HEADQUARTERS, 11TH AIRBORNE DIVISION, JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON – Elements of the 11th Airborne Division, and the 1st and 3rd Multi Domain Task Forces landed on Shemya Island, Alaska, Sept. 12, 2024.

The soldiers were deployed to the island as part of a force projection operation, working with the U.S. Air Force to move soldiers and equipment to the remote location in the North Pacific Ocean.

“As the number of adversarial exercises increases around Alaska and throughout the region, including June’s joint Russian-Chinese bomber patrol, the operation to Shemya Island demonstrates the division’s ability to respond to events in the Indo-Pacific or across the globe, with a ready, lethal force within hours,” said Maj. Gen. Joseph Hilbert, commanding general of the 11th Airborne Division.

The division, stationed at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson and Fort Wainwright in Alaska, not only defends the northern- and western-most reaches of the U.S., but also the Arctic, an increasingly competitive space as it becomes more accessible with the accelerating impacts of climate change.

In addition, the 11th Airborne Division is also assigned to U.S. INDOPACIFIC Command, the Department of Defense’s priority theater and an area representing more than 50 percent of the world’s population.

“Testing ourselves with this operation and others like it is critical to our nation’s defense and the preservation of a free and open Indo-Pacific,” said Hilbert. “Our ability to deploy combat-credible forces quickly and effectively to any location, no matter how remote, is critical to supporting the nation and our strong relationships with allies and partner nations.”

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