The first exercise, Bright Star '81, was conducted from October to December 1980 (fiscal year 1981). U.S. Army's rapid-deployment unit (Task Force "Strike", 1st Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment) of the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) and U.S. Air Force personnel were deployed to Cairo West Air Base in Egypt for the exercise. This operation was the first deployment of combat soldiers into the region since World War II. Bright Star '81 was initiated by the Carter Administration in response to the Iranian hostage crisis as well as Russia's entry into Afghanistan. But the U.S. armed forces were partially unprepared for the exercise. Soldiers were issued jungle fatigues in lieu of desert camouflage (which was not in the U.S. Army inventory in 1980) and hastily-established Egyptian air traffic control systems caused the loss of 14 U.S. Air Force New Mexico Guard personnel when a Lockheed C-141 Starlifter crashed attempting to land. Post-operation briefings affected positive change for future readiness and successful exercises thereafter, said MSG Keefer (retired), the only enlisted member of the debriefing team for Bright Star '81.