Operation PROVIDE COMFORT began in April 1991 as a humanitarian effort to help an estimated 800,000 Iraqi Kurds who, fearing the Iraqi government's wrath for their rebellion, fled into the northern mountain region of Iraq and were dying at a rate of 7,000-10,000 per day. The final task of returning the refugee population home was achieved by creating a safe haven in a security zone, restoring basic services in the communities, and assisting the Kurds in repairing their homes. The second phase of PROVIDE COMFORT, known as PROVIDE COMFORT II, had a residual force of less than 5,000 Combined Task Force (CTF) personnel from six coalition nations. The CTF consisted of an air component of fixed wing assets based at Incirlik AB, Turkey, a Joint Special Operations Task Force (JSOTF) providing personnel recovery capability also based at Incirlik, and a ground component of helicopter, infantry, and support forces based in Batman and Silopi in southeastern Turkey. The 55 SOS deployed to Incirlik AB between 5 October 1991 and 19 August 1992 with four MH-60G PAVE HAWK helicopters.
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