title: 173rd Airborne Brigade

text: All of these units are airborne qualified, making the 173rd Airborne Brigade the only separate airborne IBCT in the United States Army.


title: 173rd Airborne Brigade

text: In August 2016 the 1st Battalion (Airborne), 143rd Infantry Regiment became part of the brigade under the Army's Associated Unit Pilot Program.


title: 173rd Airborne Brigade

text: The 173rd Infantry Brigade was constituted on 5 August 1917 as an infantry brigade and organized on 25 August at Camp Pike, Arkansas, as an element of the 87th Division along with the 174th Infantry Brigade. The brigade deployed to France along with the rest of the division in September 1918, but it did not participate in any campaigns and never saw combat, instead being utilized as a pool of laborers and reinforcements for frontline units. Four months later, the brigade returned to the United States, and was demobilized with the rest of the division in January 1919 at Camp Dix, New Jersey. Commanders during the war included:


title: 173rd Airborne Brigade

text: On 24 June 1921, the unit was reconstituted as the Headquarters and Headquarters Company ("HHC"), 173rd Infantry Brigade, and was assigned to the Organized Reserve Corps and the 87th Division at Shreveport, Louisiana. It was reorganized in December 1921 at Mobile, Alabama, redesignated on 23 March 1925 as the HHC 173rd Brigade, and redesignated as HHC 173rd Infantry Brigade on 24 August 1936.


title: 173rd Airborne Brigade

text: During World War II, brigades were eliminated from divisions. Consequently, the HHC 173rd Infantry Brigade was designated as the 87th Reconnaissance Troop in February 1942 and activated on 15 December 1942. Though the brigade in name did not exist during the war, the redesignation meant that it carried the lineage of the 87th Reconnaissance Troop, and when the brigade was reactivated, it would include the troop's lineage and campaign streamers. The troop entered combat in 1944 and fought in three European campaigns; central Europe, the Rhineland and Ardennes-Alsace operations. The maneuver battalions of the Vietnam era 173rd trace their lineage to the 503rd Parachute Infantry Regiment, which successfully assaulted the fortress island of Corregidor in the Philippines by parachute and waterborne operations, thereby earning the nickname "The Rock". After the war, the troop reverted to reserve status and was posted at Birmingham, Alabama from 1947 until 1951. On 1 December 1951, the troop was inactivated and released from its assignment to the 87th Infantry Division.


title: 173rd Airborne Brigade

text: From 1961 to 1963, the Army began reorganizing its force so that each division would have a similar structure, which would vary depending on the type of division it was. This move was called the Reorganization Objective Army Division (ROAD) plan. The plan eliminated regiments but reintroduced brigades to the Army's structure, allowing three brigades to a division. The reorganization also allowed for the use of "separate" brigades which had no division headquarters and could be used for missions that did not require an entire division. The 173rd Brigade was selected to become a separate brigade and a special airborne task force, which could deploy rapidly and act independently. It was then designed uniquely from other separate brigades. The 173rd was the only separate brigade to have support formations permanently assigned to it, though other separate brigades would receive support elements of their own a year later. The brigade was also the only separate brigade to receive its own tank company, in the form of Company D, 16th Armor. Consistent with regimental combat teams activated before them, these separate brigades were given their own shoulder sleeve insignia. The soldiers of the 173rd Airborne Brigade created a patch with a wing on it to symbolize their status as an airborne unit, along with red, white, and blue, the national colors of the United States. The SSI would be given to them in May 1963.


title: 173rd Airborne Brigade

text: On 26 March 1963, the 173rd Airborne Brigade (Separate) was assigned to the Regular Army and activated on Okinawa. Brigadier General Ellis W. Williamson took command of the unit, which was chartered to serve as the quick reaction force for the Pacific Command. Under Williamson, the unit trained extensively, making mass parachute jumps. They earned the nickname "Tien Bing" (), literally "Sky Soldiers", from the Taiwanese paratroopers. During their time in Okinawa, they prided themselves as the "toughest fighting men in Okinawa, if not the entire U.S. Armed Forces". They took their theme song from the television series "Rawhide". As the Pacific quick-reaction force, they were the first brigade to be sent to South Vietnam two years later when hostilities escalated there.


title: 173rd Airborne Brigade

text: The brigade arrived in South Vietnam on 7 May 1965, the first major ground combat unit of the United States Army to serve in the country. Williamson boldly predicted on arrival that his men would defeat the Viet Cong (VC) quickly and that they "would be back in Okinawa by Christmas". The 1st Brigade, 101st Airborne Division; the 2nd Brigade, 1st Infantry Division; and the 1st Cavalry Division quickly followed the 173rd into Vietnam, the first of what would eventually be 25 U.S. Army brigades to serve in the country. As larger US Army commands were established in Vietnam, the brigade was assigned to the III Corps and II Corps tactical zone, which they would serve in for the next six years. The brigade was put under the command of II Field Force, Vietnam.


title: 173rd Airborne Brigade

text: The 1st and 2nd Battalions, 503rd Infantry were the first Army combat units from the 173rd sent into South Vietnam, accompanied by the 3rd Battalion, 319th Artillery. They were supported by the 173rd Support Battalion, 173rd Engineer Company, Troop E/17th Cavalry and Company D/16th Armor. The 1st Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment and the 161st Battery, Royal New Zealand Artillery were attached to the brigade for one year in 1965. Late in August 1966, the 173rd received another infantry battalion, the 4th Battalion, 503rd Infantry from Fort Campbell, Kentucky. The 3rd Battalion, 503rd joined the brigade at Tuy Hòa Province in September 1967 following the former's activation and training at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. The 173rd was also assigned Company N (Ranger), 75th Infantry. At its peak of its deployment in Vietnam, the 173rd Airborne Brigade (Separate) comprised over 7,000 soldiers.


title: 173rd Airborne Brigade

text: The brigade was the first unit sent into War Zone D to destroy enemy base camps, introducing the use of small Long Range Reconnaissance Patrols. On 8 November 1965, the 173rd took part in Operation Hump, just north of Biên Hòa on the outskirts of Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam. They were ambushed by approximately 1,200 VC fighters, suffering 48 deaths. The unit fought in the Iron Triangle, a VC stronghold north of Saigon, seeing many engagements with VC forces during that time. In January 1966 they launched Operation Marauder, the first U.S. military operation in the Plain of Reeds. They participated in Operation Crimp in 1966, a failed attempt to root out VC forces from the Củ Chi tunnels. The attached helicopter unit became the Casper Aviation Platoon, befitting a separate infantry brigade as the only separate aviation platoon deployed in Vietnam. Casper platoon was part of the HHC 173rd Airborne Brigade and its members wore the brigade patch. 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. Soldiers of the brigade became involved in Operation Attleboro in fall of 1966, an operation that started out as a small search and destroy mission north of Saigon, but eventually involved 22,000 troops from 21 battalions. Soldiers of the brigade also took part in smaller humanitarian missions in between major combat operations.


title: 173rd Airborne Brigade

text: On 22 February 1967, the 173rd conducted Operation Junction City, the only combat parachute jump of the Vietnam War. The operation saw three brigades controlling eight battalions dropped by helicopters and US Air Force aircraft into War Zone C, in Tây Ninh Province. During the battle, the brigade operated out of the northeastern part of the war zone along with the 196th Infantry Brigade (Separate), as four other brigades from the 1st and 25th Infantry Divisions attempted to surround and destroy the 9th Division in the War Zone. The operation was a success, and the battered VC division fled. In August of that year, the brigade received its distinctive unit insignia. The soldiers chose to have it contain a parachute and dagger to symbolize their participation in Operation Junction City and the other heavy fighting they had been through. The DUI was also inscribed "Sky Soldiers" as homage to the nickname that the Taiwanese soldiers had given them.


title: 173rd Airborne Brigade

text: In mid-1967, the 4th Infantry Division's 1st and 2nd Brigades conducting Operation Francis Marion in western Kon Tum Province were making heavy contact with People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) forces. These contacts prompted division commander Major General William R. Peers to request reinforcement and, as a result, on 17 June, two battalions of Brigadier General John R. Deane's 173rd Airborne Brigade were moved into the Dak To area to begin sweeping the jungle-covered mountains in Operation Greeley. The 173rd had been operating near Bien Hoa Air Base outside Saigon and had been in combat only against the VC. Prior to its deployment to the highlands, Peers' operations officer, Colonel William J. Livsey, attempted to warn the Airborne officers of the hazards of campaigning in the Central Highlands. He also advised them that PAVN regulars were a much better equipped and motivated force than the VC. These warnings, however, made little impression on the paratroopers, who were about to become victims of their own overconfidence.


title: 173rd Airborne Brigade

text: 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. Supported by A/2-503, the Americans moved up the hill and set up for the night. At 06:58 the following morning, Alpha Company began moving alone up a ridge finger and triggered an ambush by the 6th Battalion of the 24th PAVN Regiment. Charlie Company was ordered to support, but heavy vegetation and difficult terrain made movement extremely difficult. Artillery support was rendered ineffective by the limited range of visibility. Close air support was impossible for the same reasons. Alpha Company managed to survive repeated attacks throughout the day and night, but the cost was heavy. Of the 137 men that comprised the unit, 76 had been killed and another 23 wounded. A search of the battlefield revealed only 15 dead North Vietnamese.


title: 173rd Airborne Brigade

text: In response to the destruction of Alpha Company, MACV ordered additional forces into the area. On 23 June, the 1st Battalion, 12th Cavalry Regiment (1st Brigade, 1st Air Cavalry Division) arrived to bolster the 173rd. The following day, the Army of the Republic of Vietnam's (ARVN) elite 1st Airborne Task Force (the 5th and 8th Battalions) and the 3rd Brigade, 1st Air Cavalry Division (5th Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment; 2nd Battalion, 12th Cavalry; and an additional infantry battalion) arrived to conduct search and destroy operations north and northeast of Kon Tum. General Deane sent his forces west and southwest of Dak To to search for the PAVN 24th Regiment. By October, the 173rd, the 4th Infantry Division, and six ARVN battalions were moved to Dak To. The PAVN, in turn, had moved almost 6,000 troops in four infantry regiments and one artillery regiment.


