Fort Liberty, North Carolina, is the headquarters of the United States Army Forces Command. This command supervises the combat readiness of the Army’s active and reserve forces. Fort Liberty also serves as the home of the Army’s Special Operations Command, which oversees Special Forces, Rangers, and other units. In addition, the fort houses airborne combat units of the Army as well as the John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School, which trains troops in psychological and guerrilla warfare. The post lies 9 miles (14 kilometers) northwest of Fayetteville and occupies about 161,000 acres (65,000 hectares).
Fort Liberty was founded in 1918 as Fort Bragg. It was named for Braxton Bragg, a Confederate Army general in the American Civil War (1861-1865). The Army trained its first two airborne divisions, the 82nd and the 101st, at Fort Bragg during World War II (1939-1945). After the war, the post became the headquarters of the 82nd Airborne Division and the XVIII Airborne Corps.
In 2023, the fort’s name was changed to Fort Liberty. The change came as part of an effort by the U.S. Department of Defense to rename bases that had been named for Confederate military leaders.
