During Operation Iraqi Freedom-I, the 720th MP Battalion was assigned to operate in support of Task Force Gauntlet, V Corps and Task Force Iron Horse, 4th Infantry Division (Mechanized). Their area of operation was the infamous Sunni Triangle, a hot bed of terrorist and insurgency activity. One primary mission of the Battalion towards the stabilization of Iraq would be training of the Iraqi Police Services.

17 March - Washington, DC President George W. Bush issued an ultimatum for Iraqi Dictator Saddam Hussein and his sons to enter into exile within 48 hours or face military conflict. Saddam defiantly refused, thereby setting the stage for the order for war to begin.

19 March - Iraq - Air Campaign Begins U.S. Stealth bombers and Tomahawk Cruise Missiles struck "leadership targets" in and around the Iraqi capital of Baghdad. Soon thereafter, air attacks began against Iraqi targets in southern Iraq, followed by missile attacks from Iraq toward U.S. military positions in the Kuwaiti desert. The stated goals of the US lead Coalition were the disarmament of Iraq and the overthrow of Saddam Hussein and his Ba'ath political party.

20 March - Iraq - The Ground War Begins U.S. and British ground forces advanced into southern Iraq, entering the port city of Umm Qasr, near the major Iraqi city of Basra, while a second wave of air attacks hit Baghdad. The Iraqi militia (known as the Saddam Fedayeen), and holdout troops resist Coalition forces.

21-25 March - Fort Hood - The 720th Deploys The Battalion minus the 410th MP Company, began deployment movement to Kuwait to await assignment to the Iraqi theatre in support of the 3rd Infantry Division and V Corps attack on Baghdad under Operation COBRA.

23 March - Fort Hood The 401st MP Company deployed to Kuwait to merge with the Battalion.

Date Unknown - Kuwait As the 3d Infantry Division crossed the berm into Iraq, personnel from the 720th Military Police Battalion headquarters (Fort Hood, Texas) arrived in Kuwait and prepared to download unit equipment and conduct RSOI [reception, staging, onward--movement, and integration] operations.

Date Unknown - Iraq The 2nd platoon of the 410th MP Company was attached to the 220th Military Police Company (Colorado National Guard) and moved from Camp As Salayah, Qatar, forward to Convoy Support Center (CSC) Scania, Iraq, located on Main Supply Route (MSR) Tampa 100 kilometers south of Baghdad, were they conducted Maneuver and Mobility Support Operations (MMSO).

Date Unknown - Iraq The 1st Platoon of the 410th MP Company moved to Baghdad, Iraq with the Coalition Forces Land Component Command (CFLCC) where they performed Personal Security Detail (PSD), access and physical security at Cobra Base. Cobra Base is the former Abu Ghyriab presidential palace in Baghdad. Coalition Forces Land Component Command was replaced by Coalition Joint Task Force 7 around mid-June and began to report directly to the CENTCOM.

LSA Bushmaster - Iraq The 855th Military Police Company "Desert Warriors" (Arizona National Guard), subordinate to the 720th Military Police Battalion, established CHA [Corps Holding Area] Gauntlet-I at LSA Bushmaster.

5 April - Baghdad, Iraq U.S. forces have seized the airport and enter Baghdad, conducting a large raid. Such incursions would continue for several days. Iraqi civilians begin widespread looting of the city.

7 April - Basral British forces reach the center of Basra and declare the city is under Coalition control.

14 April - LSA Dogwood The 720th HQ Detachment along with the 64th, 401st, 411th MP Companies moved forward to LSA [Life Support Area] Dogwood, approximately 60 kilometers south of Baghdad, and established CHA [Corps Holding Area] Gauntlet-II. In less than a month, the 720th had processed 836 detainees between the two CHAs.

15 April Kurdish fighters have seized the northern city of Kirkuk, U.S. and Kurdish troops have entered Mosul in the north, Tikrit falls and the Coalition declares the war to be effectively over. Despite this declaration, violence continues, escalating into a low-grade guerrilla war.

Date Unknown - Al Fallujah The city was on the brink of chaos in the last week of April as the 82nd Airborne Division withdrew from the city, anti-American riots erupted in the streets. Several civilians were shot and seven U.S. soldiers were wounded when a grenade was thrown into their compound by hostile forces.  LTG William Wallace, commanding V Corps, responded by assembling Task Force Gauntlet, placing it under the command of LTC David Porier, commanding officer of the 720th MP Battalion, it was sent to Al Fallujiah to end the violence.

30 April Task Force Gauntlet, comprised of the 720 MP Battalion (TAC), 411th MP Company, C Company, 2nd Brigade, 6th Infantry, G, H, & O Troops 2 Battalion, 3rd Cavalry Regiment, was sent to Al Fallujah to quell the civil unrest and create a secure and stable environment. The remainder of the 720th MP Battalion, HQ Detachment, 64th, and 401st MP Companies jumped north to Tikrit and were assigned to the 4th Infantry Division.

        The attackers started with a fusillade of accurate small arms fire from concealed positions located on surrounding roof tops and a nearby berm. The attackers were probing the buildings defenses. The soldiers in the CMOC couldn’t identify any of the attackers positions because the street lights were on and they were unable to utilize their night vision goggles. The small arms fire stopped suddenly leaving only the sounds of howling dogs.

        The 401st MP Team ran from the Iraqi/MP Police Station to their vehicles in the street where they immediately started taking small arms fire. PVT Jesse M. Halling was the gunner in a three-man team of MP’s in the turret of a Humvee, while the driver, PFC Ronald Glass, and the team leader, SGT Angel Cedeño, sat below. PFC Glass said that PVT Halling was hammering away at the roof tops with his .50 caliber machine gun.