title: 173rd Airborne Brigade

text: The battle around Dak To became more costly as 4-503 of the 173rd was ordered to occupy Hill 823, south of Ben Het Camp, for the construction of Fire Support Base. Only the battalion's Company B was available for the attack, which was borne by helicopter. The company was able to take the hill but suffered 9 dead and 28 wounded. The following morning Bravo Company was relieved by Lieutenant Colonel David J. Schumacher's 1–503, which (against the admonitions of Colonel Livsey) was divided into two small task forces. Task Force Black consisted of Charlie Company supported by two platoons of Dog Company and Task Force Blue which was composed of Alpha Company and the remaining platoon of Dog Company. Task Force Black left Hill 823 to find the PAVN who had attacked B/4-503. At 08:28 on 11 November, after leaving their overnight laager and following a PAVN communications wire, the force was ambushed by the 8th and 9th Battalions of the PAVN 66th Regiment and had to fight for its life. Task Force Blue drew the job of going to the relief of the beleaguered task force; however, Task Force Blue ran into resistance and was pinned down by enemy fire on all sides. C/4-503 was then assigned the mission of relieving Task Force Black and they too encountered significant PAVN fire, but they made it, reaching the trapped men at 15:37. U.S. losses were 20 killed, 154 wounded, and two missing.


title: 173rd Airborne Brigade

text: Following an attack on the Đắk Tô Base, and actions on hill 882 by the 1-503rd that saw 7 men dead and 34 wounded, 330 men of 2-503 moved in to assault Hill 875. At 10:30, as the Americans moved to within of the crest, PAVN machine gunners opened fire on the advancing paratroopers. The Vietnamese then unleashed B-40 rockets and 57 mm recoilless rifle fire on the Americans. The paratroopers attempted to continue the advance, but the PAVN, well concealed in interconnected bunkers and trenches, opened fire with small arms and grenades. At 14:30 PAVN troops hidden at the bottom of the hill launched a massed assault from the rear. Unknown to the Americans, they had walked into a carefully prepared ambush by the 2nd Battalion of the 174th PAVN Regiment. Soon, U.S. air strikes and artillery fire were being called in, but they had little effect on the battle because of the dense foliage on the hillside. 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 2–503.


title: 173rd Airborne Brigade

text: The next morning the three companies of 4-503 were chosen to set out and relieve the men on Hill 875. Because of intense PAVN sniper and mortar fire (and the terrain), it took until nightfall for the relief force to reach the beleaguered battalion. On the afternoon of 21 November, both battalions moved out to take the crest. During fierce, close-quarters fighting, some of the paratroopers made it into the PAVN trench line but were ordered to pull back as darkness fell.


title: 173rd Airborne Brigade

text: The following day was spent in launching airstrikes and a heavy artillery bombardment against the hilltop, totally denuding it of cover. On 23 November, 2-503 and 4-503 were ordered to renew their assault while the 1st Battalion, 12th Infantry assaulted 875 from the south. This time the Americans gained the crest, but the PAVN had already abandoned their positions, leaving only a few dozen charred bodies and weapons.


title: 173rd Airborne Brigade

text: The battle of Hill 875 had cost 2-503 87 killed, 130 wounded, and three missing. 4-503 suffered 28 killed 123 wounded, and four missing. Combined with noncombatant losses, this represented one-fifth of the 173rd Airborne Brigade's total strength. For its combined actions during operations around Dak To, the 173rd Airborne Brigade was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation. 340 of the 570 173rd Airborne troops who attacked the hill became casualties.


title: 173rd Airborne Brigade

text: The intense fighting during the Battle of Dak To took a heavy human toll on the 173rd. While several of its units, including the 2-503rd and A/3-319th were ordered to Tuy Hòa to repair and refit, the 173rd was transferred to Camp Radcliff in An Khê and Bong Son areas during 1968, seeing very little action while the combat ineffective elements of the brigade were rebuilt. Company D, 16th Armor was engaged in a battle that took place on 4 March 1968 at North Tuy Hòa. During the day, the company lost 8 men killed and 21 wounded. An estimated 2 enemy battalions, the VC 85th Main Force and the PAVN 95th Regiment, were rendered ineffective as they had 297 killed, with D/16 Armor receiving credit for killing 218. The company commander, Captain Robert Helmick, was awarded the DSC. One of the few combat operations that brigade conducted during this time was an amphibious assault against PAVN/VC forces as part of an operation to clear the rice-growing lowlands along the Bong Song littoral.


title: 173rd Airborne Brigade

text: In mid-1968 at the instigation of II Corps commander General Lữ Mộng Lan, I Field Force, Vietnam commander General William R. Peers paired with the Brigade with the ARVN 22nd Division in Bình Định Province in what was almost a replica of Operation Fairfax. The participating US units brought substantial air, artillery, engineer, and other support to the combined endeavor from their parent units, and American and Vietnamese commanders generally colocated command posts, shared a common area of operation, and planned and carried out operations together. In the process the American officers tried to increase pressure on local enemy forces through intensive patrolling and to encourage ARVN battalion, company, and platoon-level leadership through longer, more decentralized operations. 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. Several months later, encouraged by the apparent success of joint operations with the 22nd Division, Peers directed the organization of a "Task Force South" with two battalions of the Brigade "pairing up" these units with several Ranger battalions and the 44th and 53rd Regiments of the ARVN 23rd Division south of Bình Định. 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. In April 1969 Brigade commander Brig. Gen. John W. Barnes officially ended the unit's pair-off program and replaced it with Operation Washington Green, an intensive area security effort with territorial and paramilitary forces in Bình Định Province. In essence, Washington Green was a second Operation Fairfax, but without the presence of ARVN regulars. Washington Green proved to be the final American campaign in Bình Định Province, and its greatest achievement may have been in training an impressive number of territorial and paramilitary forces. However, in the long run the operation appeared no more successful than Fairfax's efforts to clean up Gia Dinh Province around Saigon prior to the Tet Offensive. Bình Định was not easily pacified by military action alone. American and Vietnamese local intelligence was poor, the area was a traditional VC stronghold, and province and district officials were never able to eliminate the local VC infrastructure. As Peers' successor in March 1969, Lt. Gen. Charles A. Corcoran, reflected, "Barnes may have just been keeping the lid on the situation." After the brigade finally left South Vietnam in 1971, the greater portion of the province reverted to VC control.


title: 173rd Airborne Brigade

text: The unit then served in An Khê until mid-1969, seeing little in the way of heavy fighting. From April 1969 until its withdrawal from South Vietnam in 1971, the brigade served in Bình Định Province. During more than six years of continuous combat, the brigade earned 14 campaign streamers and four unit citations, the Presidential Unit Citation, a Meritorious Unit Commendation, a Republic of Vietnam Cross of Gallantry, and a Republic of Vietnam Civil Action Honor Medal. Sky Soldiers serving in Vietnam received 13 Medals of Honor, 32 Distinguished Service Crosses, 1,736 Silver Stars and more than 6,000 Purple Hearts. The 173rd incurred 1,533 deaths and around 6,000 wounded.


title: 173rd Airborne Brigade

text: After widely publicized reports by battalion commander Lt. Col. Anthony Herbert, investigators confirmed that military interrogators of the 173rd Airborne Brigade "repeatedly beat prisoners, tortured them with electric shocks and forced water down their throats". A U.S. Army report detailed a pattern of "cruelty and maltreatment" between March 1968 and October 1969. Interrogators also employed a technique called the "water rag", which involved pouring water onto a rag covering the captive's nose and mouth, which creates the sensatation of drowning and can lead to death by asphyxiation. Herbert was relieved of his command shortly after reporting to his superior the war crimes he had witnessed. A former counterintelligence officer gave a statement under oath that "he saw interrogators punch and kick prisoners, beat them with sticks, administer electrical shocks and urinate on them."


title: 173rd Airborne Brigade

text: 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.


title: 173rd Airborne Brigade

text: After Vietnam, the Army retained the 173rd Airborne Brigade as a quick deploying contingency brigade. However, with the ending of conscription following America's disengagement from Vietnam, many of the Army's formations had to be rebuilt for the volunteer force. One of these was the 101st Airborne Division, which had also been redeployed to Fort Campbell. It was decided that the 173rd would be used to help rebuild the division, which had been converted into an airmobile formation during the Vietnam War. The brigade was inactivated on 14 January 1972 at the fort, and its assets were used to form the 3rd Brigade, 101st Airborne Division, a parachute component within the airmobile 101st. The 3rd Brigade went off jump status on 1 April 1974, the same date on which the Airmobile Badge (Air Assault Badge as of 4 October 1974) was introduced.


title: 173rd Airborne Brigade

text: In the late 1990s, Army leaders including General Eric Shinseki began shifting the Army force toward brigade centered operations. All separate brigades had been inactivated in the 1990s as part of the U.S. Army's drawdown following the end of the Cold War. These inactivations, along with subsequent reorganization of U.S. Army divisions, saw several divisional brigades stationed in bases that were far from the division's headquarters and support units. These brigades had difficulty operating without support from higher headquarters.


title: 173rd Airborne Brigade

text: It was Shinseki's idea to reactivate a few separate brigades and assign them their own support and sustainment units, which would allow them to function independently of division-level headquarters. These formations were termed "brigade combat teams". Such units could be stationed in bases far from major commands, not requiring division-level unit support, an advantage in places like Alaska and Europe, where stationing entire divisions was unnecessary or impractical. The first of the separate brigades was the 172nd Infantry Brigade, activated in 1998. The 173rd Airborne Brigade was reactivated in 2000 at Caserma Ederle in Vicenza, Italy, using the assets of the SETAF Infantry brigade, primarily the 1st Battalion, 508th Infantry and Battery D, 319th Field Artillery. Not long after its reactivation, elements were deployed to Kosovo as part of Operation Rapid Guardian in support of Kosovo Force (KFOR).


title: 173rd Airborne Brigade

text: In 2002, 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry (2-503rd) activated, providing a second infantry battalion. The unit finally reached "initial operating capability" on 14 March 2003, with all units ready for deployment. It would be in combat 12 days later.


title: 173rd Airborne Brigade

text: In 2003, as preparations were being made for Operation Iraqi Freedom, the 173rd Airborne Brigade was assigned to be a part of an assault from the north of Iraq. The original plan was for the 173rd to be attached to the 4th Infantry Division as a flexible force of airborne troops to complement the heavy weapons of the division's three brigades. Supported by the 1st Infantry Division and the 10th Special Forces Group, the 4th Infantry Division was to assemble in Turkey and use its heavy mechanized brigades to attack through Tikrit and eventually assist V Corps, which would attack from the south, in surrounding Baghdad. However, this plan fell through when the government of Turkey would not allow offensive operations to be conducted from its soil, and the entire 4th Infantry Division was left stuck on ships in the Mediterranean for the opening of the operation. This meant that the entire northern front of the war would be conducted by the 173rd Airborne Brigade and Army special forces operating with aircraft from Europe as their only supply line. As the brigade had no heavy or mechanized forces and only a few Humvees and an artillery battery, heavier forces were attached to it in the form of two companies of M113 Armored Personnel Carriers, M1 Abrams tanks, and M2 Bradleys from a task force of 1st Battalion, 63rd Armor, which was attached to the brigade. Task Force 1-63 consisted of HHC/1-63rd Armor, C/1-63rd Armor and B/2-2nd Infantry. The force also received force field artillery headquarters from the 2nd Battalion, 15th Field Artillery, which brought a Tactical Operations Center, a Q-36 counterfire radar and Combat Observation and Lasing Team (COLT)a pair of Dragoneye Unmanned Aerial Vehicles from the US Marine Corps, to be operated by the Brigades Ground Surveillance Systems (GSS) team.


