Editing Fort Bragg (section)

==History==
[[File:Special Warfare Memorial Statue.jpg|thumb|upright|''[[The Special Warfare Memorial Statue]]'' by [[Donald De Lue]] (1968) at Fort Bragg]]

===World War I===
'''Camp Bragg''' was established in 1918 as an artillery training ground. The Chief of Field Artillery, Major General [[William J. Snow]], was seeking an area having suitable terrain, adequate water, rail facilities, and a climate suitable for year-round training, and he decided that the area met all of the desired criteria. Camp Bragg (later '''Fort Bragg''') was originally named after [[Braxton Bragg]], a former [[United States Army|U.S. Army]] artillery commander and West Point graduate who later in life became a well known [[Confederate States of America|Confederate]] [[General officers in the Confederate States Army|general]] during the [[American Civil War]].<ref>{{cite news |url=https://abcnews.go.com/US/north-carolinas-fort-bragg-drops-confederate-namesake-renamed/story?id=99786101 |title=North Carolina's Fort Bragg drops Confederate namesake, renamed Fort Liberty |date=2 June 2023 |first=Nakylah |last=Carter |publisher=ABC News|location=United States}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Fort Bragg History |url=https://home.army.mil/bragg/about/mission |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130702102629/http://www.bragg.army.mil/Pages/History.aspx |archive-date=2 July 2013 |access-date=16 July 2013 |website=Fort Liberty |publisher=United States Army Fort Liberty}}</ref>

The aim was for six artillery brigades to be stationed there and $6,000,000 was spent on the land and [[cantonments]].<ref name="AA1">{{cite web|title=1919–1939|url=http://www.bragg.army.mil/history/HistoryPage/History%20of%20Fort%20Bragg/Founding1919through1939.htm|publisher=XVIII Airborne|access-date=13 July 2010|archive-date=4 March 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100304190522/http://www.bragg.army.mil/history/HistoryPage/History%20of%20Fort%20Bragg/Founding1919through1939.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> There was an airfield on the camp used by aircraft and balloons for artillery spotters. The airfield was named Pope Field on 1 April 1919, in honor of First Lieutenant Harley H. Pope,<ref name="AA1" /> an airman who was killed while flying nearby. The work on the camp was finished on 1 November 1919.<ref name="AA1" />

The original plan for six brigades was abandoned after [[World War I]] ended<ref name="AA1" /> and once demobilization had started. The artillerymen, and their equipment and material from [[Fort McClellan|Camp McClellan]], Alabama, were moved to Camp Bragg and testing began on long-range weapons that were a product of the war.<ref name="AA1" /> The six artillery brigades were reduced to two cantonments and a [[garrison]] was to be built for Army troops as well as a National Guard training center.<ref name="AA1" /> In early 1921 two field artillery units, the 13th and 17th Field Artillery Brigades, began training at Camp Bragg. The same year, the [[Long Street Church]] and six acres of property were acquired for the reservation.<ref name=nrhpinv>{{Cite web |author=Survey and Planning Unit Staff |title=Long Street Church |work=National Register of Historic Places – Nomination and Inventory |date=October 1973 |url=https://files.nc.gov/ncdcr/nr/HK0002.pdf |publisher=North Carolina State Historic Preservation Office |access-date=1 January 2015 |archive-date=27 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200827193840/https://files.nc.gov/ncdcr/nr/HK0002.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref> The church was listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]] in 1974.<ref name="nris">{{NRISref|version=2010a}}</ref>

Due to the post-war cutbacks, the camp was nearly closed for good when the War Department issued orders to close the camp on 7 August 1921. Brig. Gen. [[Albert Jesse Bowley Sr.|Albert J. Bowley]] was commander at the camp and after much campaigning, and getting the Secretary of War to visit the camp, the closing order was canceled on 16 September 1921. The Field Artillery Board was transferred to Camp Bragg on 1 February 1922.{{citation needed|date=February 2024}}

Camp Bragg was renamed Fort Bragg, to signify becoming a permanent Army post, on 30 September 1922. From 1923 to 1924 permanent structures were constructed on Fort Bragg, including four barracks.<ref name="AA1" />

