Following a hasty transit to the Adriatic, the squadron spent four months flying combat sorties over the increasingly embattled former Yugoslavia. On August 30, 1995, squadron jets were the first to strike Bosnian Serb targets as the Operation Deliberate Force campaign commenced. VFA-87 again headed to the Adriatic to fly over Bosnia-Herzegovina in support of Operation Deliberate Guard and again in Operation Southern Watch before coming home in October 1997 to Naval Air Station Cecil Field for the last time in the squadron’s history. The squadron was forced to relocate to NAS Oceana, in Virginia Beach, Virginia from NAS Cecil Field in Jacksonville, Florida due to a 1993 post-Cold War Base Realignment and Closure Commission (BRAC) decision mandating the closure of NAS Cecil Field by 1 Oct 1999. The Golden Warriors made history again by participating in combat operations in two different theaters during a single deployment, operating from . While en route to the Persian Gulf in April 1999, crisis erupted in the former Yugoslavian republic of Kosovo, prompting the largest aerial bombing campaign since the Vietnam War. In just 68 days, Golden Warrior FA-18s dropped 430,000 pounds of ordnance and flew 595 combat missions during Operation ALLIED FORCE, contributing to a NATO victory, and expelling Serbian oppressors from the war-torn province of Kosovo. In July, VFA-87 returned to the Persian Gulf and flew 176 combat missions in support of Operation SOUTHERN WATCH. The Golden Warriors returned to their first new home in over thirty years, NAS Oceana in Virginia Beach, Virginia. 2000s In April 2001, VFA-87 deployed on a Persian Gulf cruise enforcing the no fly zone over Southern Iraq aboard until the September 11 attacks occurred. The squadron was then held on station along with the entire Enterprise battle group, to conduct first strike combat missions over Afghanistan against embedded Taliban targets. VFA-87 returned to NAS Oceana in November 2001. Iraq and Afghanistan In January 2003, USS Theodore Roosevelt battle group along with VFA-87 conducted combat operations over Iraq, initiating Operation Iraqi Freedom. VFA-87 deployed again in September 2005 aboard Theodore Roosevelt, returning on 11 March 2006, and received the Atlantic Fleet "Battle E" award later that year. In September 2006, the squadron transitioned from the F/A-18C to the F/A-18A+ and was again named the "Battle E" squadron for the Atlantic Fleet in March 2007. It deployed again in September 2008 to the North Arabian Sea, in