title: 173rd Airborne Brigade

text: The 173rd Airborne Brigade was made part of Task Force Viking, a special operations task force that contained elements of the 10th Mountain Division and the 10th Special Forces Group. The use of the 173rd as a part of a special operations task force was a unique first in U.S. Army history. This force was assisted by Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq and tasked with attacking key airfield and oil production positions deep in northern Iraq. The brigade would take off from Aviano Air Base in Italy, a 4-hour flight from northern Iraq. 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. Though the brigade's movement was impeded by Italian protestors, the Italian police provided escort operations to the brigade and ensured that it reached the Air Base without incident, and was not significantly delayed. Operation Iraqi Freedom began on 20 March with V Corps, consisting of the 101st Airborne Division, 82nd Airborne Division, and 3rd Infantry Division making a forceful push from the south, beginning the Iraq War. A few days later, the 173rd and 10th Special Forces Group departed for northern Iraq.


title: 173rd Airborne Brigade

text: On 26 March 2003, 954 soldiers of the 173rd Airborne Brigade conducted a combat jump from C-17 aircraft onto Bashur Airfield in Northern Iraq under the command of Colonel Mayville. The jump took a total of 58 seconds, though 32 paratroopers were unable to jump because they would have landed too far from the rest of the force. The force had been strung out over a 10,000-yard drop zone, and it took 15 hours before it was completely assembled. In the weeks before there had been heavy rain and the mud created problems for those doing the jump. The paratroopers secured the airfield, allowing the C-17s to land and bring in the heavy armor and the 1–63rd Armor contingents. They jumped from aircraft of the 62nd Airlift Wing, 446th Airlift Wing, 437th Airlift Wing and the 315th Airlift Wing ( this included the 728th Airlift Squadron), along with a Tactical Air Control Party of USAF Airmen from the 4th Air Support Operations Squadron and the 786th Security Forces Squadron. Over the next 96 hours, the wing landed in the remaining 1,200 soldiers of the brigade as well as their vehicles. By 29 March the entire brigade was in Iraq and ready to conduct offensive operations.


title: 173rd Airborne Brigade

text: The next day, American forces advanced to Kirkuk during Operation Option North, hoping to control oil fields and military airfields in and around the city. Controlling the oil fields had been a specific operational goal of the Task Force because they were viewed as the most valuable strategic asset in northern Iraq. Between 30 March and 2 April, the 173rd Airborne Brigade, along with the Special Forces detachment and the Kurdish forces, engaged and destroyed the 2nd, 4th, 8th and 38th Iraqi Infantry divisions as well as a force loyal to Ansar al-Islam. The brigade used field artillery assets, as well as coordinated airstrikes to attack Iraqi Republican Guard units defending the city. Within a week these units began to fall apart due to desertions. On 10 April the brigade was able to move into the city, securing it after a short urban battle. The entire battle for Kirkuk cost the brigade only nine casualties. During the operation, some of the troops discovered at least two caches of Iraqi gold, totaling more than 2,000 bars. The unit then took part in Operation Peninsula Strike, quelling Ba'ath party resistance and other insurgent groups. These operations, though successful, would have been more effective if the 4th Infantry Division's four heavy brigades were able to enter Iraq through Turkey as originally planned. 4th ID had to relocate their forces from Turkey to Kuwait and were subsequently slowed down in Baghdad. V Corps was not able to surround Baghdad as quickly as it had hoped because of a lack of available forces in the north. The resulting wear and tear of 4th ID's M1 Abrams and M2 Bradleys made them an ineffective unit in tight urban areas such as Jar Salah. Because their heavily armored tanks required so much maintenance, the 173rd incorporated much of 4th ID's area of operation into their own. The 173rd secured these areas with company sized detachments, often patrolling the 4th ID's sectors with two unarmored M998 cargo Humvees at any given time.


title: 173rd Airborne Brigade

text: After the end of major combat operations in mid-2003, the 173rd Airborne Brigade did not engage in any major battles, though it was regularly involved in skirmishes with Iraqi insurgents. As Task Force Bayonet, the brigade included the: 503rd Infantry; 1st Battalion, 508th Infantry; 173rd Combat Support Company; 74th Infantry Detachment (LRS); Battery D, 319th Field Artillery; 501st Forward Support Company; and the attached 1st Battalion, 63rd Armor of the 1st Infantry Division from Rose Barracks, Germany; 1st Battalion, 12th Infantry of the 4th Infantry Division from Fort Carson, Colorado; and Company B, 110th Military Intelligence Battalion of the 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry) from Fort Drum, New York. The brigade served mainly in Kirkuk for the next year. During its service, the brigade was involved in what later became known as the "Hood Event", arresting Turkish special forces soldiers, believing them to be plotting attacks against local civilian officials in northern Iraq. The Turkish forces were eventually released. The brigade also participated in Operation Bayonet Lightning in 2003, capturing weapons and materials that the Department of Defense claimed were possibly for use against coalition forces. On 21 February 2004, the brigade returned to Italy for a one-year rest before a new deployment.


title: 173rd Airborne Brigade

text: The 173rd Airborne Brigade deployed to Afghanistan in March 2005 under the command of Colonel Kevin Owens, in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. The brigade, organized as Task Force Bayonet, assumed control of Regional Command-South (RC South).


title: 173rd Airborne Brigade

text: The 1-508th (minus Company B) conducted combat operations in eastern Afghanistan, attached to 1st Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division. The 2-503rd conducted combat operations in Zabul Province. 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). It conducted combat operations in Kandahar Province. Task Force Gun Devil included Headquarters and Service Battery, 3-319th (including two provisional maneuver platoons); Company D, 2–504th; Company B, 1–508th; Company A, 1-325th; a military police platoon (4th PLT 13th MP Co.); a rotating Romanian mechanized infantry battalion; a Canadian dismounted infantry company (3rd Bn Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry); and an Afghan National Army company advised by French special forces. The 173rd Support Battalion and the 173rd Combat Support Company provided logistical support from Kandahar, while sending individual soldiers to assist at other forward operating bases.


title: 173rd Airborne Brigade

text: One of the most notable units to operate out of a FOB was the brigade's 74th Long-Range Surveillance (LRS) detachment. 74th LRS operated out of FOB Price near the town of Gereshk in the Helmand Province. 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. Assisting the LRS and 5th Group ODA were elements of the 82nd Airborne, Iowa National Guard, and ANA. The LRS detachment and 5th Group ODA conducted many combined and individual operations to ensure the stability of the region. The LRS detachment was also tasked at times for recon and intel gathering for other brigade assets, and target acquisition and designation for U.S. Air Force, U.S. Army, and RAF aircraft. The brigade returned to Italy in March 2006. Seventeen soldiers from the brigade died during this deployment.


title: 173rd Airborne Brigade

text: On 11 October 2006, as part of the Army's "Unit of Action" modularized unit force restructuring that General Shinseki had originally envisioned the 173rd Airborne Brigade became the 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team (an airborne IBCT). This was a significant change as it signified the ability for the brigade to deploy its forces and sustain itself with its newly integrated support teams. By integrating these support elements, the unit became able to maintain its fighting forces with all that is required to keep the ground soldiers supplied and moving. The infantry battalions and the brigade headquarters remained in Vicenza, Italy through the transition. Four additional battalions were activated or designated at Bamberg and Schweinfurt, Germany. These battalions were: the 4th Battalion (Airborne), 319th Field Artillery Regiment, the 173rd Brigade Support Battalion (Airborne), and the Special Troops Battalion stationed at Warner Barracks in Bamberg, Germany, as well as the 1st Squadron (Airborne), 91st Cavalry Regiment, stationed in Schweinfurt, Germany. After the new units were integrated into the brigade, the preponderance of the forces within the brigade were stationed in Germany, apart from the brigade headquarters in Italy. This dynamic was intended to last only until additional facilities were constructed at the Dal Molin, now Del Din, airbase near Caserma Ederle at Vicenza. The 1st Battalion (Airborne), 508th Infantry was reflagged as 1st Battalion (Airborne), 503rd Infantry Regiment to resume the Vietnam-era lineage of the 503rd Infantry battalions under the 173rd IBCT(A). The 1st Battalion, 508th Infantry colors were moved to Ft. Bragg, North Carolina to serve under the 82nd Airborne Division. Immediately after its transformation, the brigade began intensive training in both Germany and Italy to prepare itself for future deployments.


title: 173rd Airborne Brigade

text: In 2006, the brigade was notified for a second tour of duty in Iraq from 2007 to 2008, but its deployment plan was changed to Afghanistan in February 2007 when the Pentagon announced that it would relieve the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division along with the 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division. In the early 2007, the 173rd again deployed to Afghanistan, as Task Force Bayonet, in support of Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF 07–09), their first deployment as a fully transformed brigade combat team. The brigade was dispersed throughout the east of the country, with units operating in Kunar, Paktika, and Laghman Provinces. The 173rd IBCT(A) officially relieved the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division on 6 June 2007.


title: 173rd Airborne Brigade

text: The 173rd participated in various operations with the objective of ensuring security and subduing Taliban insurgents in the mountainous regions along Afghanistan's border with Pakistan, near the Hindu Kush. Throughout their 15-month deployment, the brigade participated in more than 9,000 patrols throughout the region. Journalist Sebastian Junger and photographer Tim Hetherington were embedded with Battle Company of 2nd Battalion which saw extensive action in the Korengal Valley. Junger later wrote a highly acclaimed book, "War", and, with Hetherington, produced the award-winning documentary, "Restrepo", about the deployment. Only two weeks before the brigade was to return to Europe, a platoon of 45 soldiers from the brigade stationed in the Dara-I-Pech district was attacked by a large force of insurgents during the Battle of Wanat. Though the platoon was able to drive the insurgents back with air support, the fight resulted in 9 soldiers killed and 16 wounded; the deadliest attack on troops in the country since 2005. The brigade repositioned the base three days later. The 173rd's tour ended in July 2008, and the last redeploying paratrooper from the brigade returned to Europe by the beginning of August 2008. 42 soldiers from the brigade lost their lives during the deployment. The brigade returned to Europe and home station after once again proving itself in combat throughout the eastern mountains of Afghanistan.


