page_title: Fort Bragg
section_title: Middle East wars
hierarchical_section_title: Fort Bragg / History / Middle East wars
caption_attribution_description: English: Paratroopers of 3rd Battalion, 325th Infantry Regiment, move toward an objective during the recent live-fire exercise at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
context_page_description: Fort Bragg, North Carolina, is a military installation of the United States Army in North Carolina, and is one of the largest military installations in the world, with around 57,000 military personnel. It is located within Cumberland, Hoke, Harnett, and Moore counties and borders the towns of Fayetteville, Spring Lake, and Southern Pines. It was also a census-designated place in the 2000 census, during which a residential population of 29,183 was identified. It is named for native North Carolinian Confederate General Braxton Bragg, who had previously served in the United States Army in the Mexican-American War. Fort Bragg is one of ten United States Army installations named for officers who led military units of the Confederacy in the American Civil War.
  Fort Bragg covers over 251 square miles. It is the home of the Army's XVIII Airborne Corps and is the headquarters of the United States Army Special Operations Command, which oversees the U.S. Army 1st Special Forces Command and 75th Ranger Regiment. It is also home to the U.S. Army Forces Command, U.S. Army Reserve Command, and Womack Army Medical Center.
context_section_description: In 1990, the XVIII Airborne Corps and the 82nd Airborne Division deployed to Saudi Arabia in support of Operation Desert Shield and Operation Desert Storm. In the mid- and late 1990s, there was increased modernization of the facilities in Fort Bragg. The World War II wooden barracks were largely removed, a new main post exchange was built, and Devers Elementary School was opened, along with several other projects.
  As a result of campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq, the units on Fort Bragg have seen a sizeable increase to their operations tempo (OPTEMPO), with units conducting two, three, or even four or more deployments to combat zones. As directed by law, and in accordance with the recommendations of the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure Commission, Fort McPherson, Georgia, closed and U.S. Army Forces Command and U.S. Army Reserve Command relocated to Fort Bragg, North Carolina. A new FORSCOM/U.S. Army Reserve Command Headquarters facility completed construction at Fort Bragg in June 2011. Forces Command hosted June 24, 2011 an Army "Casing of the Colors" ceremony on Fort McPherson and an "uncasing of colors ceremony" on August 1, 2011, at Fort Bragg. On March 1, 2011, Pope Field, the former Pope Air Force Base, was absorbed into Fort Bragg.
caption: Soldiers of the 82nd Airborne Division training on Fort Bragg, December 2005
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