The Army unit that has hosted the annual Randy Oler Memorial Operation Toy Drop at Fort Bragg announced Friday that it will no longer host the event.

For the past 21 years, the U.S. Army Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations Command has hosted the event that is in memory of one of the unit’s former soldiers and provides toy donations to children during the holiday season.

"Unfortunately, as we began the planning for this year's Toy Drop, we determined we needed to shift our training resources to ensure the continued readiness of our subordinate units," said Maj. Gen. Darrell Gutherie, commanding general of the U.S. Army Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations Command. "I fully recognize the importance of this event to many communities in the Fort Bragg area, and deeply regret the circumstances that led to this decision."

Officials said the command felt it was best to conserve funding and manning resources to support its units across the country to help ensure soldiers have as many resources as possible.

The U.S. Army Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations Command is an Army Reserve unit.

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Gutherie said the command’s personnel and soldiers across the Fort Bragg community and Army Reserve have been proud to support the effort that has brought toys to needy children during the past 21 years.

"Although (the command) is no longer able to host Toy Drop, we wish the best to the Oler family and hope the event can continue with another sponsor or in another form," Guthrie said.

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The first Operation Toy Drop was organized in 1998 by Staff Sgt. Randy Oler, a soldier with the command who wanted a way to give back to the community during training.

Oler suffered a fatal heart attack during a jump April 20, 2004.

In an interview with The Fayetteville Observer at last year’s Toy Drop in November, Oler’s son, Zachary Oler, said his father started the event with the intention of donating about 200 toys. About 500 soldiers showed up the first year; there were only 200 parachutes for the jumps.

The next year it grew to 1,000 soldiers.

“His favorite things were jumping out of airplanes and giving back,” Zachary Oler said.

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Since his death, Oler's family and friends in the Army community continued the event in his memory.

The event, which has been touted in the past as the world’s largest combined multinational airborne operation, also provided soldiers training and the chance to earn coveted foreign jump wings.

Officials estimated that in 2018, more than 5,000 toys were collected, and since its inception, the annual Toy Drop had collected more than 100,000 toys.

Staff writer Rachael Riley can be reached at rriley@fayobserver.com or 910-486-3528.