1 - The Black Vault

PRAETORIAN STARSHIP
USAF Photo
Foxtrot 41 Crew. Standing left to right: Stephenson (flight surgeon), Holloman,
Folley, Dykes, Davenport, Warr, and Kelly. Kneeling left to right: Katz, Latona,
Duffie, Barragy, and Fiel.
Evacuation,” would begin. In Phase III military
forces would locate and protect US citizens, foreigners
(including those from the Soviet Union and
Eastern bloc communist countries), and Governor-
General Scoon. Phase IV would begin with the
evacuation of civilians from the island, including
the 600 American medical students. The final
phase would continue until an interim government
was established in Grenada and the country
was back on the road to political and economic
recovery. 116
To execute the plan, Admiral McDonald proposed
to establish a combined joint task force
(CJTF), which he identified as CJTF-120. He
chose Adm Joseph Metcalf III, USN, who was the
standing commander of the US Second Fleet, to
command the CJTF. The CJTF would be made up
of four separate task forces identified as TF-121,
TF-123, TF-124, and TF-126. TF-121 represented
the major conventional force for the operation and
was composed of the 2d and 3d Battalions of the
82d Airborne Division along with supporting 82d
Airborne units. TF-123 was the special operations
task force and was made up of JSOC-assigned
forces, US Army rangers, US Air Force Combat
Talons and SOLL C-130s, and US Navy SEALs.
TF-124 consisted of the USS Independence CBG
and MARG 1-84. TF-126 included Air Force E-3s,
F-15 fighters from the 33d Tactical Fighter Wing
at Eglin AFB, Florida; and airborne command,
control, and communications EC-130Es from
Keesler AFB, Mississippi. Metcalf would command
the CJTF from his flagship, the USS Guam,
off the coast of Grenada. Additional SAC and MAC
forces supporting the operation would remain under
the command of their parent organizations
and would not come under Metcalf ’s CJTF . 117
The JCS did not agree with portions of the command
arrangement proposed by McDonald, but after
several adjustments that included inserting
US Army general H. Norman Schwarzkopf as an
advisor assigned to Metcalf, the plan was approved.
With the approval McDonald formally activated
CJTF-120 with a CINCLANT operations
order on 23 October. The OPORD summarized the
revised concept of operations and added significant
intelligence information regarding enemy defenses
on the island. 118 The command and control arrangement
was also delineated.
The Operation Begins
Since planning for the operation had begun on
19 October, intelligence information regarding the
280