title: 173rd Airborne Brigade

text: On 14 June 2009, the 173rd IBCT(A) was announced as one of the brigade combat teams deploying to Afghanistan, and the unit prepared to once again return.


title: 173rd Airborne Brigade

text: From November 2009 until November 2010, the 173rd IBCT(A) once again returned to Afghanistan, this time to the provinces of Logar and Wardak. With combat experience already earned in other similar mountain regions in 2007 and 2008, the Brigade distinguished itself in combat regularly against the Taliban and fought tenaciously against them, while still promoting and attempting to legitimize the Afghan government. 2nd Battalion was initially attached to 4th Brigade, 4th Infantry Division and conducted stability and combat operations in Kunar Province for the first half of the deployment. In May 2010 2nd Battalion returned to 173rd IBCT(A) and was responsible for security and stability in northern and western Wardak Provinces. The 1st and 2nd Battalions saw extensive action in eastern Logar and Wardak. The 1/91st Cavalry was given a mission to transform western Logar province into a secure environment; a mission that was not greeted as an easy task. Given the province and its three major districts saw a massive influx of both foreign and domestic fighters due to the relatively calm winter prior to the brigade's arrival, its company-sized and platoon-sized elements found themselves in combat against anti-Coalition forces almost daily from the start of March 2010 until its relief. The brigade returned to its home station in Europe in November 2010. Seven soldiers from the brigade lost their lives during the deployment.


title: 173rd Airborne Brigade

text: In July 2012, the 173rd IBCT(A) once again deployed to Afghanistan as part of Task Force Bayonet to relieve the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division, Task Force Bulldog in the Logar and Wardak Provinces. This was the brigade's fifth deployment since 2003, their fourth to Afghanistan as they prepare for a complete transition of the security of Afghanistan to the Afghan National Security Forces. The brigade returned in early 2013. Nine soldiers from the brigade lost their lives during the deployment.


title: 173rd Airborne Brigade

text: In mid-2013, some of the returning forces reorganized and re-designated the 173rd Airborne Brigade. The reorganized brigade consolidated at a single location in Vicenza, Italy. A second base was opened in Vicenza called Del Din and is the current headquarters of the 173rd. Del Din hosts 173rd Brigade Headquarters, 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment, the Brigade Support Battalion, and the Brigade Special Troops Battalion. The unit did this to cover some of the spaces in Southern Europe that have opened up with the withdraw of other American forces from the area. Also in mid-2013, 1st Squadron, 91st Cavalry Regiment (ABN) moved from Schweinfurt, Germany to Grafenwoehr, Germany.


title: 173rd Airborne Brigade

text: 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 2014–15 Russian military intervention in Ukraine.


title: 173rd Airborne Brigade

text: In September 2014, about 200 soldiers of 2nd Battalion, 503rd Airborne Regiment, 173rd BDE participated in the Rapid Trident exercise near Lviv in western Ukraine.


title: 173rd Airborne Brigade

text: In February 2015, 750 soldiers from the brigade and from units of the Hungarian Armed Forces, namely 24th Bornemissza Gergely Reconnaissance Battalion, 34th Bercsényi László Special Operations Battalion, and the 25/88th Light Mixed Battalion participated in the exercise "Warlord Rock 2015".


title: 173rd Airborne Brigade

text: The goal of the activity was to exercise the combat, combat support and combat service units of both armies and to achieve a higher cooperation level in airborne operations planning, organization and management tasks.


title: 173rd Airborne Brigade

text: In March 2015, a 173rd Airborne battalion of around 600 American paratroopers headed to Ukraine to train Ukrainian national guard troops. The training took place at the Yavoriv training center near the western Ukrainian city of Lviv. The 173rd Airborne paratroopers trained the Ukrainians on how to better defend themselves against Russian and rebel artillery and rockets. Training also included securing roads, bridges, and other infrastructure and treating and evacuating casualties. This program was known as Fearless Guardian which was congressionally approved under the Global Contingency Security Fund. Under the program, the United States trained three battalions of Ukrainian troops over a six-month period.


title: 173rd Airborne Brigade

text: In 2017, some 600 personnel (1st Squadron, 91st Cavalry Regiment) were deployed to the Baltic countries to be positioned in Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia for six weeks to coincide with the duration of the joint Russian/Belarusian strategic Zapad 2017 exercise that began 14 September 2017.


title: 173rd Airborne Brigade

text: 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.


title: 173rd Airborne Brigade

text: A paratrooper in the 173rd Airborne Brigade's Sky Soldiers, assigned to the 1st Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment, in Vicenza, Italy, in 2019 through 2020 plotted an ambush on his unit, "to result in the deaths of as many of his fellow service members as possible." He was charged in June 2020 with conspiring and attempting to murder military service members, and providing and attempting to provide material support to terrorists. The paratrooper was charged with leaking classified information (including the unit's location) to the RapeWaffen Division and the Order of the Nine Angles (O9A), a European Satanic occult-based neo-Nazi and white supremacist group that is also anti-Semitic, and has expressed admiration for Nazis such as Adolf Hitler and Islamic jihadists. He faces a maximum sentence of life in prison.


title: 173rd Airborne Brigade

text: In May 2021, as part of the NATO training exercise Swift Response 2021, soldiers of the brigade were simulating seizing and securing the decommissioned Cheshnegirovo airfield in Bulgaria. During this operation multiple buildings belonging to the airfield were secured. Soldiers accidentally entered and secured a sunflower oil factory next to the airfield while it was operating. No weapons were discharged. The army apologized and promised to improve their procedures for defining training areas.


title: 173rd Airborne Brigade

text: The 173rd's service, particularly in Vietnam, has been featured several times in popular culture. The most prominent of these is the 2006 single released by the country music duo Big & Rich, entitled "8th of November". The song was based on the story of Niles Harris, a member of the 173rd, during Operation Hump. On 1 July 2006, a documentary inspired by the song and based on the brigade's actions during the operation premiered on the GAC Channel.


title: 173rd Airborne Brigade

text: Illinois Route 173, which runs for 66 miles along the Illinois/Wisconsin border was designated the "173rd Airborne Brigade Highway" in 2008.


title: 173rd Airborne Brigade

text: 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. He was depicted as being in "the 505th battalion", although no such unit was ever part of the 173rd. Throughout the movie, he wears the Vietnam-era, mustard yellow, "subdued" shoulder sleeve insignia worn by 173rd paratroopers on their jungle fatigues during the Vietnam War. In the 1987 movie "Lethal Weapon", the patch worn by Danny Glover's fictional character Roger Murtaugh during a retrospective of his time in Vietnam was that of the 173rd Airborne Brigade. In the 1998 movie "The Siege", fictional Major General William Devereaux, played by Bruce Willis, states that he was in the 173rd Airborne Brigade at the same time that character Anthony Hubbard was in the 82nd Airborne Division.


title: 173rd Airborne Brigade

text: Numerous servicemen from the 173rd, mostly from the Vietnam era, gained notability after their military careers ended. These include Congressmen Duncan Hunter and Charlie Norwood, Archbishop of Baltimore Edwin Frederick O'Brien, Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Robert M. Kimmitt, business owner Barney Visser, activists Stan Goff and Ted Sampley, and Sergeant Major of the Army Gene C. McKinney.


title: 173rd Airborne Brigade

text: Sixteen soldiers have been awarded the Medal of Honor for service with the 173rd IBCT(A) and its subordinate units. Lloyd G. McCarter and Ray E. Eubanks earned the medal while fighting with the 503rd Infantry in World War II, while 13 other soldiers earned medals fighting under the 173rd in Vietnam; John A. Barnes III, Michael R. Blanchfield, Glenn H. English Jr., Lawrence Joel, Terry T. Kawamura, Carlos J. Lozada, Don L. Michael, Charles B. Morris, Milton L. Olive III, Larry S. Pierce, Laszlo Rabel, Alfred Rascon, and Charles J. Watters.


title: 173rd Airborne Brigade

text: Staff Sergeant Salvatore Giunta received the Medal of Honor for heroic actions as a rifle team leader in Company B, 2–503 INF (Airborne) when his squad was caught in a near-ambush the night of 25 October 2007 during Operation Rock Avalanche in the Korengal Valley of Afghanistan. He was the first living Medal of Honor recipient since the Vietnam War. On 13 May 2014, former 503rd Infantry Regiment Sergeant Kyle White received the Medal of Honor during a White House ceremony.


title: Mickey Hart

text: Mickey Hart (born Michael Steven Hartman, September 11, 1943) is an American percussionist. He is best known as one of the two drummers of the rock band Grateful Dead. He was a member of the Grateful Dead from September 1967 until February 1971, and again from October 1974 until their final show in July 1995. He and fellow Dead drummer Bill Kreutzmann earned the nickname "the rhythm devils".


title: Mickey Hart

text: Michael Steven Hartman was born in Flatbush neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York. He was raised in suburban Inwood, New York by his mother, Leah, a drummer, gown maker and bookkeeper. His father Lenny Hart, a champion rudimental drummer, had abandoned his family when the younger Hart was a toddler. Although Hart (who was hyperactive and not academically inclined) became interested in percussion as a grade school student, his interest intensified after seeing his father's picture in a newsreel documenting the 1939 World's Fair. Shortly thereafter, he discovered a practice pad and a pair of snakewood sticks that belonged to his father. "From the age of ten," he recalled, "all I did was drum."


title: Mickey Hart

text: He attended Lawrence High School in Cedarhurst, New York. Hart would later recall that many champion rudimental drummers attended his high school; this inspired him to ascend to the first chair in the All State Band as a pupil of Arthur Jones, who served as a father figure to him and ensured that he was not suspended for neglecting his other classes.


title: Mickey Hart

text: While employed as a soda jerk at El Patio, a jazz club in Atlantic Beach, New York, he was influenced by Tito Puente's regular appearances. A few months out of high school, he discovered the work of Nigerian drummer Babatunde Olatunji, another formative influence. Olatunji later taught and collaborated with Hart.


title: Mickey Hart

text: Hart dropped out of high school as a senior. Impressed by its musical pedigree, he enlisted in the United States Air Force in 1961. He served as a drummer in The Airmen of Note, an elite big band unit in the United States Air Force Band modeled after Glenn Miller's celebrated Army Air Forces Band.