        The building was then hit by six to ten Rocket Propelled Grenades (RPG), aimed at the third floor where the stations defenders slept and took their breaks during the night hours. The RPG’s hit their targets within four feet of each other leaving impact craters and shrapnel in the building facade. One barely missed a window. Another projectile penetrated a metal door, flew across the room and exited through the back wall. After the RPG attack the defenders opened fire on the enemy positions.

       During the intense fire fight PVT Halling, without regard for his own personal safety, remained exposed in the gunners turret laying down suppression fire with the .50 caliber machine gun and squeezing off rounds from his M16 while reloading the machine gun. He was also identifying targets for PFC Glass and SGT Cederio. PVT Halling was struck by enemy fire in the jaw and mortally wounded. He received emergency treatment by medics at the scene before being helicoptered out to a hospital. He died in route. SGT Cedeño told the other soldiers later that Halling, by remaining at his post, had saved his life. He never came down from the turret to seek shelter in the relative protection of the Humvee, as many soldiers might have done. "He never gave up," SSG James Ferguson, his squad leader said.

        PFC Halling was recommended for the Silver Star. During the review process the recommendation was downgraded by higher HQ to a Bronze Star for Valor.

        The CMOC does its community outreach from the building, taking complaints about stolen vehicles, looting, or the fate of men missing or arrested, and answering questions from pensioners or former state employees about when they might get paid again. It is believed that some of the Iraqis who came seeking help during the day were attackers or provided them with information on the buildings internal layout and defenses.

22 July, Iraqi Governing Council The Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) formed the Iraqi Governing Council and appointed its members. The Council membership consisted largely of Iraqi expatriates who had previously fled the country during the rule of Saddam Hussein and also with many outspoken dissidents who had been persecuted by the former regime.

        Though still subordinate to the CPA, the Iraqi Governing Council had several key responsibilities of its own. Its duties included appointing representatives to the United Nations, appointing interim ministers to Iraq's vacant cabinet positions, and drafting a temporary constitution known as the Transitional Administrative Law (TAL), which would be used to govern Iraq until a permanent constitution could be written and approved by the general electorate.

        Udai and Qusay Hussein (Saddam sons) are killed in a fire fight with elements of the 101st Airborne Division in Mosul.

        "Iraqi Police Services, Transition Integration Program (TIP)"

        The Coalition Provisional Authority did not establish a basic recruit training program for new Iraqi police officers until the end of 2003.

        In the interim, U.S. police advisers developed a three-week reorientation course, the Transition Integration Program (TIP), for rehired members of the Iraqi National Police. With U.S. Military Police serving as instructors, some 40,000 members of the IPS received training in weapons handling and the use of force in making arrests, and instruction on human rights, ethics, and law.

        The TIP was little more than a stop-gap measure, but it did provide a large number of Iraqi police with an introduction to modern police practices and some understanding of the nature of policing in a democratic society. The program was also used to verify the backgrounds and review the records of serving police officers, to remove those who were guilty of abuses, and to identify those who would benefit from additional training.

23 August, Tikrit-Kirkuk, Salah-Al-Dein Provence A force of forty Task Force Iron Horse soldiers from the 720th Military Police Battalion and one-hundred eighty Iraqi Police officers from the Salah Al-Dein Province went on a joint raid in the city. The operation was the largest of its kind in the Tikrit area since the battalion arrived and began working with local Iraqi Police.

        The joint raid took place in a small village on the highway between Tikrit and Kirkuk. The location was suspected of housing gang members responsible for robberies, female assaults, and car theft in the area. This joint raid was the first time the Iraqi Police were responsible for planning and executing such an operation on their own. Task Force Iron horse soldiers provided support in case any unexpected situations arose.

8 October, Tikrit Task Force Iron Horse, 4th Infantry Division (Mechanized), carried out one-hundred thirty joint patrols with Iraqi security services in the Tikrit area of the Sunni Triangle. The patrols targeted insurgent operations, suspected weapons caches and safe houses.

2 November, All Fallujah Insurgents shot down a CH-47 Chinook Helicopter transporting U. S. troops, initially killing 15 soldiers and wounding 27 others. The Chinook was one of two carrying dozens of soldiers on their way to Baghdad airport and leave. The Chinook was brought down by one of two portable, shoulder-fired missiles that were fired at it.

3 November, Highway-1 Due to a heightened alert as the result of the Chinook shoot down (2 November), members of the 411th MP Company and their Iraqi Police counterparts were assigned to construct checkpoints along the main artery running north from Baghdad, dubbed ``Highway 1,'' to look for weapons, including anti-aircraft missiles. SPC Andrew Fifield, 411th, and others yet identified worked the checkpoints.

15 November, 401st MP Company CPT Marc C. Blair who commanded the 401st since it's arrival in Iraq passed command of the company to CPT Jennifer K. Knight in a ceremony in front of a bombed out palace formerly owned by Saddam Hussein on FOB Ironhorse in Tikrit, Iraq.

13 December, Anwar, Iraq U.S. forces captured Saddam Hussein as he hid in the bottom of a hole at a farmhouse near Tikrit. The former Iraqi dictator was captured at 2030 hours (8:30 PM) in a well disguised spider hole next to a farmhouse in the town of Adwar, 10 miles from Tikrit, ending one of the most intense manhunts in history. Hussein had been on the run since the fall of Baghdad to U.S. forces on April 9.

        The task involved field and classroom training, coordinating Iraqi Police and MP patrols, rebuilding and refurbishing of seven police stations in the city, as well as working with 4th Infantry Division engineers to provide adequate defensive fortifications for the buildings, and providing new vehicles, radios, uniforms, and weapons, such as Glock 19 handguns. Experience revealed that the IP can better relate to working combined patrols with the MPs than with infantry soldiers.