during the twelfth day of the siege, the outnumbered rangers continued to face repeated attacks by the enemy force. the air national guard a-10 and f-16 pilots realized early in the battle that the close air support they provided was the vital element that kept the iraqi forces at bay, a matter of life and death for the rangers. in the end the coalition forces prevailed. military experts believed that without the air support, especially the a-10s, the rangers would not have won the battle. not only did the coalition forces secure the haditha dam complex, but they seriously reduced the fighting effectiveness of the iraqi armored task force in the haditha area.