title: Mickey Hart

text: For three and a half years, he was stationed throughout Europe, where he also claimed to have taught "combative measures" (most notably judo, in which he had attained a black belt) to units of the Strategic Air Command and other units in Europe and Africa. During a tour in Spain, he reportedly sat in with a variety of notable jazz musicians (including Gerry Mulligan and Count Basie) in addition to performing in various ensembles (spanning the gamut from small jazz combos to marching bands) and on recording sessions for local pop stars. Hart would later intimate in a 1972 interview that his Airmen of Note assignment served as a "cover" for his instructive duties. While in the Air Force, he co-founded Joe and the Jaguars (alternatively billed as The Jaguars) with a fellow serviceman, guitarist Joe Bennett. Following his 1965 discharge, Hart briefly returned to the New York metropolitan area, where he filled in for the regular drummer in a "staid fox-trot band" as a member of the local musician's union.


title: Mickey Hart

text: While stationed in southern California, he had discovered that his father (by now employed as a savings and loan association executive in Los Angeles) was still involved in the drumming community as an endorser for Remo. Founder Remo Belli facilitated an introduction before Hart was reassigned to Spain, but the elder Hart soon disappeared. A post-discharge reconciliation attempt (also mediated by Belli) proved to be more successful. Shortly thereafter, father and son established the Hart Music Center in San Carlos, California. In late 1965 or early 1966, Hart performed in an early iteration of William Penn and His Pals prior to Gregg Rolie's membership and the recording of the garage rock classic "Swami." Later in 1966, Hart and Bennett briefly resumed their collaboration before the latter reenlisted for a tour of duty in Vietnam.


title: Mickey Hart

text: By the end of the year, he had moved in with Michael Hinton, a student and friend who would accompany him to a fateful Count Basie Orchestra performance at The Fillmore in mid-1967. At the concert, Hart fulfilled Grateful Dead drummer Bill Kreutzmann's request to meet Basie Orchestra drummer Sonny Payne, leading to an informal tutorial between Hart and Kreutzmann and his eventual introduction to the Grateful Dead.


title: Mickey Hart

text: Hart joined the Grateful Dead in September 1967. His interests in polyrhythmic rudiments and exotic percussion were integral to the band's arrangements in the period that archivist Dick Latvala would subsequently characterize as the "primal Dead era" of 1968–1969. However, he left by mutual agreement in February 1971, extricating himself after his father (who briefly managed the group) embezzled $70,000 from the band. In his 2015 memoir, Kreutzmann divulged that Hart's use of heroin and other "dark drugs" had accelerated in the wake of the embezzlement and impacted his contributions to the group, also contributing to his departure: "Mickey wasn't able to play at the level he was capable of and it was beginning to affect our performances. He was getting really spacey and just getting so far out there that he wasn't able to deliver the music. It became impossible for me to play with him. It wasn't out of anger or meanness, but we had to address it and deal with it. So our brother Mickey left the band and retreated to his ranch in Novato and it really strained our relationship for a while, sad to say."


title: Mickey Hart

text: During his sabbatical, he released the album "Rolling Thunder" in 1972. Two additional solo albums (including an ambient music project that was envisaged as the soundtrack for "The Silent Flute", a screenplay co-written by Bruce Lee, James Coburn and Stirling Silliphant that was ultimately filmed in 1978 as the David Carradine vehicle "Circle of Iron") were completed but rejected by Warner Brothers due to the label's increasingly strained relationship with the Grateful Dead. Hart's home recording studio proved to be a haven for the more idiosyncratic endeavors pursued by various band members, and he continued to collaborate with his former bandmates on various projects, most notably Robert Hunter's "Tales Of The Great Rum Runners" (1974) and Ned Lagin's "Seastones" (1975).


title: Mickey Hart

text: He returned to the Dead for their final pre-hiatus concert in October 1974 (much to the initial chagrin of Kreutzmann, who soon reconciled with Hart) and was formally reinstated by the beginning of the group's 1976 tour. He remained with the group until their official dissolution in 1995. Hart's collaboration with the remaining members of the Grateful Dead has continued with The Other Ones, The Dead and Dead & Company.


title: Mickey Hart

text: Alongside his work with the Grateful Dead, Hart has performed as a solo artist, percussionist, and the author of several books. In these endeavors he has pursued a lifelong interest in ethnomusicology and world music.


title: Mickey Hart

text: Hart was influential in recording global musical traditions on the verge of possible extinction, working with archivists and ethnomusicologists at both the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress and the Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage at the Smithsonian Institution. He is on the Board of Trustees of the American Folklife Center and has been a spokesperson for the "Save Our Sounds" audio preservation initiative. He also serves on the Library of Congress National Recorded Sound Preservation Board and is known for reissues and other recordings with historical and cultural value.


title: Mickey Hart

text: In 1991, Hart produced the album "Planet Drum", which remained at #1 on the "Billboard" World Music chart for 26 weeks, and received the first ever Grammy Award for Best World Music Album.


title: Mickey Hart

text: Hart has written books on the history and traditions of drumming throughout history. His solo recordings (featuring a variety of guest musicians) are percussive but verge on New Age. His enthusiasm for world music traditions and preservation and collaborative efforts is comparable to that of guitarist Ry Cooder.


title: Mickey Hart

text: In 2000, Hart became a member of the Board of Directors of the Institute for Music and Neurologic Function, a nonprofit organization that studies the healing power of music – continuing his investigation into the connection between healing and rhythm, and the neural basis of rhythm. In 2003, he was honored with the organization's Music Has Power Award, recognizing his advocacy and continuous commitment to raising public awareness of the positive effect of music.


title: Mickey Hart

text: Hart was also a judge for the 3rd annual Independent Music Awards to support independent artists' careers.


title: Mickey Hart

text: After the death of Jerry Garcia and the consequent dissolution of the Grateful Dead in 1995, Hart continued to play music with various groups including members of the Grateful Dead. In the 1996 Furthur Festival, Mickey Hart's Mystery Box played, as did Bob Weir's band, Ratdog.


title: Mickey Hart

text: During 2006, Hart teamed up with fellow Grateful Dead bandmate Bill Kreutzmann, Phish bassist Mike Gordon and former Other Ones lead guitarist Steve Kimock, to form the Rhythm Devils, a nickname that refers to Hart and Kreutzmann's drum duets and improvisation. The band features songs from their respective repertoires as well as new songs written by Jerry Garcia's songwriting companion Robert Hunter. The Rhythm Devils announced their first tour in 2006, which ended at the popular Vegoose festival in Las Vegas, Nevada over the Halloween weekend.


title: Mickey Hart

text: In June and July 2008, Hart led the Mickey Hart Band on a US concert tour. The band consists of Hart, Steve Kimock on guitar and pedal steel guitar, George Porter Jr. on bass, Kyle Hollingsworth on keyboards, Sikiru Adepoju on talking drum, Walfredo Reyes, Jr. on drums, and Jen Durkin on vocals.


title: Mickey Hart

text: In 2010 Hart debuted "Rhythms of the Universe," a composition based on a variety of astrophysical data. The composition represents a collaboration between scientist and artist, using their own sophisticated tools. Nobel Laureate in physics George Smoot from the University of California, Berkeley, and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), and Keith Jackson, a computer scientist and musician also from LBNL, are providing some of the data for the project. The final result will be a "musical history of the universe", from the Big Bang onwards through galaxy and star formation, up until modern times, including images from the Hubble Space Telescope and rhythms derived from the cosmic background radiation, supernovae, quasars, and many other astrophysical phenomena. The work premiered at the conference "Cosmology on the Beach" in Playa del Carmen in January 2010.


title: Mickey Hart

text: In April 2010, it was announced that Rhythm Devils will tour in the summer of 2010 with a new line-up including Hart and Bill Kreutzmann (assorted percussion), Keller Williams (guitar, vocals), Sikiru Adepoju (talking drum), Davy Knowles (guitar, vocals), and Andy Hess (bass).


title: Mickey Hart

text: The Rhythm Devils did only one show in 2011, at the Gathering of the Vibes Music Festival in Bridgeport, Connecticut. This version of the band was Hart, Kreutzmann, Keller Williams, Sikiru, Steve Kimock and Reed Mathis of Tea Leaf Green on bass.


title: Mickey Hart

text: In 2011 Hart debuted a new version of the Mickey Hart Band. This lineup included Tim Hockenberry (vocals, keyboards, trombone, saxophone, other instruments), Crystal Monee Hall (vocals, guitar, hand percussion), Ben Yonas (keyboards), Gawain Mathews (guitar), Sikiru Adepoju (talking drum, djembe, shakers), Ian "Inkx" Herman (drums), Greg Ellis (percussion), Vir McCoy (bass). The band played a few shows in August 2011 on the east and west coasts of the United States. In November and December 2011, the Mickey Hart Band did a 17-date tour with a slightly modified lineup. McCoy and Ellis were not in this lineup, and Widespread Panic band member Dave Schools joined the band as their bass player for the tour.


title: Mickey Hart

text: On October 11, 2011, Smithsonian Folkways released "The Mickey Hart Collection". Comprising 25 albums, the series includes music from regions that span the globe, including the Sudan, Nigeria, Tibet, Indonesia, Latvia, and Brazil.


title: Mickey Hart

text: In August 2013, the Mickey Hart Band embarked upon a tour with the Tea Leaf Trio, which includes three members of the band Tea Leaf Green, in support of the band's album "Superorganism."


title: Mickey Hart

text: On September 29, 2013, the completed version of his and George Smoot's film "Rhythms of the Universe" premiered at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.


title: Mickey Hart

text: In the summer of 2015, the surviving members of the Grateful Dead (Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, Bill Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart), joined by Trey Anastasio, Bruce Hornsby and Jeff Chimenti, performed a series of concerts to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Grateful Dead. The performances took place at Santa Clara's Levi Stadium on June 27 and 28, 2015 and Chicago's Soldier Field on July 3, 4 and 5, 2015. These performances marked the first time Weir, Lesh, Kreutzmann and Hart performed together since the Dead's 2009 tour and was publicized as the final time the musicians will all perform together.


title: Mickey Hart

text: Also in 2015, Hart began touring with Dead & Company, a band consisting of former Grateful Dead members Weir, Hart and Kreutzmann, along with John Mayer (guitar), Oteil Burbridge (bass), and Jeff Chimenti (keyboards). The band began touring in late 2015 and have conducted multiple tours since then. In 2017, he released "RAMU", which featured contributions from both his long-time collaborators Steve Kimock and Sikiru Adepoju as well as Avey Tare and Tank Ball, among others.


title: Mickey Hart

text: Hart plays, or has played, drum set, RAMU, gong, tubular bells, tambourine, timpani, bongos, timbales, maracas, bass drum, snare drum, triangle, güiro, djembe, castanets, didgeridoo, glockenspiel, cymbals, surdo, saron, beats, tar, berimbau, kalimba, cowbell, rattle, shekere, rainstick, agogo bells, bells, wood block, taragat, balafon, tarang, gourd, clacker, bombo, dumbek, tom-toms, caxixi, water gong, talking drum, blaster beam, theremin, and even pan flute.


