High Grade Gold Plated Challenge CoinUNITED STATES CENTRAL COMMAND (CENTCOM) Challenge Coin United States DOD w CaseFeatures:US CENTCOM COLORED SYMBOLObverse: Great Seal of the United States of America Arrives in protective easy snap open clear case. The United States Central Command (USCENTCOM or CENTCOM) is one of the eleven unified combatant commands of the U.S. Department of Defense. It was established in 1983, taking over the previous responsibilities of the Rapid Deployment Joint Task Force (RDJTF). Its Area of Responsibility (AOR) includes the Middle East, including Egypt in Africa, and Central Asia and parts of South Asia. The command has been the main American presence in many military operations, including the Persian Gulf War's Operation Desert Storm in 1991, the War in Afghanistan, and the Iraq War from 2003 to 2011. As of 2015, CENTCOM forces were deployed primarily in Afghanistan under the auspices of Operation Freedom's Sentinel, which was itself part of NATO's Resolute Support Mission (from 2015 to 2021), and in Iraq and Syria as part of Operation Inherent Resolve since 2014 in supporting and advise-and-assist roles. As of 1 April 2022, CENTCOM's commander is General Michael E. Kurilla, U.S. Army.[4][5] Of all seven American regional unified combatant commands, CENTCOM is among four that are headquartered outside their area of operations (the other three being USAFRICOM, USSOUTHCOM, and USSPACECOM). CENTCOM's main headquarters is located at MacDill Air Force Base, in Tampa, Florida. A forward headquarters was established in 2002 at Camp As Sayliyah in Doha, Qatar, which in 2009 transitioned to a forward headquarters at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar.The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD or DOD) is an executive branch department of the federal government charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the government directly related to national security and the United States Armed Forces. The DoD is the largest employer in the world, with nearly 1.3 million active-duty service members (soldiers, marines, sailors and airmen) as of 2016.[7] More employees include over 826,000 National Guard and Reservists from the armed forces, and over 732,000 civilians[8] bringing the total to over 2.8 million employees.[2] Headquartered at the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, just outside Washington, D.C., the DoD's stated mission is to provide "the military forces needed to deter war and ensure our nation's security".[9][10] The Department of Defense is headed by the Secretary of Defense, a cabinet-level head who reports directly to the President of the United States. Beneath the Department of Defense are three subordinate military departments: the Department of the Army, the Department of the Navy, and the Department of the Air Force. In addition, four national intelligence services are subordinate to the Department of Defense: the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), the National Security Agency (NSA), the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), and the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO). Other Defense agencies include the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA), the Missile Defense Agency (MDA), the Defense Health Agency (DHA), Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA), the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency (formerly the DSS), and the Pentagon Force Protection Agency (PFPA), all of which are subordinate to the Secretary of Defense. Additionally, the Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA) delivers actionable acquisition intelligence, from factory floor to the warfighter. Military operations are managed by eleven regional or functional Unified combatant commands. The Department of Defense also operates several joint services schools, including the Eisenhower School (ES) and the National War College (NWC).