===World War II===
By 1940, the year after [[World War II]] started, the population of Fort Bragg was 5,400 and by the following year had reached 67,000. Various units trained at Fort Bragg during World War II, including the [[9th Infantry Division (United States)|9th Infantry Division]], [[2nd Armored Division (United States)|2nd Armored Division]], [[82nd Airborne Division]], [[100th Infantry Division (United States)|100th Infantry Division]], and various field artillery groups. The population reached a peak of 159,000 during the war years.<ref>{{cite web |title=History of Fort Bragg, 1940s |url=http://www.bragg.army.mil/history/HistoryPage/History%20of%20Fort%20Bragg/FortBragginthe1940s.htm |publisher=United States Army |access-date=25 January 2007 |archive-date=3 February 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070203182210/http://www.bragg.army.mil/history/HistoryPage/History%20of%20Fort%20Bragg/FortBragginthe1940s.htm |url-status=dead}}</ref>

===Cold War===
[[File:SpecialForces with M4.jpg|thumb|left|An Army Special Forces operator with his customized [[M4 carbine]] prepares to breach an entryway while training in [[Close-quarters combat|close quarters battle]] tactics at Fort Bragg, mid 1999]]
Following World War II, the [[82nd Airborne Division]] was permanently stationed at Fort Bragg, the only large unit there for some time. In July 1951, the [[XVIII Airborne Corps (United States)|XVIII Airborne Corps]] was reactivated at Fort Bragg. Fort Bragg became a center for unconventional warfare, with the creation of the [[John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School|Psychological Warfare Center]] in April 1952, followed by the [[10th Special Forces Group]].<ref>{{cite web |title=History of Fort Bragg, 1950s |url=http://www.bragg.army.mil/history/HistoryPage/History%20of%20Fort%20Bragg/FortBragginthe1950s.htm |publisher=United States Army/ Fort Bragg's online website |access-date=25 January 2007 |archive-date=3 February 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070203033301/http://www.bragg.army.mil/history/HistoryPage/History%20of%20Fort%20Bragg/FortBragginthe1950s.htm |url-status=dead}}</ref>

In 1961, the [[5th Special Forces Group]] ([[Airborne forces|Airborne]]) was activated at Fort Bragg, with the mission of training counter-insurgency forces in Southeast Asia. Also in 1961, the "Iron Mike" statue, a tribute to all Airborne soldiers, past, present, and future was dedicated. In early 1962 the 326 Army Security Agency Company, de-activated after the [[Korean War]], was reactivated at Fort Bragg under XVIIIth Corps. In August of that year, an operational contingent of that Company was relocated to Homestead AFB Florida, due to the Cuban Missile Crisis. Circa 1963, that contingent was reassigned to the newly created USASA 6th Field Station.<ref>{{cite web |title=History of Fort Bragg, 1960s |url=http://www.bragg.army.mil/history/HistoryPage/History%20of%20Fort%20Bragg/FortBragginthe1960s.htm |publisher=United States Army/ Fort Bragg's online website |access-date=25 January 2007 |archive-date=3 February 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070203182219/http://www.bragg.army.mil/history/HistoryPage/History%20of%20Fort%20Bragg/FortBragginthe1960s.htm |url-status=dead}}</ref> More than 200,000 young men underwent basic combat training here during the period 1966–70. At the peak of the Vietnam War in 1968, Fort Bragg's military population rose to 57,840. In June 1972, the [[1st Sustainment Command (Theater)|1st Corps Support Command]] arrived at Fort Bragg.<ref>{{cite web |title=History of Fort Bragg, 1970s |url=http://www.bragg.army.mil/history/HistoryPage/History%20of%20Fort%20Bragg/FortBragginthe1970s.htm |publisher=United States Army/ Fort Bragg's online website |access-date=25 January 2007 |archive-date=3 February 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070203195850/http://www.bragg.army.mil/history/HistoryPage/History%20of%20Fort%20Bragg/FortBragginthe1970s.htm |url-status=dead}}</ref>