title: Mickey Hart

text: Hart has been married since 1990 to lawyer, environmental activist and former Sonoma County (California) Regional Parks Director Caryl Hart, with whom he has had two children, Reya and Taro. He had Taro's heartbeat recorded "in utero" and used as the basis for the album "Music to Be Born By". He lives in Occidental, California. Jerry Hart, Mickey's half brother, is an online talk show host and social media consultant based in Concord, California. Hart is the only Jewish member of the Grateful Dead.


title: Diane Franklin

text: Franklin attended New York University for one year in 1981–1982 before dropping out to become a professional actress. She continued her education thirty years later when she attended Moorpark College and then California State University, Northridge where she graduated with a degree in Education in 2017.


title: Diane Franklin

text: Early in her acting career, Franklin appeared in TV commercials for Coca-Cola, Trident, Jell-O, and Maxwell House coffee. At the age of 17, she appeared in two episodes of "As the World Turns" which aired in October 1979. Her breakthrough role was as Karen in the 1982 teen drama film "The Last American Virgin". That same year, she played Patricia Montelli in the horror film "". She was given top billing in her next film, the 1984 erotic comedy film "Second Time Lucky", and played French exchange student Monique Junet in the 1985 comedy film "Better Off Dead".


title: Diane Franklin

text: Franklin played Princess Joanna in the 1989 comedy film "Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure" and has appeared as an extra or in guest roles in episodes of television series such as "Bay City Blues", "Matlock", and "Family Law". She also appeared in three television films, including a role as Jock Ewing's first wife in the 1986 film "".


title: Diane Franklin

text: In 2012, Franklin published a memoir called "Diane Franklin: The Excellent Adventures of the Last American, French Exchange Babe of the 80s". In 2017, she published a second memoir called "Diane Franklin: The Excellent Curls of the Last American, French-Exchange Babe of the 80s". In 2018, she returned to the Amityville franchise to play Louise DeFeo in the horror-drama film "The Amityville Murders" In 2021, she played Mrs. Healy in the horror film "".


title: Diane Franklin

text: Franklin married Ray DeLaurentis, an animation writer for shows such as "The Fairly OddParents", in 1989. They reside in Westlake Village, California. Their son Nick is a musician, while their daughter Olivia is a comedian and actress best known as one half of the absurdist comedy double act Syd & Olivia.


title: P.M. Dawn

text: P.M. Dawn was an American hip hop and R&B act that formed in 1988 by the brothers Attrell Cordes (known by his stage name Prince Be, sometimes credited as Prince Be the Nocturnal) and Jarrett Cordes (known as DJ Minutemix) in Jersey City, New Jersey. They earned significant crossover success in the early 1990s with music that merged hip hop, older soul, and more pop-oriented urban R&B.


title: P.M. Dawn

text: After recording their debut single "Ode to a Forgetful Mind" in 1988, P.M. Dawn released their first album "" in 1991 to critical acclaim. It achieved immediate commercial success because of its single "Set Adrift on Memory Bliss". Their 1993 follow-up "The Bliss Album...? (Vibrations of Love and Anger and the Ponderance of Life and Existence)" was also praised by critics and featured the hit singles "I'd Die Without You" and "Looking Through Patient Eyes". P.M. Dawn continued to receive strong reviews with their subsequent albums "Jesus Wept" (1995) and "Dearest Christian, I'm So Very Sorry for Bringing You Here. Love, Dad" (1998), which sold poorly.


title: P.M. Dawn

text: Attrell Cordes began DJing parties and composing songs in ninth grade. Cordes, known by his stage name Prince Be, and his younger brother, Jarrett Cordes, known as DJ Minutemix, formed P.M. Dawn in 1988. The group's first demo tape was created using $600 that Prince Be had earned through his job as a night security guard at a homeless shelter.


title: P.M. Dawn

text: They first approached Tommy Boy Records, the rap music subsidiary of Warner Brothers, with their demo, but they were told that they were too much like alternative hip-hoppers De La Soul, and not hardcore or ghetto, and were turned away. Eventually, Warlock, an independent record label, issued a debut single, "Ode to a Forgetful Mind", in 1989, but it went unnoticed.


title: P.M. Dawn

text: The record label that released the single in the United Kingdom, Gee Street Records, found greater success. Gee Street mixed and marketed the song so that it earned considerable attention from music reviewers, and P.M. Dawn found themselves courted not just by Gee Street's head, Jon Baker, but also by most of the major UK record labels. Gee Street brought the brothers to London in 1990 to record tracks for an album; however, the label found itself facing bankruptcy during the recording. The entire Gee Street operation, along with P.M. Dawn's recording contract, was sold to the highest bidder, Island Records. Island issued a few more singles in the United Kingdom before releasing their debut album, "".


title: P.M. Dawn

text: "Of the Heart, of the Soul and of the Cross" featured the international hit "Set Adrift on Memory Bliss", which sampled the Spandau Ballet song "True", and featured a cameo by Spandau Ballet singer Tony Hadley in the music video of the song. "Set Adrift on Memory Bliss" hit No. 1 the week of November 30, 1991, and is the first No. 1 song on the "Billboard" Hot 100 chart following the introduction of Nielsen SoundScan to the chart. The song also reached No. 3 in the United Kingdom. "Paper Doll", which was one of the early singles Island released in the United Kingdom, was released in the US as a follow-up to "Set Adrift on Memory Bliss", and peaked at No. 28 in early 1992.


title: P.M. Dawn

text: With the success of their debut album, the band parted company with their manager Nick Hemmings and embarked on a world tour. During this world tour, Prince Be gave an interview to "Details" magazine in which he expressed skepticism of rapper KRS-One's activism: "KRS-One wants to be a teacher, but a teacher of what?" KRS-One and his crew, Boogie Down Productions, responded by storming a P.M. Dawn concert, forcing the group off the stage and performing their songs "I'm Still #1" and "The Bridge Is Over". Defending his actions to "USA Today"s James T. Jones IV, KRS-One remarked, "I answered his question. 'A teacher of what?' I'm a teacher of respect."


title: P.M. Dawn

text: In 1992, P.M. Dawn appeared on the Red Hot Organization's compilation CD "Red Hot + Dance", contributing the Richie Rich Mix of "Set Adrift on Memory Bliss". The album, featuring George Michael and Madonna among others, was meant to raise money and awareness in support of the AIDS epidemic.


title: P.M. Dawn

text: Before releasing their follow-up album, "The Bliss Album...? (Vibrations of Love and Anger and the Ponderance of Life and Existence)", P.M. Dawn contributed the single "I'd Die Without You" to the 1992 Eddie Murphy comedy "Boomerang" and its soundtrack. This #3 pop hit was also included on "The Bliss Album...?", as was the "Billboard" #6 pop hit "Looking Through Patient Eyes".


title: P.M. Dawn

text: "Looking Through Patient Eyes" featured backing vocals by Cathy Dennis and sampled George Michael's hit "Father Figure". The music video for the song was shot in a church, and featured Christian images throughout — most notably, Prince Be wore a T-shirt with "Thank you, Jesus" written across it in black lettering.


title: P.M. Dawn

text: "The Bliss Album...?" featured a duet with Boy George entitled "More Than Likely" and a cover of The Beatles' "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)".


title: P.M. Dawn

text: The album also included "So On and So On," which led to a 1999 sampling lawsuit. In the lawsuit "Batiste v. Island Records, Inc.", Paul and Michael Batiste claimed that P.M. Dawn's song "So On and So On" used unauthorized samples from David Batiste & The Gladiators' "Funky Soul". The fifth Circuit Federal Appellate Court found that the Batistes point to no evidence in the record demonstrating that consumers were confused or deceived by either the use of a digital sample of "Funky Soul" in "So On and So On", or the attribution to David Batiste as a co-author of the track. The Batistes' claim that Paul and Michael Batiste were improperly excluded from the liner notes accompanying the album also failed to suggest that consumers were confused, especially because the liner notes do credit the name of the band in which both Paul and Michael Batiste performed. Though Island Records won the lawsuit, the song was removed from subsequent releases of "The Bliss Album" and is no longer available for purchase in their publishing catalog.


title: P.M. Dawn

text: P.M. Dawn contributed a cover of "You Got Me Floatin'" to the 1993 compilation album "". Artists ranging from Pat Metheny to Eric Clapton to Ice-T's Body Count were included. They also remixed Beautiful People's "If 60's Was 90's".


title: P.M. Dawn

text: Their 1995 album "Jesus Wept" was unable to attain the success of their first two albums. The album's highest charting single was "Downtown Venus", which contained a sample of Deep Purple's "Hush", and reached #48 on the "Billboard" chart. Also, in 1995, P.M. Dawn was credited with the remix of White Zombie's "Blood, Milk and Sky" (Miss September Mix) on the "Supersexy Swingin' Sounds" compilation album. In 1996, P.M. Dawn contributed "Non-Fiction Burning" to the AIDS benefit album "Red Hot + Rio" produced by the Red Hot Organization. In 1998, Prince Be contributed the tracks "Perfect for You" and "Gotta Be...Movin' on Up" to the Marlon Wayans and David Spade comedy "Senseless", followed later in the year by P.M. Dawn's fourth album, "Dearest Christian, I'm So Very Sorry for Bringing You Here. Love, Dad". It was less successful again, with the album's single, "Being So Not for You (I Had No Right)" being a minor chart hit.


title: P.M. Dawn

text: In the same year, Jarret Cordes (DJ Minutemix) was accused of sexually abusing a 14-year old relative and was subsequently arrested in Burlington County. The girl is said to have been a first cousin. Prosecuters dropped the case after one year of investigation for lack of evidence.


title: P.M. Dawn

text: In 2000, they released the compilation, "The Best of P.M. Dawn". Through their website, they also began selling a mail-order-only album called "Fucked Music" on December 1, 2000. This was paired with a bonus CD, "Unreleased Vol. 1", and a T-shirt.


title: P.M. Dawn

text: Prince Be suffered a massive stroke in early 2005 that left him paralyzed on the left side of his body. Undeterred, P.M. Dawn appeared on NBC's "Hit Me, Baby, One More Time", performing "Set Adrift on Memory Bliss", and covered Puddle of Mudd's "Blurry". Despite the fact that Prince Be was still suffering the effects of this stroke, they beat Animotion, Missing Persons, Juice Newton and Shannon to claim the $20,000 charitable prize, which they contributed to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, as Prince Be was a diabetic.


