Was the Army's 82nd Airborne Division not deployed to help Hurricane Helene victims as of October 3, 2024, as a post on Instagram Threads claimed? No, that's not true: President Joe Biden announced the immediate deployment of 1,000 active-duty troops on October 2, 2024, which included troops from the 82nd Airborne Division. It also included other units from Fort Liberty, a military installation of the Army in North Carolina.
A version of the claim appeared in a post on Instagram Threads (archived here) on October 3, 2024, that read:
Biden has refused to deploy the 82nd Airborne Division to help their own families and state.
This is how the post appeared at the time of writing:
(Source: X screenshot taken Mon Oct 7 at 22:11:40 2024 UTC)
Hurricane Helene made landfall (archived here) on September 27, 2024. On October 2, 2024, Biden announced the "immediate deployment" of 1,000 active-duty troops to assist with disaster relief in affected states.
"These soldiers are part of an Infantry Battalion Task Force, based out of Fort Liberty, North Carolina, which includes a Forward Support Company with the necessary support structure (fuel, water, mechanics, etc.) to conduct operations," read the October 2, 2024, White House statement (archived here).
According to the U.S. Army (archived here), the 82nd Airborne Division is an "active airborne infantry division of the United States Army specializing in joint forcible entry operations." The unit is based at Fort Liberty, North Carolina, and "rapidly deploys within 18 hours of notification."
The North Carolina Department of Public Safety wrote in an October 2, 2024, press release (archived here) that active-duty soldiers, which included members of the 82nd Airborne group and other units, had been ordered to mobilize:
The active-duty soldiers are part of an Infantry Battalion Task Force, formed from the XVII Airborne Corps to include members of the 82nd Airborne and other units stationed at Fort Liberty, NC. The task force includes a Forward Support Company with the necessary support structures (fuel, water, mechanics, etc.) to support stabilizing critical lifelines and essential services for communities in North Carolina. Soldiers are assembling and moving to the affected areas within the next 24 hours.
In a news release dated October 2, 2024, (archived here), the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) also noted that the Secretary of Defense authorized the movement of active-duty soldiers at FEMA's request to:
... support the delivery of food, water, and other critical aid 'over the last mile to the point of need' to communities impacted by Hurricane Helene.
Thousands of guardsmen from 16 states across the U.S. were activated to "provide assistance, as part of emergency management assistance compacts, in the states hit hardest by the hurricane," according to a DOD news release issued October 3, 2024 (archived here).
As of Oct, 6, 2024, the DOD writes (archived here) that:
- Nearly 1,000 soldiers from Fort Liberty, North Carolina, and Fort Campbell, Kentucky, have been mobilized to support the residents in western North Carolina.
- Approximately 1,500 active-duty soldiers are operating on the ground in North Carolina.
- To date, the National Guard has activated more than 6,100 Guardsmen, hundreds of high-water vehicles and dozens of helicopters and rescue boats from 18 different states.
More fact checks related to Hurricane Helene can be read here.
