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US ARMY; (inset) US ARMY |
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173RD A I R B O R N E B R I G A D E
ITS MISSION: Based in Italy, the troops of the 173rd are trained to parachute into hot spots—and seize them. Still at their home base, they may be called on to jump into northern Iraq to keep the peace between the Kurds and the Turks and to protect oil fields.
THE COMMANDER: Colonel William C. Mayville Jr., 42, who leads America's only European-based airborne force, went to the 173rd after being with the Joint Special Operations Command at Fort Bragg, N.C. Mayville, who hails from Springfield, Va., has a master's in aerospace engineering. Of his 1,800 troops, he says, "Victory is our only course."
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