FORT LIBERTY — The 82nd Airborne Division Headquarters’ colors were uncased Thursday at Fort Liberty to symbolize nearly 200 paratroopers being home from a nearly eight-month-long deployment to Europe.
The paratroopers were based at Mihail Kogalniceanu Airbase since November in support of European and NATO allies and partners in deterring Russian aggression in Ukraine.
They started returning to Fort Liberty this month after turning over their mission to the Fort Cavazos, Texas-based 1st Cavalry Division.
“A few hundred miles from where some of us were standing just two weeks ago, a freedom-loving people are fighting for their existence,” Maj. Gen. James Patrick “Pat” Work said during Thursday’s uncasing ceremony. “They’re resisting old-school imperial expansion. They fight for sovereignty. They fight for shared ideals, democratic concepts like those that are deeply embedded in our own constitution.”
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