When it's over, about 3,500 members of the 82nd Airborne Division's 3rd Brigade will be in Iraq for a year. That will surely take a bite out of the economy that's already seen businesses shut down and thousands of folks lose jobs.
"Even employment has just pretty much crashed, so it's hard to find jobs. I'm still trying to help family members. So it's definitely going to be very slow for me. I'm not going to be able to do as much as I used to," explained Fayetteville Resident Minnie Cotton.
Morgan Brown is a little more optimistic. He's a former member of the 82nd Airborne Division. Now, he's a manager at the Target store on Skibo Road.
Brown says the store was packed this weekend with folks hunting for bargains. He doesn't believe this round of deployments is going to impact Fayetteville's economy.
"With a lot of influx of the government contract workers here, a lot of retired military and a lot of people that are staying her because of the cost of living and the economy, I think that with the deployment of soldiers, we won't miss a beat here," he said.
The hope is that family members of deploying soldiers decided to stay in the area and continue to pump money into the local economy.
