a Fort Campbell spokeswoman, said Akbar likely will be tried at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Akbar currently is being held at Fort Knox in Kentucky. Akbar has been charged with two counts of premeditated murder and three counts of attempted murder stemming from the March 22 incident at Camp Pennsylvania in Kuwait in which he allegedly attacked fellow troops stationed there in the early days of the Iraq war.

13 July 2003

  • The 101st Airborne Division started border guard training for more than 100 border guards in the Chwarta and Halaba districts.
  • In Mosul, the 101st Airborne Division apprehended three local opposition leaders. All three men are currently detained in the division's holding facility.

9 July 2003

  • A U.S. soldier attached to the 101st Airborne Division died of a gunshot wound in a non-combat incident on July 7.
  • The 101st Airborne Division discovered and seized a cache of 12 antitank projectiles that were camouflaged with cut wheat, on a road near Tal'afar.