Web. As part of this intensive training, Melzer learned details about the purpose, layout, and security of the Military Base. An ex-soldier was sentenced to 45 years in prison for attempting to murder U.S. service members, providing and attempting to provide material support to terrorists and illegally transmitting national defense information, the Department of Justice announced Friday. The 3rd Battalion, 319th Airborne Field Artillery Regiment (3-319th) of the 82nd Airborne Division, was attached to the brigade and organized as a maneuver task force (Task Force Gun Devil). Ethan Phelan Melzer, aka Etil Reggad, 24, of Louisville, pleaded guilty to attempting to murder U.S. service members, providing and attempting to provide material support to terrorists, and illegally transmitting national defense information on June 24, 2022, before U.S. District Judge Gregory H. Woods, who imposed todays sentence. No weapons were discharged. . The SSI would be given to them in May 1963. Police detained Peters as she allegedly tried to stop an officer from taking the iPad. Anne Wilkes Tucker Photography Study Center, Ambush Alley, 25th Division, Recon Cavalry, Ambushed Convoy Sent to Relieve Duc Co SF Camp. LRS provided the 173rd Brigade command group with key recon and intel of the province, and held control of Helmand with a 5th Special Forces Group ODA element. verso bottom right in pencil "Ambush of 173rd airborne / Iron Triangle 9/1965", Signed in pencil on verso lower right: "Tim Page 8/25", Circular stamp on verso lower right: "chromacolour.com.au * / ARCHIVAL / ILFOCHROME / CLASSIC", Image: 18 3/8 12 3/8 in. On Veterans Day, Task Force Black (170 men of the 1st Bn., 503rd Inf.) 15 August 1969. [3][25] As the Pacific quick-reaction force, they were the first brigade to be sent to South Vietnam two years later when hostilities escalated there. 56,244 10 months ago (NSFW) Russian Soldier Grenades Ukrainian Trench and Bunker . Of the 3,200 paratroopers from the 173rd deployed to Dak To, 27% were either killed (208) or wounded (645). Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. Gold Star, Active Duty, etc.). [87] The jump took a total of 58seconds, though 32 paratroopers were unable to jump because they would have landed too far from the rest of the force. [47] In August of that year, the brigade received its distinctive unit insignia. He was hit and killed later, still tending to the wounded. I wouldve died successfully . On 23 April 2014, four paratrooper companies of the 173rd were deployed to Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania to reassure America's NATO allies threatened by Russian military maneuvers along the borders of eastern Ukraine during the 201415 Russian military intervention in Ukraine. (U.S. Army Photo by Visual Information Specialist Davide Dalla Massara) Read more. Brigade members received over 7,700 decorations, including more than 6,000 Purple Hearts. [20] It was then designed uniquely from other separate brigades. [129], Captain Willard, a fictional character portrayed by Martin Sheen in the 1979 film Apocalypse Now, was a member of the 173rd assigned to Military Assistance Command, Vietnam Studies and Observations Group. Assisting the LRS and 5th Group ODA were elements of the 82nd Airborne, Iowa National Guard, and ANA. [103] Throughout their 15-month deployment, the brigade participated in more than 9,000 patrols throughout the region. "The defendant believed he could force the U.S. into prolonged armed conflict while causing the deaths of as many soldiers as possible," the Justice Department said in a previous statement. Centre for Analysis of the Radical Right. 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. Melzer and his unit also received in-depth training about and practiced for numerous threat scenarios at the Military Base, including how to respond to various potential terrorist attack scenarios. [3][18] After the war, the troop reverted to reserve status and was posted at Birmingham, Alabama from 1947 until 1951. 173rd Airborne Brigade deploys to South Vietnam The lead element of the 173rd Airborne Brigade ("Sky Soldiers"), stationed in Okinawa, departs for South Vietnam. For the medics in the mix, casualties represented far more than statistics. . Watters. Forward deployed across Italy and Germany, the brigade routinely trains alongside NATO allies and partners to build partnerships and strengthen the alliance. In November 2017, 2-503rd Infantry Regiment (The Rock) traveled in US Air Force C-130s to Belgrade, Serbia to conduct training with the Serbian Airborne Forces where they conducted two combined jumps at drop zones near Belgrade. A transphobic parent could kidnap their trans child in violation of custody agreements and abscond to Florida and be protected by Florida law under this despite likely committing felony kidnapping in their home state, Caraballo said. [5][12][13], The 173rd Infantry Brigade was constituted on 5 August 1917 as an infantry brigade and organized on 25 August at Camp Pike, Arkansas,[14] as an element of the 87th Division[15] along with the 174th Infantry Brigade. Secure .gov websites use HTTPS Joshua Magbanua/U.S. Melzer and O9A also transmitted this information to a purported member of al Qaeda in order to "maximize" the chances of an attack on his unit or future units at the location, the Justice Department said Friday. The acrid odor of decaying and rotting flesh combined with the smells of vomit, feces, urine, blood, gunpowder and napalm etched itself permanently into the memories of those who were on Hill 875, Murphy wrote. The attached Assault Helicopter Company, the 335th AHC, the "Cowboys", deployed with the brigade all over Vietnam into mid-1968 and comprised the Airmobile capability along with the Caspers. The brigade returned most recently from a deployment stretching from late 2013 to late 2014. In more recent years, the group has become a source of inspiration for violent white supremacists in the United States, Brian Levin, a terrorism expert at California State University in San Bernardino, said in 2020. Yarborough said the bill aims to protect children from what he described as a radical, prurient agenda.. [26][31] As