FORT BRAGG, N.C. — The Home of the Airborne hosted President Donald Trump on Tuesday for one of the celebrations this week recognizing the U.S. Army’s 250th anniversary.

The president greeted Fort Bragg by commending the service members in attendance and marking “250 years of valor, glory and triumph.”

Trump recognized service members and veterans in the crowd who he said are descendants of famous American servicemen, including relatives of Francis Scott Key, who wrote the poem that became the national anthem, and Joseph Warren, who fought in the Battle of Bunker Hill.

Amid praise for the troops, he also addressed the current state of political unrest in the country. As protests over U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s presence in Los Angeles have filled the downtown and other areas, Trump sent National Guard troops and Marines to the West Coast.

“This anarchy will not stand,” he said, likening the domestic dispute to a foreign invasion — one he promised to stamp out.

Trump also addressed the base’s name change and announced plans to return the names of more forts and monuments across the country back to their previous names. On the list of former namesakes he hopes to reinstate is Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee.

While he told the crowd the service members were braver than he, Trump referenced his now-famous words during a failed assassination attempt on his life last summer.

“Fight, fight, fight,” he said. “Win, win, win.”

Trump’s first trip to Fort Bragg in his second term commemorated more than a century of service from the largest U.S. military base by population, often described as the world’s largest. Trump will celebrate the Army’s official founding, and his own 79th birthday, with a Washington, D.C., event and parade Saturday.

Trump arrived just after 4 p.m. and took the stage after U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Army Secretary Dan Driscoll spoke.

When the president calls 9-1-1, the phone rings at Fort Bragg, Driscoll said.

“You are the first ones out the door when we need you,” he said.

Before the event, Trump and Hegseth watched a live demonstration of troops in action from another site, which was televised to the event’s audience.

Hegseth referred to the troops as “pure American firepower” and applauded Trump for putting American troops first.

“We’re getting back to basics: standards, accountability, readiness, training, war, fighting, lethality,” Hegseth said. “We’re not a college or a university. We’re not interested in your woke garbage and your political correctness.”

Toshanna Smith and her husband, Kevin Smith Jr., carried their 3-year-old daughter, Scarlett, off a shuttle bus and through the event’s security gates around noon. Food trucks, tents and bounce houses were set up at the outdoor venue, with military vehicles, including a Black Hawk helicopter, and weaponry on display. “Robo-dogs” Jeremy and Sparky paraded around the grass via remote control.

Toshanna Smith was stationed at Fort Bragg in 2020 as a new recruit. She was medically retired after three years due to injury, but the family continues to live on the outskirts of the military base.

Kevin Smith’s mother served in the Army at a time when women were not widely accepted in the forces, he said. His stepfather served in the Marines, and his grandfather served in the Army during the Vietnam War, as the conflict sparked conversations about care for veterans returning from battle.

Despite the political polarization he sees in the media, Kevin Smith said there is unity at the world’s largest military base.

He said he would like to see patriotism return to the levels seen just after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

”I feel like that’s the direction (Trump’s) trying to bring the country in,” he said.

Rissa Meisner, 33, brought her 10-year-old daughter, Olivia, to watch her husband, who is stationed at Fort Bragg, participate in a demonstration. The duo has never seen him in action before, she said.

Meisner has lived in Fort Bragg with Travis for the 14 years he’s been stationed there. The public caught wind of the event about a week ago, and Trump’s arrival has been widely celebrated among the community, she added.

“The fact that so many people in our community showed up on the drop of a dime like this, it says everything that needs to be said,” Meisner said. “(Trump) has a huge presence around here, obviously, with the town being a military town… no matter who our sitting president is, they’re always honored around here.”

Ortis Powell Jr., 20, and Matthew Erickson, 19, started training at Fort Bragg, their first duty station, about two weeks ago. When Erickson heard Trump would be speaking, he said he was thrilled. The Montana native encouraged his new friend, Powell, to join him in celebrating the Army’s anniversary together.

“To have an event put on focusing on veterans and military service makes me feel a little bit special,” Erickson said.

The home of the 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg was established in 1918 as one of three World War I training camps in North Carolina. It has since grown to more than 250 square miles and more than 50,000 military personnel.

The base’s original namesake was Confederate Gen. Braxton Bragg, who is considered one of the most ineffective leaders of the Confederacy. Following a slew of legislation intended to remove Confederate monikers from monuments and halt their further use, former President Joe Biden renamed the base to Fort Liberty in June 2023. That estimated $8 million name change lasted for less than two years.

Hegseth officially reverted to its Fort Bragg name in a February memorandum, citing a long line of service and heritage tied to its original name. But this time, “Bragg” refers to a different namesake far removed from the Confederacy — Pfc. Roland L. Bragg.

The World War II veteran was awarded the Silver Star and Purple Heart for his actions during the Battle of the Bulge in 1944. In what became the largest and bloodiest battle fought by the U.S. military during the war, an injured Bragg drove about 20 miles through German territory to get a wounded soldier to a hospital.

As Hegseth arrived on stage before Trump, he alluded to the name change controversy.

“It is ‘Fort Bragg,’ isn’t it?” he said.

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