Operation Yarborough and U.S. Army Special Forces in Southern Iraq (January -- June 2008)
by Duane L. Mosier
Download the Full Article: The Road to Al Amarah
Stability in Iraq and the overall outcome of Operation Iraqi Freedom were in question during the spring and summer of 2007 as the "Surge," the offensive campaign implemented by General David Petraeus, was taking root. Coalition casualties peaked in 2007 with 961 fatalities in Iraq (up from 872 the previous year) as the coalition focused on the Sunni insurgency in Baghdad, the north, and west of Iraq. As a result of the coalition focus, the majority of Surge related brigades were centered on or near the dense population center of Baghdad leaving few available forces to monitor southern Iraq.
One battalion headquarters along with one and a half companies from the 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne) were used as the economy of force effort in the south during the fall of 2007 through the summer of 2008. These elements were to fill the void created by the limited conventional coalition presence. Multiple decentralized twelve man elements of Green Berets known as Special Forces Operational Detachments -- Alpha (ODAs) or "A-teams" were positioned throughout the south to enable a core of Iraqi security force partners. ODA 5331 was one of these elements. The detachment was partnered with the city of An Nasiriyah and the Iraqi Special Weapons and Tactics Unit which was the 600 man backbone of regional security for the greater Dhi Qar provincial area. It was with these men and others like them, that American Green Berets worked to overcome violent events that would grip southern Iraq in early 2008. Ultimately, the violent conditions across southern Iraq led Special Forces Soldiers to create and execute a large scale campaign to address the militant safe haven city of Al Amarah.
This is the story of that operation and how a small number of Special Forces Soldiers and their Iraqi partners helped to change the operational landscape of southern Iraq between January and June 2008.
Download the Full Article: The Road to Al Amarah
Major Duane L. Mosier served as the SFOD-A 5331 Detachment Commander during Operation IRAQI FREEDOM V and participated with fellow members of the detachment in Operation YARBOROUGH as well as several of the associated events discussed in this article. In an effort to present a chronologically correct and factual article, multiple sources of information were accessed and cited to verify details beyond the eye witness account of the author. Major Mosier is currently assigned to Special Operations Command Central.
