Honduran Air Force
In March 1988, 1st and 2nd battalions, the 504th joined soldiers from the 7th Infantry Division (Light) at Fort Ord, California in a deployment to Honduras as part of Operation Golden Pheasant - The 7th ID was the first unit on the ground and went directly to protect the local population from attack by Cuban armed communist guerrillas - a deployment ordered by President Reagan in response to actions by the Cuban and Soviet-supported Nicaraguan Sandinistas that threatened the stability of Honduras' democratic government. On 17 March 1988, 1st Battalion, 504th landed at Palmerola, a Honduran Air Force Base (now known as Soto Cano Air Base) that is the headquarters for the U.S. military presence in Honduras. 2nd Battalion jumped onto La Paz Drop Zone a day later, and the troopers of the 504th began rigorous training exercises with orders to avoid the fighting on the border. Had those orders changed, the Devils were prepared to fight, but the invading Sandinista troops had already begun to withdraw. In only a few days, the Sandinistan government negotiated a truce with Contra leaders, and by the end of March the paratroopers of the 504th had returned to Fort Bragg.