title: P.M. Dawn

text: Following their appearance on "Hit Me, Baby, One More Time", Minutemix left the group due to internal differences. This led to the introduction of the Cordes brothers' paternal first cousin, Gregory Lewis Carr II, known by his stage name Doc. G (also known as 'Dr. Giggles').


title: P.M. Dawn

text: Doc. G continues to perform and record music under the P.M. Dawn name. On April 6, 2018, Doc.G announced K-R.O.K. as a new member of P.M. Dawn.


title: P.M. Dawn

text: On June 17, 2016, Attrell Cordes, known within the group as Prince Be, died of renal disease, caused by complications of diabetes, at the age of 46 at a hospital in Neptune City, New Jersey.


title: Daphne Maxwell Reid

text: Daphne Etta Maxwell Reid (née Maxwell; July 13, 1948) is an American actress, comedian, designer and former model. She is best known for her role as the second Vivian Banks on the NBC sitcom "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" from 1993 to 1996.


title: Daphne Maxwell Reid

text: Reid was born in New York City, the daughter of Rosalee and Green Maxwell. She is a graduate of The Bronx High School of Science. She received a degree in interior design and architecture from Northwestern University, which she attended on a scholarship and where she became the first African-American woman to be named homecoming queen. While at Northwestern she began a modeling career, eventually signing with the Eileen Ford modeling agency. She was the first black woman to be on the cover of "Glamour" magazine.


title: Daphne Maxwell Reid

text: She has appeared in numerous television programs. Her best-known role was as the replacement actress for Vivian Banks on the NBC sitcom "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" from 1993 to 1996, following the departure of Janet Hubert-Whitten. She joined the show right after the fictional character Nicky Banks was born toward the end of Season 3, when Hubert-Whitten did not renew her contract.


title: Daphne Maxwell Reid

text: Before that role, she starred in several television series including, "Simon & Simon, Frank’s Place, and Snoops."


title: Daphne Maxwell Reid

text: She had a recurring role as JT's mother, Frances Hunter, on the UPN sitcom "Eve", and then played Juanita Lawrence on the BET sitcom "Let's Stay Together".


title: Daphne Maxwell Reid

text: During the 1980s and 1990s, Reid served on the advisory board of the National Student Film Institute.


title: Daphne Maxwell Reid

text: She is a recipient of the Women of Vision Award from Women in Film & Video, among a myriad of other awards.


title: Daphne Maxwell Reid

text: In 2022, she guest stars in the ninth episode of "Bel-Air", the dramatic reimagining of "Fresh Prince", as Helen, an Art Council board member.


title: Daphne Maxwell Reid

text: In 1968, during her junior year at Northwestern, Maxwell married Robert Tubbs. They had one son, Chris, before divorcing in 1979.


title: Daphne Maxwell Reid

text: She married actor Tim Reid in 1982, and became stepmother to his two children. With Reid, she owned and operated New Millennium Studios in Petersburg, Virginia, until 2014.


title: Daphne Maxwell Reid

text: She also served on the board of visitors at Virginia State University, for eight years. She was appointed in July 2008.


title: Daphne Maxwell Reid

text: On July 31, 2010, she became an honorary member of Delta Sigma Theta sorority, during their 50th national convention in New Orleans.


title: Food Lion

text: Food Lion is an American regional grocery store chain headquartered in Salisbury, North Carolina, that operates over 1100 supermarkets in 10 states of the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern United States (Delaware, Georgia, Kentucky, Maryland, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia). The chain employs over 63,000 people. It was founded in 1957 as Food Town, a single grocery store in Salisbury. It later expanded to many locations across North Carolina. It was independently operated until it was acquired by the Belgium-based conglomerate Delhaize Group in 1974. In 1983, the company changed its name and branding to Food Lion to allow it to expand into regions where "Food Town" was already in use by unrelated stores. Following further mergers and acquisitions, Food Lion, LLC is currently owned by Ahold Delhaize. The mascot’s name has been George the Food Lion since January 17, 1997.


title: Food Lion

text: Food Lion was founded in 1957 in Salisbury, North Carolina, as Food Town by Wilson Smith, Ralph Ketner, and Brown Ketner. The Food Town chain was acquired by the Belgium-based Delhaize Group grocery company in 1974. In June 2015, it was announced that Food Lion's parent company, the Delhaize Group, and Ahold would merge into Ahold Delhaize. This merger was completed in July 2016.


title: Food Lion

text: The Food Lion name was adopted in 1983; as "Food Town" expanded into Virginia, the chain encountered several stores called Foodtown in the Richmond area. Expansion into Maryland would have been a bigger problem since about 100 independent, but affiliated, stores were called "Food Town". Because Delhaize had a lion in its logo, "Food Town" had asked to use it on product labels and new store signs. Ralph Ketner realized "lion" needed only two new letters and the movement of another in the chain's signs. On December 12, 1982, Ketner announced the name change to "Food Lion," and by the end of March 1983, all stores had been rebranded. The name change, while puzzling for American customers, made economic and historic sense, as Delhaize was once known as "Delhaize Le Lion."


title: Food Lion

text: Throughout the 1980s, Food Lion expanded throughout the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern United States. The company continued their expansion throughout the late 1980s, opening hundreds of stores in existing markets such as the Carolinas and the Virginias, and entering new markets such as Georgia and Maryland.


title: Food Lion

text: In the early 1990s, Food Lion stores appeared in new markets such as Delaware and southern Pennsylvania; Orlando, Florida; Oklahoma City and Tulsa, Oklahoma; Shreveport, Louisiana; Dallas/Fort Worth; and Houston, Texas. (Of these eight markets Food Lion penetrated in the 1990s, the only ones that still have stores are Delaware and parts of southern Pennsylvania, such as Hanover). During this time, the chain was the fastest-growing supermarket company in the U.S., as they opened over 100 new stores each year. In November 1992, a critical "PrimeTime Live" report that showed unsanitary handling of meat and seafood hurt the chain as they attempted to enter new markets in the Northeast and Southwest. (See ABC PrimeTime Live section, below.)


title: Food Lion

text: According to some industry sources, the new stores in Texas, Louisiana, and Oklahoma were already operating below sales projections. The small, lackluster Food Lion stores were beginning to compete with national retail leaders, such as Albertsons, Kroger, Tom Thumb, and Jewel-Osco, all of which were already well-respected in the Southwest and which operated larger stores with more features, but the effects of the devastating ABC report could not be denied, and sales and revenue plummeted. In the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex, widespread reports were given of stores sending half of their staff home early due to lack of business and of other stores with "virtually zero meat sales". In the fiscal quarter that included the Thanksgiving holiday of 1992, Delhaize America reported company-wide same-store sales declines of 9.5%. As a result, Food Lion was forced to greatly scale back its expansion plans in Texas and Oklahoma, as well as delay, then cancel its planned entry into new markets in Missouri, Kansas, and Illinois.


title: Food Lion

text: In 1993, Food Lion agreed to pay $16.2 million to settle claims that they violated federal laws regulating unpaid overtime, minimum wage, and child labor, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. In the agreement, which at the time was the largest settlement ever from a private employer accused of violating the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), the grocery chain agreed to ensure that all employees would be well-informed about their rights. Additionally, the Labor Department said Food Lion top management provided assurances that no retaliatory action would be taken against employees who filed complaints about unpaid overtime or other potential FLSA violations. On January 7, 1994, Delhaize announced the first major round of store closings in what would become a yearly event. The stores to be closed included 47 of its brand-new stores in Texas and Oklahoma, as well as stores in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and Virginia.


title: Food Lion

text: Throughout the mid-1990s, the company canceled leases for new stores and closed scores of its newly built outlets in recently established markets such as Dallas/Fort Worth, Houston, and Oklahoma City. Citing double-digit same-store sales declines for the quarter ending in September 1997, Delhaize announced that it was canceling its Midwest expansion, exiting all markets in Texas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana, and closing its 6-year-old distribution center in Roanoke, Texas. A bruised and battered Food Lion was forced to recede back to the East Coast, where it faced increasing competition from competitors with larger stores, better customer service, and more variety and amenities; these included regional winners such as Ingles, Harris Teeter, and Publix; newcomers such as specialty retailer Whole Foods Market; and expanding national chains such as Kroger, Target, and Wal-Mart.


title: Food Lion

text: Beginning in 2003, Food Lion became active in "market renewals" in which every year Food Lion picks certain cities in their operating area where they remodel stores and update the product offerings. That same year, Food Lion remodeled 68 stores in the Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina market, followed by 65 stores in the Charlotte area in 2004. In 2006, Food Lion advanced their market renewals program by using demographic and geographic data to figure out whether certain stores should be branded as Food Lion, Bloom, or Bottom Dollar. If the data supported that an already existing Food Lion was adequate for a certain community, the location would simply be remodeled. Should the data support otherwise, the Food Lion store would be remodeled and rebranded as either Bloom or Bottom Dollar. In early 2012, Food Lion closed 113 stores. These were in Georgia, North and South Carolina, Kentucky, and Tennessee as well as all the stores in Florida.


title: Food Lion

text: In late 2013, Food Lion introduced a new concept and decor at a store in Concord, North Carolina. The first official remodel began in late 2014 to 76 of their stores in the greater Wilmington and Greenville, North Carolina markets. In March 2015, plans were announced for remodeling of its 162 locations in the Raleigh, North Carolina, market. The Raleigh market remodels were expected to be completed in stores on a rolling basis between April and October 2015. One other major. In March 2016, the company announced that they would make a $215 million investment in its greater Charlotte-area stores and western NC stores. This included remodeling 142 stores, additional price investments, and investments in associates and the community through its "Food Lion Feeds" initiatives.


title: Food Lion

text: In July 2016, as part of the corporate merger between Delhaize and Ahold, Food Lion was required to divest 61 locations to a variety of competitors including Supervalu and Weis Markets in Delaware, Pennsylvania, Maryland, West Virginia, and Virginia to satisfy the Federal Trade Commission's review of the two parent companies merger. Later that year, Food Lion began remodeling 93 of their stores in the Piedmont Triad region. Remodeling in the Piedmont Triad was completed in the summer of 2017. Also in 2017, Richmond Virginia stores began getting the concepts implemented. On March 14, 2018, Supervalu announced that Food Lion was purchasing three Farm Fresh locations in Elizabeth City, North Carolina and Hampton and Virginia Beach, Virginia as part of a larger deal to close down the Farm Fresh brand. On April 27, 2018, Food Lion announced plans to acquire four BI-LO locations in Florence, Myrtle Beach, Surfside Beach, and Columbia, South Carolina. Furthermore, on June 3, 2020, Food Lion announced the purchase of 62 Southeastern Grocers stores in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. These stores have been rebranded to Food Lion between February and May of 2021.


