US Marines in the Wars on Terror (1991-2009)

Desert Storm was the largest single operation in Marine Corps history. Nearly 91,000 Leathernecks took part. The 7th Marine Expeditionary Brigade stopped the fourth largest army in the world from seizing the Saudi oil fields.

The Battle of Khafji was the first major ground engagement of the Gulf War.

Marine airpower virtually destroys the 5th Iraqi Mechanized Division while on the ground Marines mount small unit special ops.

The Marines ground war begins. Marine Task Force Papa Bear meets the enemy at point blank range and the battle for the Burquan Oil Fields.

The Marines and the fall of Kuwait City.

The Marines land in Kandahar in November 2001, the first major conventional forces into Afghanistan.

U.S. forces build up in Kuwait and Marine air power and "Shock and Awe".

U.S and Coalition forces roll into Iraq including the First Marine Expeditionary Force. U.S. Marines lead the assault the Iraqi port of Umm Qasr.

Three U.S. Marine infantry battalions occupy the northern and southern parts of Nasiriya.

In the beginning of the battle of Baghdad, U.S. forces go against at least two Republican Guard divisions south of the Iraqi capital. U.S. forces engage Iraqi Republican Guard troops in a major fight in Karbala. In Nasiriya, U.S. Marines go block by block flushing out paramilitary units. The 1st Battalion of the 7th Marines secures two strategic sites on the Tigris River on the outskirts of Kut.

The 1st Marine Expeditionary Force attacks the Republican Guard's Baghdad Division and cross the Tigris River. Elements of the U.S. 1st Marine Expeditionary Unit leave Baghdad for Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit. After a day of fighting, the Marines are in control and switch to clean-up mode, setting up checkpoints and patrolling the city and its suburbs.

The Second Battle of Fallujah Operation Al-Fajr and Operation Phantom Fury and the insurgent attacks in Fallujah. The success of the tactics developed during the September 2006 push, often called the 'Third Battle of Fallujah', were then applied on a larger scale that lead to what can be called the Great Sunni Awakening. The series concludes with the Surge and the stand down of forces in 2009.