The Special Forces Horse Soldier statue has been moved to the site of the 9/11 terrorist attack in New York City. A statue depicting a “Horse Soldier” has a new home at Ground Zero Memorial. The statue depicts a Special Forces Soldier on horseback fighting with the Afghan Northern Alliance in the fall of 2001. Shortly after the terrorist attack of 9/11 members of the 5th Special Forces Group from Fort Campbell, Kentucky infiltrated into northern Afghanistan and linked up with Afghan resistance fighters who opposed the Taliban regime.
The infiltration was conducted by helicopter insertion by aircraft and crews from the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment. Accompanying the Green Beret teams were augmentees from the Air Force Combat Controllers who were instrumental in calling in devastating air power against Taliban formations and positions. Once on the ground some of the Special Forces teams (deployed to different areas of Afghanistan) found they moved on foot, by vehicle, and in some cases, by horseback.
It was the first time that the U.S. Army used horses in combat since 1942 during World War II. The 16-foot-tall bronze statue was previously located at Two World Financial Center in New York City. The official name of the statue is “America’s Response Monument”; also dubbed “De Oppresso Liber”. The statue was commissioned by an anonymous group of New York City bankers who lost friends and colleagues during the terrorist attack. It was dedicated on November 11, 2011 in a Veterans Day ceremony by then Vice President Joe Biden and LTG John Mulholland, then commander of the United States Army Special Operations Command (USASOC). LTG Mulholland, at the time of the invasion of Afghanistan, was a colonel and commander of the 5th Special Forces Group.
Read more about “America’s Response Momument”:
“Special Forces Statue Has New Home Watching Over Ground Zero”, DVIDS, September 13, 2016.
America’s Response Monument, Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/America%27s_Response_Monument
“Monument honors U.S. ‘horse soldiers’ who invaded Afghanistan”, by Alex Quade, CNN, October 6, 2011.
Videos about “Horse Soldiers”:
Doug Stanton discusses “Horse Soldiers”, posted on YouTube.com by Simon & Schuster Books on July 1, 2009. Stanton discusses his book in this 3-min long clip.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arxKhJIjIiY
U.S. Special Forces train for horseback missions, posted on YouTube.com by CBS Evening News, May 25, 2015. This 3-min segment shows U.S.S.F. in a 15-day course on horseback riding at the Marine Corps Mountain Warfare Training Center.
Horse Soldiers of 9/11. A short 19-min film by Alex Quade (narrated by Gary Sinise) published on September 10, 2016 on YouTube.com.
