Maj. Gen. Pat Work, then-commander of the 82nd Airborne Division, watches the Division Review as part of All American Week at Fort Bragg, N.C., on May 22, 2025. (Prim Hibbard/U.S. Army)
The Army’s 82nd Airborne Division canceled its annual All American Week festivities slated for next month after elements of the unit deployed to the Middle East in support of combat operations against Iran.
The week of events and celebrations that bring together current and past paratroopers from the storied division had been slated for May 18-21 at the 82nd’s home on Fort Bragg, N.C. It was canceled “due to competing requirements,” Army Maj. Joe Bush, a spokesman for the division, said Thursday.
Hundreds of soldiers — including the division’s commanding general, Maj. Gen. Brandon Tegtmeier — from the 82nd Airborne Division’s headquarters, its 1st Brigade Combat Team and support elements have been sent to undisclosed locations in the Middle East in recent days, according to a Pentagon official. The 82nd’s 1st Brigade is currently responsible for the Pentagon’s Immediate Response Force, which provides troops prepared to deploy to support contingency operations anywhere across the globe in about 18 hours.
The official and others declined to provide additional details about the deployment, citing “operations security” concerns.
The 82nd Airborne Division Association, a private group for past and present 82nd paratroopers which hosts the annual All American Week celebration, sent a note Wednesday to its members announcing the cancellation “due to operational requirements.”
“This decision was not made lightly,” the association wrote to members. “During this time, we will shift our focus to supporting our active-duty paratroopers, their families and working closely with division leadership on follow-on event planning.”
Bush said Thursday the event would return in 2027.
All American Week typically includes a division run, competitions, a memorial event and other festivities meant to bring together today’s paratroopers with those who served in the unit before them. Veterans of the division from across the nation attend every year.
The 82nd Airborne Association said members who had already registered to attend this year’s All American Week could request a refund or donate their registration fees to the organization to “support the division’s deployment and family support programs.”
The Pentagon launched Operation Epic Fury alongside Israeli forces on Feb. 28 in an effort to destroy Iran’s missile capabilities and its navy and to ensure Iran never obtains a nuclear weapon, President Donald Trump has said.
The U.S. military has struck more than 12,000 targets in Iran, including missile and drone stockpiles and production facilities, naval assets and locations suspected of nuclear activities.
Trump, in an address Wednesday evening, said the operation’s “core strategic objectives are nearing completion.”
While the Pentagon has rushed ships with thousands of Marines and the 82nd paratroopers to the region, it has so far avoided placing American service members into Iranian territory. Trump did not indicate Wednesday night if those deployed troops could soon be tasked with direct ground combat operations inside Iran, but he said strikes would continue for now.
“We’re going to hit them extremely hard over the next two to three weeks,” Trump said.
Thirteen U.S. service members have been killed in action since Operation Epic Fury was launched. Six U.S. soldiers were killed in an Iranian drone strike in Kuwait, and another was killed in an attack on Saudi Arabia.
Six U.S. Air Force airmen died when their KC-135 refueling jet crashed in Iraq in an incident Pentagon officials have said was not caused by hostile fire.