"Commanders, it's time to move the Herd," boldly stated Col. William C. Mayville, Jr., commander of the 173rd Airborne Brigade, as they boarded aircraft 15 years ago with the intent of parachuting into the Kurdish region of Iraq.

Just before midnight, March 26, 2003, a thousand Sky Soldiers from the 173rd Airborne Brigade opened a second front in the Iraq War, by parachuting from C-17 Globemasters into Bashur Drop Zone in northern Iraq, effectively redirecting six divisions from the Iraqi Army away from Baghdad.

One year later, soldiers vividly related their experiences to Spc. Adrian Schulte, SETAF Public Affairs,

"I knew it was real when they gave us live ammo at the airfield. I knew then that there was no turning back," recalled Pfc. Jerry Allen, Chosen Co. 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry (Airborne). "I've never seen so many planes in my life," he said, referring to the Air Force C-17 Globemasters waiting to take them to war.

The time for the paratroopers to make their leap into war came quickly. About 30 minutes from the drop zone, the white lights that had been illuminating the cabin were cut off and replaced by red ones, signaling "show time" was close at hand.

"I wasn't nervous until they started going through the jump commands about 20 minutes before the jump," Allen said. "When they turned the white lights off and put those red ones on, it was a rush."

"Each little event after the red lights came on made your heart beat a little bit faster, regardless of what you do or don't know," Deaconson said. "By the time we stood up to wait for the green light, my stomach was doing somersaults. I thought for a second I might throw up and had to put my head on the parachute of the guy in front of me to get my bearings."

"We stood up and our rucksacks were heavy as hell, so we were leaning on everything and trying not to stand up straight because it was horrendous," Holbrook said.

The Air Force loadmasters then opened the doors of the aircraft. Wind, dust and anticipation tore through the cabin. The paratroopers hooked up their static lines and did their final checks. Because they were in hostile air and because the drop zone was nestled in a valley, the giant C17s had to go into an intense, steep dive from 30,000 feet to 600 feet.

"We were already standing and hooked up when they went into this crazy dive," Allen said. "When they started to pull out of it, I couldn't stand up with all the weight I had on. All I wanted to do was get out of the bird."

The Air Force had a narrow window of time to get the paratroopers into the air, so after pulling out of the dive, the red light by the open door was quickly replaced by a green one and paratroopers started pouring out into the night sky.

"It was almost dead quiet once you hit the ground; you couldn't hear a thing," Deaconson said. "It was good, but eerie in a way. It gave you time to get your bearings. I felt drained just from stressing out so much on the plane."

The soldiers donned their night vision goggles and looked for their Phoenix beacon, a flashing beacon used for guidance visible through the night-vision goggles.

Kurdish fighters had closed off a highway and roads leading to the drop zone and airfield where the paratroopers were infiltrating near Irbil, Iraq. Just as U.S. and British paratroopers had done in Holland in 1944, the Sky Soldiers parachuted into enemy territory, secured the drop zone, coordinated with local freedom fighters and then moved their forces to secure key terrain and infrastructure.

The following day, CBS News reported, "Pentagon officials had hoped to have the Army's 4th Infantry Division invade Iraq from the north, but Turkey balked at allowing up to 62,000 U.S. troops on its soil to prepare for that option. The use of the 173rd shows the military has shifted to a smaller, lighter force. Though no hostilities were expected during the deployment, the 173rd decided to parachute in rather than ferry troops in by plane so that a significant combat force could mass almost immediately to protect itself."

On the 15th anniversary of this historic airborne insertion, the current 173rd Airborne Brigade Commander, Col. Jay Bartholomees, assembled the brigade at their battalion flagpoles in Italy and Germany to communicate the significance of this day in our brigade's history. Here is what he said:

"On this day 15 years ago, 1,000 Sky Soldiers boarded 17 C-17 aircraft to conduct a mass tactical combat parachute assault onto Bashar Airfield in northern Iraq. The brigade's mission was to secure the northernmost offensive boundary under Special Operations command and establish a lodgment for the introduction of follow-on forces into Iraq. Sky Soldiers boarded buses at Caserma Ederle and drove to Aviano Air Base to prepare for the jump. Strategically positioned in Italy, the 173rd made a 4.5-hour flight into northern Iraq, penetrating enemy air space and delivering The Herd where U.S. mechanized forces could not go. Just as our 173rd forefathers made history with the introduction of the first brigade combat team into Vietnam in 1965 and the first combat jump into Vietnam into Operation Junction City, the 173rd parachute assault was the first combat jump from the C17 Globemaster and the only combat jump conducted by U.S. Airborne forces since the War on Terrorism commenced in 2001.

As we reflect on this historic event and remember the paratroopers that jumped into Iraq, take a moment to think about what their perspective was in 2001 and 2002 leading up to this operation. The vast majority of these paratroopers had never seen combat. Only a handful of senior NCOs jumped into Panama with the 82nd Airborne in 1989. On 9-11, the 173rd was in a training rotation at Hohenfels Training Area conducting routine collective training. The Sky Soldiers of 15 to 17 years ago drilled and trained, studying the combat lessons of recent conflicts, preparing for the unknown.

Today, we stand ready just as Sky Soldiers did 15 years ago. Today, we train just as our forefathers did in Okinawa in 1963, just as Sky Soldiers did in Italy and Germany in 2003. The only certainty we have is that we do not know when we will be called, but that we must be ready when we are called. Our citizens and political leadership expect us to be ready - we must prevail for the livelihood of American generations to come. Thank you for the collective sacrifice that you and your families make each day in service of our great nation. Remember that day and prepare for final manifest call for our next combat parachute assault. Sky Soldiers!"

Sky Soldiers were flown into combat on C-17s from the 62nd and 446th Airlift Wings from McChord Air Force Base in Washington and the 437th Airlift Wing and 315th Reserve Airlift Wing from Charleston Air Force Base in South Carolina.

Those conducting the combat jump in 2003 consisted of paratroopers from:

• HHC, 173rd Airborne Brigade

• 1st-508th Infantry

• 2nd-503rd Infantry

• 74th Long Range Surveillance Detachment

• D Battery 4-319th Airborne Field Artillery Regiment

• 173rd Combat Support Company

• 501st Forward Support Company

• 250th Forward Surgical Team

• 2nd Battalion 10th Special Forces Group

• 4th ASOS and 86th Expeditionary Contingency Response Group from the U.S. Air Force