title: Food Lion

text: Food Lion stores can currently be found in Delaware, Georgia, Kentucky, Maryland, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia.


title: Food Lion

text: Food Lion's sister chains include Giant-Carlisle, Giant-Landover, Hannaford Brothers, Martin's Food Markets and Stop & Shop.


title: Food Lion

text: Food Lion spent seven years attempting to establish a presence in Bangkok, Thailand, starting in 1997. Operated locally by Bel-Thai Supermarket Co, in 2004 it withdrew from the country, selling all branches to Tops Supermarkets.


title: Food Lion

text: For 20 consecutive years, Food Lion has been named Energy Star Partner of the Year and has received the Sustained Excellence Award for 18 consecutive years for its sustainability efforts. In partnership with parent company Ahold Delhaize USA, Food Lion aims to commit to heightened sustainability efforts, which include greater food transparency by 2025; reducing food waste by 50% by 2030 via composting, recycling and animal feed; and a 50% reduction in carbon emissions from its operations and 15% reduction for its supply chains by 2030. Since 2000, Food Lion and Feeding America have partnered to reduce food waste by donating more than 300 million meals to Food Lion's communities through their food rescue initiative. Retailers nationwide implement the food program within their local communities.


title: Food Lion

text: On March 14, 2011, Delhaize announced that all Bloom supermarkets in North and South Carolina would close or be converted to the Food Lion banner.


title: Food Lion

text: On January 11, 2012, Delhaize announced that the Bloom brand would be discontinued and that all Bloom supermarkets will either convert to Food Lion or permanently close.


title: Food Lion

text: Bottom Dollar Food was Food Lion's discount grocery model that focused on offering a limited selection of both national brands and private label products. These stores had no bakeries or delis and more items were packaged. Customers bought the bags used to sack their own groceries at Bottom Dollar Food. Stores also used alternative display and stocking techniques such as cut cases on shelves, and using pallets and dump bins to reduce costs. Food Lion opened the first Bottom Dollar Food model in High Point, North Carolina, on September 21, 2005.


title: Food Lion

text: As of December 2009, Bottom Dollar Food had 28 stores in North Carolina, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. In January 2012, Delhaize announced that it would close six Bottom Dollar stores and convert 22 others to Food Lion supermarkets as part of a restructuring. In August 2014, it was reported that Delhaize was putting the entire portfolio of Bottom Dollar Food locations up for sale. Ultimately Bottom Dollar Food was shuttered and the stores sold to Aldi in early 2015.


title: Food Lion

text: Harveys stores are mainly located in rural markets within the Deep South. In May 2013, all Harveys stores were sold to BI-LO LLC.


title: Food Lion

text: Reid's was a small chain of stores located in various rural South Carolina communities. The chain's history can trace back to 1972, when its namesake founder Reid Boylston opened his first store in Barnwell, South Carolina. Most of these stores were all formerly branded as Food Lion stores and continue to carry Food Lion branded goods and use the Food Lion infrastructure. In May 2013, Reid's was sold along with its sister supermarket chains Harveys and Sweetbay to BI-LO LLC for $265 million. BI-LO subsequently retired the Reid's name, rebranding the Reid's stores as BI-LO.


title: Food Lion

text: Delhaize America stores use common private brands called Home 360, Nature's Promise, CHA-CHING, and Taste of Inspirations. Sister supermarkets Hannaford and Sweetbay were the last two stores to make the switch, doing so in 2010 and 2011. The move is designed to simplify the company's store-brand products line. Food Lion stores have the My Essentials brand, as well as the Hannaford brand.


title: Food Lion

text: At the end of 2014, the My Essentials, as well as the Home 360 names, were retired and the more traditional Food Lion brand name was used as a replacement.


title: Food Lion

text: In the 1990s, Food Lion gained a degree of notoriety when it was the subject of an ABC News investigation. ABC had received a tip about unsanitary practices at Food Lion. Two ABC reporters had posed as Food Lion employees, and witnessed the unsanitary practices at Food Lion. Much of what they had seen was videotaped with cameras hidden in wigs that they were wearing. The footage was then featured in a segment on the news magazine "Primetime Live", in which Food Lion employees described unsanitary practices, which included bleaching discolored, expired pork with Clorox and repackaging expired meats with new expiration dates, and the use of nail polish remover to remove the expiration dates from dairy item packages.


title: Food Lion

text: The company responded by suing ABC for fraud, claiming that the ABC employees misrepresented themselves; for trespassing, because the ABC employees came on to Food Lion property without permission; and for breach of duty of loyalty, because the ABC employees videotaped nonpublic areas of the store and revealed internal company information. During the court battles between Food Lion and ABC, over 40 hours of unused footage were released that helped Food Lion's case. In the unused footage, two undercover producers are seen trying to encourage violations of company policy; however, employees resisted and correctly followed sanitary practices.


title: Food Lion

text: Food Lion was awarded US$5.5 million by a jury in 1997. The award was later reduced by a judge to $316,000. The verdict was then largely overturned by the U.S. Court of Appeals Fourth Circuit in Richmond, Virginia. According to the court: even though ABC was wrong to do what they had done, Food Lion was not suing for defamation, but rather for tort as a way to get around the strict First Amendment standards for defamation. Food Lion did this because the company was not contesting the truth of anything ABC reported in the broadcast. However, the appellate court upheld the finding that the producers involved breached their duty of loyalty as employees to Food Lion, and had trespassed, awarding a nominal $2 fine.


title: Tom Misch

text: Thomas Abraham Misch (born 25 June 1995) is an English musician and producer. He began releasing music on SoundCloud in 2012 and released his debut studio album "Geography" in 2018. In 2020, he released his second studio album "What Kinda Music" in collaboration with English jazz drummer Yussef Dayes, distributed through Blue Note Records.


title: Tom Misch

text: Misch studied music technology at Langley Park School for Boys and later, in 2014, enrolled in a jazz guitar course at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance in Greenwich but left after six months to focus on his own music. He began learning to play the violin at age 4, later learning to play the guitar.


title: Nick Grimshaw

text: Nicholas Peter Andrew Grimshaw (born 14 August 1984), also known as Grimmy, is an English television and former radio presenter, podcaster and author. He became known for having hosted a variety of shows on BBC Radio 1. He is also known as a television presenter for his Channel 4 roles in T4 and "The Album Chart Show". In 2015, he was a judge on the twelfth series of "The X Factor".


title: Nick Grimshaw

text: Grimshaw was born in the Oldham, Greater Manchester and grew up there. He attended the University of Liverpool between 2002 and 2005, studying Communication and Media Studies, but failed his final year, graduating with a DipHE rather than a bachelor's degree. During his studies at the University of Liverpool, Grimshaw was also a member of the University's student radio station, ICON Radio (now Liverpool Guild Student Media).


title: Nick Grimshaw

text: Grimshaw joined BBC Radio 1 in September 2007, presenting the BBC's youth strand Switch with close friend and fellow DJ Annie Mac. He hosted the show for 9 months solo while Mac hosted a weekend lunchtime slot.


title: Nick Grimshaw

text: From October 2008 to May 2009, Grimshaw hosted Radio 1's Weekend Breakfast Show. Grimshaw then went on to present the 10pmmidnight slot on BBC Radio 1 on 1 June 2009, following the departure of Colin Murray. He regularly joked about how long his position at BBC Radio 1 would last and whether he would actually be able to complete his long list of "1000 Albums Everyone Says You Should Listen To But We Only Have Time To Play One Track So Here It Is" which was a nightly feature on his show. He managed to reach number 369, before he left for the breakfast show.


title: Nick Grimshaw

text: On 11 July 2012 it was announced that Grimshaw would replace the long-standing Chris Moyles as host of "Radio 1 Breakfast". The last live show was broadcast on 12 September 2012, although the last show broadcast under the show's name was a pre-recorded episode entitled "The 1000 Albums Show". His first programme was on 24 September 2012.


title: Nick Grimshaw

text: In November 2012, Grimshaw attracted criticism from Magic Radio breakfast presenter Neil Fox for comments he made about Radio 1's decision to omit Robbie Williams's "Candy" from its A-List playlist – reportedly due to being "too old" for the station's target demographic. Some days later, Grimshaw was in tabloid headlines when the papers in question claimed he refused to promote Rihanna's latest album because she cancelled an interview with him – a claim which Grimshaw denied, noting that his snub was intended to be "tongue in cheek".


title: Nick Grimshaw

text: On 24 October 2013, it was reported that Grimshaw's "Breakfast Show" had one million fewer listeners than Moyles' and that its audience figures were the worst for the station in over a decade, with BBC Radio 2, BBC Radio 3 and BBC Radio 4 all beating it in the ratings. At the time, Grimshaw's show was close to the record low of 5.5 million listeners, set by Sara Cox in 2003, toward the end of her three-year tenure hosting the show. In February 2014, the "Breakfast Show" recorded an enhancement of more than 700,000 listeners, which set the average number of listeners per week to 6.3 million. However, on 15 March 2014, it was reported that Grimshaw had lost another 510,000 listeners, for a weekly total of 5.78 million. The BBC claimed that this was part of the goal to attract younger listeners, while shedding the over-25s.


title: Nick Grimshaw

text: In March 2014, he completed a twelve-hour bicycle ride for Sport Relief. The event raised more than £115,000. Later that year, he also took part in the "Clash of the Titans" event as part of John Bishop's team Team Bishop.


title: Nick Grimshaw

text: In May 2015, Grimshaw's "Breakfast Show" fell to 5.5 million listeners a week, becoming tied with Sara Cox's show for the lowest number of listeners in Radio 1's history. The station controller Ben Cooper congratulated Grimshaw saying, "I'm pleased that Grimmy is doing what I've asked of him by keeping his young audience happy and scaring off the over-30s.". In August 2016, listener figures were reported to have dropped to 5.4 million, down 400,000 year-on-year, and making it the lowest listened to breakfast show in the station's history.


title: Nick Grimshaw

text: In October 2017, Grimshaw's "Breakfast Show" fell to 4.93 million listeners a week, the lowest listening figures for BBC Radio 1's breakfast show since records began. Controller Ben Cooper defended the stats and said it was still "the most relevant youth brand in the UK today".


title: Nick Grimshaw

text: On 31 May 2018, it was announced that Grimshaw would be leaving the breakfast show and effectively swapping show with Greg James. The move meant Grimshaw took over the 4-7pm drivetime slot. On 30 June 2021, Grimshaw announced he would be leaving Radio 1 after 14 years on air. His final show on the station was on 12 August 2021.