Origin

Forward Operating Base Caldwell was named for United States Army

United States Army

The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...

 Specialist Nathaniel A. Caldwell of Omaha, Nebraska who was killed in action on May 21, 2003 while responding to a civilian call when his vehicle rolled over in Baghdad, Iraq. Caldwell was assigned to the 404th Aviation Support Battalion, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Hood, Texas

Fort Hood, Texas

Fort Hood is a United States military post located outside of Killeen, Texas. The post is named after Confederate General John Bell Hood. It islocated halfway between Austin and Waco, about from each, within the U.S. state of Texas....

.

Location

FOB Caldwell was located in a complex that was within Kirkush Military Training Base (KMTB), Iraq (Mercator Grid Reference System 38SNC 22027 30374) is approximately 70 miles (112.7 km) east of Baghdad, close to the Iranian border. Kirkush is located some 90 km northeast of Baghdad and 20 km from the Iranian border. Kir Kush [Kirkhush, 33°43'10"N 045°17'24"E ] is not a city but is a reference that Iraqis use or the general area the base was located in. It lie due east of Balad Ruz, Iraq.

History

Until the US Army arrived, it was an abandoned Iraqi military facility. Construction had begun in the mid-1980s by the Czechoslovakia government and ceased in the late 1980s or early 1990s. The entire facility covers about 100 acre (0.404686 km²) and has several medium size groups of building called pods. A kilometer outside of Kirkush is a brick factory which has several smoke stacks that are black and about 50 feet (15.2 m) high.

Military units

Several US Army units lived and worked on FOB Caldwell and KMTB as a whole. Notable units that were on FOB Caldwell proper:

• G Btry 202 ADA, 30th Heavy Brigade Combat Team (United States)
  30th Heavy Brigade Combat Team (United States)
  The 30th Heavy Brigade Combat Team is a modular heavy brigade of the United States Army National Guard.The unit is composed of units from North Carolina and West Virginia. It was formed from the remains of the downsized 30th Infantry Division of World War II fame...
  
   1st Infantry Division (United States) (held it down in 2004)
• 278th Armored Cavalry Regiment (United States)
• 1-32 Cavalry (RSTA)
• 5-73rd Cavalry Regiment (United States)
  73rd Cavalry Regiment (United States)
  The 73rd Cavalry Regiment is a Cavalry Regiment in the U.S. Army first formed in 1941.-History:The 4 squadrons of the 73rd Cavalry Regiment provide reconnaissance, surveillance, & target acquisition to the Brigade Combat Teams of the 82nd Airborne Division...
  
  
• Soldiers from the 205th Military Intelligence Battalion, 500th Military Intelligence Brigade, INSCOM, Fort Shafter, Hawaii
• Soldiers from the 163rd Military Intelligence Battalion, 504th Military Intelligence Brigade, III Corps, Fort Hood, Texas.
• 2d Squadron, 3d Armored Cavalry Regiment (-) earned the Valorous Unit Award
  Valorous Unit Award
  The Valorous Unit Award is the second highest unit decoration which may be bestowed upon a U.S. Army unit and is considered the unit equivalent of the Silver Star...
  
  for operations conducted while assigned to FOB Caldwell, Nov. 2007 to Oct. 2008.
• 1st Cavalry Regiment 5th Squadron, Fort Wainwright, Alaska.

Use

FOB Caldwell was dissolved into the larger KMTB on April 3, 2010 and turned over to the 5th Iraqi Army Division.