Gates Approves 82nd Airborne Division Deployment to Kuwait

Gates Approves 82nd Airborne Division Deployment to Kuwait: "Gates Approves 82nd Airborne Division Deployment to Kuwait
Dec 27, 2006
BY American Forces Press Service

82nd Airborne to Deploy
The 82nd Airborne Division's 2nd Brigade Combat Team received orders today to deploy to Kuwait in early January to become the theater command's 'call forward' force, Defense Department officials announced today.

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates approved the request from Army Gen. John Abizaid, commander of U.S. Central Command, yesterday, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman told Pentagon reporters.

About 3,500 members of the 'Falcon Brigade' headquarters will replace the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit as CENTCOM's forward-deployed on-call force, ready to respond quickly to a full range of contingencies, he said."

The 82nd Airborne Division of the United States Army was constituted in the National Army as the 82nd Division on March 5, 1917, and was organized on March 25, 1917, at Camp Gordon, Georgia. Since members of the division came from all 48 states, the unit was given the nickname “All-Americans. This is the basis for its famed “AA shoulder patch. Famous soldiers of the division include Sergeant Alvin C. York and General James M. Gavin. Photo by Army.mil