In the 1980s, there was a series of deployments of tenant units to the [[Caribbean]], first to [[Invasion of Grenada|Grenada]] in 1983, [[Operation Golden Pheasant|Honduras]] in 1988, and to [[United States invasion of Panama|Panama]] in 1989. The 5th Special Forces Group departed Fort Bragg in the late 1980s.<ref>{{cite web |title=History of Fort Bragg |url=http://www.bragg.army.mil/history/HistoryPage/History%20of%20Fort%20Bragg/FortBragginthe1980s.htm |publisher=United States Army/ Fort Bragg's online website |access-date=25 January 2007 |archive-date=3 February 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070203182229/http://www.bragg.army.mil/history/HistoryPage/History%20of%20Fort%20Bragg/FortBragginthe1980s.htm |url-status=dead}}</ref>

===Middle East wars===
[[File:Paratroopers at Fort Liberty, 2006.jpg|thumb|Soldiers of the 82nd Airborne Division with their M4 carbines training on Fort Bragg, December 2005]]
In 1990, the XVIII Airborne Corps and the 82nd Airborne Division deployed to [[Saudi Arabia]] in support of [[Operation Desert Shield (Iraq)|Operation Desert Shield]] and [[Gulf War|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.<ref>{{cite web |title=History of Fort Bragg, 1990s |url=http://www.bragg.army.mil/history/HistoryPage/History%20of%20Fort%20Bragg/FortBragginthe1990s.htm |publisher=United States Army/ Fort Bragg's online website |access-date=25 January 2007 |archive-date=3 February 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070203182238/http://www.bragg.army.mil/history/HistoryPage/History%20of%20Fort%20Bragg/FortBragginthe1990s.htm |url-status=dead}}</ref>

As a result of campaigns in [[War in Afghanistan (2001–present)|Afghanistan]] and [[2003 invasion of Iraq|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 [[Base Realignment and Closure#2005 Commission|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 24 June 2011, an Army "[[Casing of the Colors]]" ceremony on [[Fort McPherson]] and an "uncasing of colors ceremony" on 1 August 2011, at Fort Bragg. On 1 March 2011, [[Pope Air Force Base|Pope Field]], the former Pope Air Force Base, was absorbed into Fort Bragg.{{citation needed|date=February 2024}}

=== Name changes ===
[[File:Fort Liberty renamed 2 June 2023, sign at main gate.webp|thumb|right|Fort Liberty, main gate sign (All-American gate), June 2023]]

On 1 January 2021, the [[United States Senate]] passed a [[veto override]] of the [[William M. (Mac) Thornberry National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021]]. This new law helped in establishing the [[The Naming Commission|Naming commission]] which would select new names for Department of Defense properties named in honor of [[Confederate States of America|Confederate]] officials. In the law, Congress determined that those who chose to side with the [[Confederate States Army|Confederate Army]] during the American Civil War were unworthy of being namesakes. In March 2022, the commission published a list of 87<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.defenseone.com/policy/2022/03/heres-list-87-potential-new-names-confederate-named-army-posts/363306/|title=Here's the List of 87 Potential New Names for Confederate-Named Army Posts|website=Defense One|last=Kenney|first=Caitlin|date=17 March 2022|archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20220317200038/https://www.defenseone.com/policy/2022/03/heres-list-87-potential-new-names-confederate-named-army-posts/363306/|archive-date=17 March 2022|access-date=20 February 2025}}</ref> potential names for nine Army installations, including Fort Bragg.<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Vanden Brook |first1=Tom |author-link1=Tom Vanden Brook |last2=Brown |first2=Matthew |date=23 December 2020 |title=Trump vetoes national defense bill, though Congress has votes to override |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2020/12/23/trump-vetoes-national-defense-bill-congress-has-votes-override/3902331001/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201225070948/https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2020/12/23/trump-vetoes-national-defense-bill-congress-has-votes-override/3902331001/ |archive-date=25 December 2020 |access-date=26 October 2022 |website=USA Today }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=O'Brien |first=Connor |date=5 January 2021 |title=The Pentagon has 3 years to strip Confederate names from bases. Here's what comes next |url=https://www.politico.com/news/2021/01/05/pentagon-confederate-name-bases-455180 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210105212731/https://www.politico.com/news/2021/01/05/pentagon-confederate-name-bases-455180 |archive-date=5 January 2021 |access-date=26 October 2022 |website=Politico }}</ref>

