The Military Sealift Command (MSC) Sirius Class Combat Stores Ship USNS SPICA (T-AFS 9) (foreground) and US Navy (USN) Ticonderoga Class Guided Missile Cruiser USS VICKSBURG (CG 69) pulls alongside the USN Aircraft Carrier USS JOHN F. KENNEDY (CV 67) [not shown], to conduct a replenishment at sea (RAS) on the Persian Gulf. The KENNEDY and Carrier Air Wing 17 (CVW-17) are deployed in support of Operation IRAQI FREEDOM (OIF)

Iraq War aka Operation IRAQI FREEDOM was the 2003 invasion of Iraq, led by U.S. Army General Tommy Franks, under the code-name "Operation Iraqi Freedom". 248,000 soldiers from the United States, 45,000 British soldiers, 2,000 Australian soldiers and 194 Polish soldiers from Special Forces unit GROM sent to Kuwait for the invasion. The invasion force was also supported by Iraqi Kurdish militia troops, estimated to number upwards of 70,000.

Aircraft carriers are warships that act as airbases for carrier-based aircraft. In the United States Navy, these consist of ships commissioned with hull classification symbols CV (aircraft carrier), CVA (attack aircraft carrier), CVB (large aircraft carrier), CVL (light aircraft carrier), CVN (aircraft carrier (nuclear propulsion) and CVAN (attack aircraft carrier (nuclear propulsion). The first aircraft carrier commissioned into the United States Navy was USS Langley (CV-1) on 20 March 1922.