On 2 August 1990, Iraq invaded its neighbor Kuwait with four elite Republican Guard heavy divisions and the equivalent of a fifth composed of special operations commandos. President George H. W. Bush quickly announced that the United States considered Iraq's aggression unacceptable.

On 7 August, the president backed up his words with a military response named Operation Desert Shield, and organized a coalition of 35 nations to defend Saudi Arabia and ultimately liberate Kuwait. The XVIII Airborne Corps, with its elite 82d Airborne Division, began to move to Saudi Arabia the next day, beginning a buildup of combat power in the region reaching at its peak about 600,000 U.S. personnel.