In May 2022, the commission officially recommended that Fort Bragg be renamed to '''Fort Liberty'''. The commission gave the Pentagon until October to accept the name change; [[United States Secretary of Defense|Secretary of Defense]] [[Lloyd Austin]] did so on 6 October 2022. According to a memorandum published by [[the Pentagon]] at the time, the new name changes cost the Department of Defense $62.5 million. In particular, the change to Fort Liberty was calculated to cost the Department of Defense $6,374,230, making it the most expensive name change.<ref>{{cite news |date=8 August 2022 |title=Fort Bragg name change to Fort Liberty likely to cost more than $6M, new report finds |url=https://abc11.com/fort-bragg-liberty-nc-north-carolina/12109784/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220808194137/https://abc11.com/fort-bragg-liberty-nc-north-carolina/12109784/ |archive-date=8 August 2022 |access-date=12 June 2023 |work=[[WTVD]]}}</ref><ref name="Commission website">{{Cite web|title=The Naming Commission|url=https://www.thenamingcommission.gov/|url-status=dead|access-date=12 June 2023|website=The Naming Commission|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230224090734/https://www.thenamingcommission.gov/|archive-date=24 February 2023}}</ref> In accordance with the National Defense Authorization Act, the local garrison had until early 2024 to complete the name change.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Forgey |first=Quint |date=24 May 2024 |title=Commission recommends 9 new names for Army bases that honor Confederates |url=https://www.politico.com/news/2022/05/24/commission-recommends-nine-new-names-for-army-bases-that-honor-confederates-00034799 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220524192852/https://www.politico.com/news/2022/05/24/commission-recommends-nine-new-names-for-army-bases-that-honor-confederates-00034799 |archive-date=24 May 2022 |access-date=26 October 2022 |website=Politico }}</ref> On 2 June 2023, Fort Liberty officially adopted its new name in a public ceremony.<ref name="pbs2jun">{{Cite web |last=Schoenbaum |first=Hannah |date=June 2, 2023 |title=Fort Bragg becomes Fort Liberty in Army's most prominent move to erase Confederate names from bases |url=https://apnews.com/article/army-base-renaming-fort-bragg-liberty-dcfe8bd9eeaa8373d2338bf99a4cac69 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230602083253/https://apnews.com/article/army-base-renaming-fort-bragg-liberty-dcfe8bd9eeaa8373d2338bf99a4cac69 |archive-date=June 2, 2023 |access-date=November 12, 2024|publisher=[[Associated Press]] }}</ref>

On 10 February 2025, Secretary of Defense [[Pete Hegseth]] issued a memorandum directing the U.S. Army to rename Fort Liberty back to Fort Bragg, but this time in honor of Private First Class [[Roland L. Bragg]], a person other than the original namesake. Bragg was stationed at Fort Bragg during [[World War II]] and later fought with distinction in the European theater. He received the [[Silver Star]] for gallantry and the [[Purple Heart]] for wounds sustained, during the [[Battle of the Bulge]]. He was recognized for having saved a fellow soldier's life by commandeering an enemy ambulance.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Blackburn |first=Piper Hudspeth |date=February 10, 2025 |title=Defense Secretary Hegseth brings back Fort Bragg name, with a different namesake |url=https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/10/politics/hegseth-fort-bragg/index.html |access-date=February 11, 2025 |website=CNN}}</ref> Bragg's name was one of thousands submitted by the public before officials decided to name the base Fort Liberty instead of naming it after an individual.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Watson |first=Eleanor |date=February 10, 2025 |title=Pentagon to restore Fort Liberty's name to Fort Bragg |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/fort-bragg-name-change-fort-liberty/ |access-date=February 11, 2025 |website=CBS News }}</ref> The renaming took effect on 14 February 2025.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Norton |first=F. T. |title=It's official: Fort Bragg announces renaming 'effective immediately' |url=https://www.fayobserver.com/story/news/2025/02/14/goodbye-fort-liberty-fort-bragg-renaming-effective-immediately/78624293007/ |access-date=2025-02-14 |website=The Fayetteville Observer |language=en-US}}</ref>