80th Airmobile Regiment (Ukraine)

Infobox Military Unit
unit_name= 80th Airmobile Regiment


caption=Sleeve patch of the Regiment
dates= December 19, 1955 -
country= Ukraine
allegiance=
branch= Ukrainian Ground Forces
type= Airmobile
role=
size= 1,600 (2004-2005)
command_structure= 13th Army Corpsuk icon [http://www.mil.gov.ua/index.php?lang=ua&part=news&sub=read&id=12500 4 paratroopers injured when mortar explodes] ]
garrison= Lvivuk icon [http://www.mil.gov.ua/index.php?lang=ua&part=news&sub=read&id=10739 Oath taking ceremony Autumn 2007] ] Ukraine
garrison_label=
nickname=
patron=
motto=Nobody but Us [81st Tactical Group patch]
colors=
colors_label=
march=
mascot=
equipment= BTR-80
equipment_label=
battles=Soviet war in Afghanistan
Nagorno-Karabakh War
Operation Iraqi Freedom
anniversaries=
decorations=Order of the Red Star
battle_honours=
commander1=Lieutenant Colonel Viktor Kopachynskii [uk icon [http://www.zik.com.ua/index.php?news_id=95086 36th paratroopers receive awards] ]
commander1_label= Commanding officer
commander2=Lieutenant Colonel Ihor Kontenruk
commander2_label=Executive officer
commander3=Lieutenant Colonel Valeriy Tarakulov [uk icon [http://www.kmu.gov.ua/control/publish/article?art_id=74282676 Easter Celebration] ]
commander3_label=Executive officer
notable_commanders=
identification_symbol=
identification_symbol_label=Airmobile Forces insignia
identification_symbol_2=
identification_symbol_label_2=Patch of the 81st Tactical Group in Iraq

The 80th Airmobile Regiment is an airmobile formation of the Ukrainian Ground Forces. The regiment is part of the 13th Army Corps.

History

The 80th Parachute-Landing Regiment was formed on December 19, 1955 in the Caucasus Region. It originally formed part of the 104th Guards Airborne Division of the Soviet Airborne Forces whose divisional headquarters was at Kirovabad (now Gyandzha) in the Azerbaijan SSR. Carey Schofield writes that the 104th Guards Airborne Division 'had only two regiments from 1975 to 1980 after the disbandment of the 80th Guards Airborne Regiment in Baku'. [Carey Schofield, 'The Russian Elite: Inside Spetsnaz and the Airborne Forces, Greenhill Books, 1993, p.135] In 1967 for its achievements in training the Regiment was awarded the Order of the Red Star.

In 1979 the Regiment was relocated to Khyriv in Lviv Oblast, [uk icon [http://www.mil.gov.ua/index.php?lang=ua&part=news&sub=read&id=10933 52nd anniversary of unit] ] seemingly, according to Russian sources, as the 39th Air Assault Brigade. [ru icon [http://www8.brinkster.com/vad777/sssr-89-91/vdv.htm VDV] ] In 1990 the 39th Air Assault Brigade became the 224th Training Center of the Soviet Airborne Forces. In May 1992 the service men of the unit gave the Oath to protect and serve the Ukrainian people. In 1995 the 224th Training Center of the Soviet VDV was renamed the 6th Separate Airmobile Brigade, which in 1999 was reorganized into the 80th Airmobile Regiment.

Deployments

Soldiers from the Regiment have served in Afghanistan, Nagorno-Karabakh, Kosovo [uk icon [http://www.mil.gov.ua/index.php?lang=ua&part=news&sub=read&id=7847 Rotation of troops in Kosovo] ] , Sierra Leone, and Iraq.

Almost a third of the Regiment was deployed to Iraq, as the last Ukrainian unit (81st Tactical Group) on May 15, 2005. [ [http://www.gazeta.lviv.ua/articles/2005/04/14/4442/ Lviv Gazete to Iraq] ] [uk icon [http://uht.org.ua/ua/part/vijsjkova_symvolika/myrotvorchi/ Ukrainian Heraldry Union] ]

tructure

*Headquarters Companyuk icon [http://www.vu.mil.gov.ua/index.php?part=article&id=402 Ministry of Defense' Army of Ukraine magazine Issue 1, 2007] ]
*1st Airmobile Battalion
**2nd Airmobile Company
*2nd Airmobile Battalion
**5th Airmobile Companyuk icon [http://www.mil.gov.ua/index.php?lang=ua&part=news&sub=read&id=11352 Training in the Regiment] ]
*1st Mortar Battery

Past commanders

* Colonel Ihor Overin [uk icon [http://www.zik.com.ua/index.php?news_id=6830 80th regiment is ready to relieve unit in Iraq] ] - 2005
* Lieutenant Colonel Viktor Kopachynskii

Awards

*1967 received the Order of the Red Star

References