Rapid Deployment Joint Task Force
The Rapid Deployment Joint Task Force (RDJTF) is an inactive United States Department of Defense Joint Task Force. It was first envisioned as a three-division force in 1979 as the Rapid Deployment Force (RDF), a highly mobile rapid deployment force that could be rapidly moved to locations outside the normal overseas deployments in Europe and Korea. Its charter was expanded and greatly strengthened in 1980 as the RDJTF. It was inactivated in 1983, and re-organized as the United States Central Command (USCENTCOM).
| Rapid Deployment Joint Task Force | |
|---|---|
| Dates of operation | 1 March 1980 – 1 January 1983 |
| Allegiance | United States |
| Part of | U.S. Readiness Command |
| Battles and wars | the Cold War |
After the end of American involvement in the Vietnam War, U.S. attention gradually focused on the Persian Gulf region. The Yom Kippur War of 1973, the Soviet–U.S. confrontation, and the subsequent 1973 oil crisis led to President Richard Nixon issuing a warning that "American military intervention to protect vital oil supplies" was a possibility, served to increase attention on the area as being vital to U.S. national interests.