Members of 101st Airborne of the United States, aided by Special Forces, attack a compound in Iraq, killing Saddam Hussein's sons Uday and Qusay, along with Mustapha Hussein, Qusay's 14-year-old son, and a bodyguard.
The 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) ("Screaming Eagles") is a light infantry division of the United States Army specializing in air assault operations. The Screaming Eagles were referred to as "the tip of the spear" by former U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and the most potent and tactically mobile of the U.S. Army's divisions by former Chief of Staff of the Army GEN Edward C. Meyer. The 101st Airborne can plan, coordinate, and execute multiple battalion-size air assault operations to seize key terrain and can work in austere environments with limited or degraded infrastructure. These operations can be conducted by mobile teams covering large distances and engaging enemy forces behind enemy lines. Its unique battlefield mobility and high level of training have kept it in the vanguard of U.S. land combat forces in recent conflicts, e.g. foreign internal defense and counterterrorism operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.Established in 1918, the 101st Division was first constituted as an airborne unit in 1942. During World War II, it was renowned for its role in Operation Overlord (the D-Day landings and airborne landings on 6 June 1944, in Normandy, France), Operation Market Garden, the liberation of the Netherlands and its action during the Battle of the Bulge around the city of Bastogne, Belgium. During the Vietnam War, the 101st Airborne Division fought in several major campaigns and battles, including the Battle of Hamburger Hill in May 1969.
In mid-1968, it was reorganized and redesignated as an airmobile division and then in 1974 as an air assault division. The titles reflect the division's shift from airplanes to helicopters as the primary method of delivering troops into combat. Many current members of the 101st are graduates of the US Army Air Assault School, which is co-located with the division at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. It is known as one of the most difficult military courses in the U.S. Army and only about half of those who begin it graduate. Division headquarters is at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. In recent years, the division has served in Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria, as part of Operation Inherent Resolve.
At the height of the War on Terror, the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) had over 200 aircraft. With the inactivation of the 159th Combat Aviation Brigade in 2015, the division had slightly over 100 aircraft making it no different in configuration from other light infantry divisions of the U.S. Army. However, media reports suggest the U.S. Army is actively working to restore the 101st's aviation lift capabilities so it can return to lifting an entire brigade in one air assault operation.