The task force was probably intended primarily at that time to undertake attacks on Soviet Navy bases on the Kola Peninsula in the event of a general war.

[2] Between 27 November and 4 December, she participated in cold-weather exercises in Davis Strait, between Greenland and East Baffin Island, as part of Task Group 20.2.

The round hit the Missouri on the signal bridge, killing Coxswain Robert Fountain and starting a fire involving an acetylene tank which was lashed to the railing.

TF 20 was composed of mainly SOF units from Joint Special Operations Command: B squadron Delta Force and all 3 Battalions of the 75th Ranger Regiment; Able Co. 1–15 Inf.

3rd Infantry Division 3rd Brigade (Audie Murphy Battalion) were the first unit to assist in QRF and HVT for the TF 20 at BIAP and as 3rd ID's mission was to return home after completing the Invasion of Iraq.

However, Dailey wanted the Delta squadron to stay at Ar'Ar Air Base and only launch against suspected WMD sites and/or HVT, the disagreement was decided by General Tommy Franks who went with Blaber's plan.

TF 20 was tasked with seizing airfields deep in Iraq and capturing HVTs along with providing long-range Special Reconnaissance; one of its primary pre-invasion targets was the planned seizure of Saddam International Airport in Baghdad, two full-scale rehearsals were carried out but the operation was never carried out and the airport was eventually captured by conventional units.

Also that day, 3rd Battalion 75th Ranger Regiment conducted a combat drop onto H-1 Air Base, securing the site as a staging area for operations in western Iraq.

[10] On 26 March 2003, the DEVGRU component in TF 20 supported by B company 2nd Battalion 75th Ranger Regiment conducted the raid Objective Beaver – a suspected chemical and biological weapons site at the al Qadisiyah reservoir, north of Haditha, they engaged numerous gunmen but there was no chemical or biological weapons at the site.

Two Delta operators were wounded and the squadron requested aero medical evacuation and close-air support as a company of truck-borne Iraqi reinforcements arrived to bolster the Fedayeen assault.

Two MH-60K Blackhawks carrying a para jumper medical team and two MH-60L Black Hawk DAPs of the 160th SOAR responded and engaged the Iraqis, which allowed the Delta operators to move their casualties to an emergency HLZ, after which they were medevaced to H-1 Air Base, escorted by a pair of A-10As.

A pair of A-10As arrived and dropped 500 lb airburst bombs within 20m of Delta positions and killed a large number of Iraqi infantry who had been gathering in a wadi.

He was captured in a joint helicopter and ground assault on a safehouse in Tikrit without resistance or casualties, in what was considered a highly successful operation.

[17][18] On 18 June 2003, near the Syrian border, AC-130 Spectre gunships guided in by TF 20 operators destroyed a convoy of Ba'ath Party members escaping to Syria.

Once the convoy was destroyed by the AC-130s, TF 20 conducted a heliborne assault into a nearby compound that proved to be a Ba'athist safehouse for ferrying FREs (Former Regime Elements) across the border.

After soldiers of the 101st Airborne engaged the building with .50 cal HMGs and M136 anti tank rockets, a third entry attempt was made, but was again driven back by intense gunfire.