{"id":23949,"date":"2020-02-20T20:43:12","date_gmt":"2020-02-20T20:43:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/uncategorized\/2020\/02\/20\/800-paratroopers-sent-to-square-off-with-iran-have-returned-home\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T02:20:38","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T02:20:38","slug":"800-paratroopers-sent-to-square-off-with-iran-have-returned-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/news\/your-army\/2020\/02\/20\/800-paratroopers-sent-to-square-off-with-iran-have-returned-home\/","title":{"rendered":"800 paratroopers sent to square off with Iran have returned home"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Nearly 800 paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne Division<\/a> returned home to Fort Bragg<\/a>, North Carolina, on Thursday as the division readies them to deploy once more for a spring training exercise in Europe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The paratroopers were part of a roughly 3,500-soldier brigade that deployed as part of the Army\u2019s immediate response force<\/a> in early January \u2014 a time when tensions between the United States and Iran reached a fever pitch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The returning paratroopers were members of the 2nd Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment<\/a>, the 3rd Squadron, 73rd Cavalry Regiment, the 3rd Battalion, 319th Airborne Field Artillery Regiment and various enablers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The remainder of the 82nd\u2019s 1st Brigade Combat Team remains deployed to the U.S. Central Command region, division officials said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe could not be more proud of these Paratroopers and it is an honor to welcome them home,\u201d Maj. Gen. James Mingus, the 82nd\u2019s commanding general, said in a prepared statement. \u201cThese great men and women honored the tradition of Paratroopers that came before them by answering their Nation\u2019s call on a moment\u2019s notice.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paratroopers were the centerpiece of a rapid response force pushed to Kuwait after an increase in tensions between the United States and Iran that culminated in the killing of Iranian Quds Force commander Gen. Qassem Soleimani<\/a> by a U.S. airstrike on his vehicle outside Baghdad International Airport. Critics of that strike have called it an assassination of a foreign leader that was not done to prevent an imminent attack against U.S. forces as the Donald Trump administration originally claimed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Dozens of friends and family gathered to welcome home 82nd Airborne Division Paratroopers Feb, 20, 2020.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The paratroopers had already been deploying to the region by that point, massing at Ali Al Salem Air Base, Kuwait just before New Year\u2019s Eve. Their deployment came in the wake of five U.S. airstrikes that targeted an Iran-backed militia known as Kata\u2019ib Hizbollah \u2014 a group U.S. officials blamed for a spate of rocket attacks against Iraqi bases housing coalition troops in late December. The rocket attacks killed an American contractor<\/a> and wounded several service members.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The paratroopers\u2019 deployment was the \u201cmost significant no-notice deployment of combat forces in more than 30 years and a remarkable and historic effort by the logistical nodes on Fort Bragg,\u201d the division said in a press release announcing the soldiers\u2019 return movement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first elements of the division were able to muster, draw equipment and take off from Fort Bragg\u2019s Green Ramp facilities within 18 hours.<\/p>\n\n\n\t