08APR2003: Serving as a Close Combat Controller with the Air Force's 24th Special Tactics Squadron, SSgt Scott Sather was working with the Army's 75th Ranger Regimental Reconnaissance Detachment during the initial invasion of Iraq. Serving as the key link between ground troops and American airpower, SSgt Sather's job was to provide targeting information in support of a few critical missions.
First, his unit was tasked with capturing any HVTs attempting to flee Iraq west into Syria. Second, he was responsible for creating a diversion convincing the Iraqi military that an American division was approaching Baghdad from the west. The intent of the diversion was to fix Iraqi units in and around Baghdad so the main thrust of the American advance could push up from the south.
SSgt Sather and his unit were successful and on April 6th American units entered Baghdad as many Iraqi forces stayed to the west expecting an assault that never came. On April 8th, as US forces shifted to assault Tikrit,just north of Baghdad, SSgt Scott Sather was killed at the age of 29. SSgt Sather would be awarded the Purple Heart and Bronze Star posthumously.
