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On 8 September 2008, VFA-15 and CVW-8 deployed aboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt on a regularly scheduled deployment. On 4 October, the Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Group arrived in Cape Town, South Africa, the first visit by an American aircraft carrier since 1967 and three days later the carrier left Cape Town. CVW-8 and Theodore Roosevelt supported Operation Enduring Freedom and flew more than 3,100 sorties and dropped more than 59,500 pounds of ordnance while providing Close Air Support for ISAF-forces in Afghanistan. On 21 March 2009 Theodore Roosevelt was relieved by the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower.

VFA-82 was attached with Carrier Air Wing Two (CVW-2) for its last cruise aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72), CVW-2 executed 4400 fixed-wing sorties for a total of 7588 flight hours, as well as 1518 rotary-wing sorties for a total of 4401 flight hours. The air wing also completed 4455 flight deck landings (traps) while also flying 1737 humanitarian relief missions in support of Operation Unified Assistance between 26 December 2004 and 3 February 2005. VFA-82 was disestablished effective September 30, 2005 in accordance with a directive issued on July 5, 2005.