larger US Army commands were established in Vietnam, the brigade was assigned to the IIICorps and IICorps tactical zone, which they would serve in for the next six years. At the same time that Hello Dolly opened at Nha Trang airbase, a company of 173rd Airborne had walked into an ambush in Viet Cong base zone, known as the Iron Triangle. Melzer and his alleged co-conspirators used this information to plan what they referred to as a "jihadi attack" with the objective of causing a "mass casualty" event victimizing his fellow service members. "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. Melzer, 22, was arrested last spring in Italy, where he served with the 173rd Airborne Brigade, and pleaded not guilty in September to eight charges, including conspiracy to kill U.S. nationals . A Kentucky man was sentenced today to 45 years in prison for attempting to murder U.S. service members, providing and attempting to provide material support to terrorists, and illegally transmitting national defense information. [63] For its combined actions during operations around Dak To, the 173rd Airborne Brigade was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation. Vietnamization, as later conceived in 1969, was not an objective, and, in fact, the entire effort represented a return to the old strategy of pacification, with American combat operations now tied much closer to the overall task of local security. [102] The 173rd IBCT(A) officially relieved the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division on 6 June 2007.[102]. Capt. [78] VCorps was not able to surround Baghdad as quickly as it had hoped because of a lack of available forces in the north. The Department of Justice described his enlistment as an infiltration. The 4th Infantry Divisions 1st Brigade included the 1st, 2nd and 3rd battalions of the 8th Inf. Some 15 Army artillery batteries along with tactical air support provided immense firepower. Though they were severely bloodied, the paratroopers inflicted even heavier losses on the NVA. Melzer told members of O9A in his encrypted electronic communications [y]ou just gotta understand that currently I am risking my literal free life to give you all this and that he was expecting results. Melzer further acknowledged that he could be killed during the attack and described his willingness to die for O9As goals, writing who gives a fuck [. Junger later wrote a highly acclaimed book, War, and, with Hetherington, produced the award-winning documentary, Restrepo, about the deployment. Subscribe to Task & Purpose Today. [109], From November 2009 until November 2010, the 173rd IBCT(A) once again returned to Afghanistan, this time to the provinces of Logar and Wardak. The 173rd Airborne Brigade ("Sky Soldiers"[1]) is an airborne infantry brigade combat team (IBCT) of the United States Army based in Vicenza, Italy. Unknown to the Americans, they had walked into a carefully prepared ambush by the 2nd Battalion of the 174th PAVN Regiment. In order to successfully accomplish this mission, the battalion . On Nov. 7- 8, A and D companies of the 3rd Bn., 8th Inf., fought NVA units east of Hill 830, losing 21 KIA and 81 WIA in close combat. One hit outside the perimeter, killing 25 NVA troops. "[69], From April until August 1971, the unit underwent the process of redeployment to Fort Campbell, Kentucky, the first time that the 173rd Airborne Brigade in name had returned to the United States since 1942. No reviews. Resupply became a necessity, because of high ammunition expenditures and lack of water, but was impossible to accomplish: Six UH-1 helicopters were shot down or badly damaged that afternoon trying to get to 2503.[59]. Before Hill 875 was even assaulted, the 173rd had already sustained 79 KIA and 287 WIA. Today, the 173rd Airborne Brigade pauses to remember the loss of 48 Paratroopers during Operation Hump in Vietnam, on this day 52 years ago. Of the 137 men that comprised the unit, 76 had been killed and another 23 wounded. 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. [60] This time the Americans gained the crest, but the PAVN had already abandoned their positions, leaving only a few dozen charred bodies and weapons. [84] As the preparations for the brigade were in their final stages, it moved 10 trains and 300 trucks worth of equipment to the air base, as well as 120 busloads of soldiers. [48], On 20 June, Company C, 2nd Battalion (Airborne), 503rd Infantry (C/2-503) discovered the bodies of a Special Forces CIDG unit that had been missing for four days on Hill 1338, the dominant hill mass south of Dak To. He also advised them that PAVN regulars were a much better equipped and motivated force than the VC. "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.". [126], The 173rd's service, particularly in Vietnam, has been featured several times in popular culture. In a strictly military sense, the Dak To fighting has been a victory for the allied forces, war correspondent Peter Arnett was forced to admit in an Associated Press report filed after spending 10 days at the scene. Upon learning the importance and sensitivity of his upcoming deployment, Melzer immediately began passing that information to members of O9A. [3][30] The brigade, organized as Task Force Bayonet, assumed control of Regional Command-South (RC South). [94] The entire battle for Kirkuk cost the brigade only nine casualties. On 1 December 1951, the troop was inactivated and released from its assignment to the 87th Infantry Division. The 173rd Airborne Brigade fielded the 1st, 2nd and 4th battalions of the 503rd Inf. A soldier of D Company, 1st Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Division, takes a break from the heavy fighting during the battle for Dak To. He was dead, but he kept me warm.. Cataloguing data may change with further research. Specifically, they sought to destroy Special Forces camps at Ben Het, about five miles east of the Cambodian border, and at Dak To, some 10 miles east of Ben Het. On May 18, 1967, its D Platoon went on a short patrol and chased a lone NVA scout, who led them into an ambush. [5], After Vietnam, the Army retained the 173rd Airborne Brigade as a quick deploying contingency brigade.