82nd Airborne Soldiers Who Rapidly Deployed To Middle East In January Return To Fort Bragg
Some 800 soldiers from an 82nd Airborne Division brigade that rapidly deployed into the Middle East early this year amid heightening tensions with Iran returned to Fort Bragg, N.C., on Thursday, Army officials said.
The soldiers were the first group of some 3,000 paratroopers with the 82nd’s 1st Brigade Combat Team rushed to Kuwait during the first week of January to bolster security for U.S. troops in the region after an American airstrike killed Iran’s most powerful general. Army officials described the deployment that required soldiers to leave within hours as the “most significant no notice deployment of combat forces” in three decades.
Fort Bragg officials said the 800 paratroopers welcomed home Thursday were greeted by family and friends at the Army post. Most of the returning soldiers were from the brigade’s 2nd Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, which was the first element to deploy.
That battalion deployed within 18 hours of receiving orders to the Middle East, Pentagon officials have said. The 82nd Airborne’s 1st Brigade Combat Team is now assigned as the U.S. military’s Immediate Response Force Brigade, a designation which makes the unit responsible for responding to any emergencies across the globe. Army officials have long stressed the rapid deployment capability is important to maintain, though rarely used. The last time was in 2010, when soldiers quickly deployed to Haiti following a devastating earthquake.
“As the centerpiece of the nation’s Immediate Response Force, it’s critical that 1st Brigade and the 82nd Airborne Division are able to project global force employment,” Col. Andrew Saslav, the commander of the 1st Brigade Combat Team, said in a prepared statement. “Working across combatant commands not only demonstrates the flexibility and expeditionary capability of our airborne forces, but also better prepares our paratroopers for the complexity of the modern global security environment.” (Read more from “82nd Airborne Soldiers Who Rapidly Deployed To Middle East In January Return To Fort Bragg” HERE)
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