On the other hand, there are those who argue that some of those same operations were saved by airborne troops, and that some of the other operations failed because of other reasons. That’s why other people then me wear stars and get paid the big bucks. No matter who’s right, the paratroopers take a beating, no matter what!
Consider instead that rather than invest the hundreds of millions of dollars it cost to develop airborne capability during World War II, perhaps a better investment would have been heavy armor (a better tank than the Sherman would have been a Godsend!) or increased numbers of fighter-bombers. The same argument could also be made of long range heavy bombers like the Flying Fortress, which took horrendous losses and could barely hit a target the size of a city.
On the plus side, airborne capability is a must for special operations troops. Special Forces, the Rangers, and Delta Force all draw heavily on troopers who learned their trade in the 82nd. Likewise the techniques learned at Bragg and Benning’s jump school influence the Navy SEALs and Marine Force Recon. As infantry, paratroopers are superb, the best in the world. Further, the 82nd was set up so that at least part of the division could be airborne inside of two hours and anywhere on the planet inside of 24. When the President decided that some jackass somewhere was acting too big for his britches, he had the ability to send them directly to his Presidential Palace at a moment’s notice and stick a lot of very nasty and heavily armed people up said jackass’ rectum.
To compensate for the fact that once they’re on the ground the troopers are basically leg infantry, the Army has figured out how to also parachute in a variety of heavy support for them. They can drop artillery, trucks, jeeps, and even tanks. Well, tanks don’t airdrop so well, they tend to be too heavy to parachute and tend to fall straight to the ground and make a huge mess when they crash. The Army even developed a special lightweight tank, the Sheridan, with aluminum armor that didn’t work all that great, and even it was a touch too heavy to drop from a parachute. What they developed instead was a LAPES system, a Low Altitude Parachute Extraction System, where they strapped a tank to a pallet in the back of a cargo plane, and then flew that plane down a runway or a road inches off the ground. At the proper moment, they toss a chute out the back of the bird and it drags the pallet with the tank on it out the ass of the airplane. It’s still damn exciting, but it’s a lot safer than trying to drop it from a parachute.
Still, the absolute last thing the airborne actually wants to do is to actually have to jump out of an airplane! The perfect operation would have just a small detachment of pure paratroopers, like Rangers or a parachute infantry company, drop onto an enemy airport and seize control before the bad guys know what’s going on. Then the rest of us swoop in fifteen minutes later, before the bad guys have a chance to have an argument with our guys, and drop off everybody else, in perfect working order and no injuries. They walk off the airplanes just like they walked on, organized, safe, and combat ready. AIRBORNE!
I was to report for duty at 0900, so I drove in at 0830 and followed the road signs to In-Processing. As an artilleryman, I was being assigned to Division Artillery, a brigade- level command including the 1st Battalion, 319th Airborne Field Artillery Regiment, ‘1st of the 319th’ as it was called and two other battalions with different numbers. I had been to Bragg twice before, during ROTC training, but they don’t bring you near the real army, so I got a bit lost and almost ended up in the wrong building. Bragg is huge, with headquarters for the 82nd, the XVIIIth Airborne Corps, 1st Corps Support Command, and several HQ elements for units stationed elsewhere. I found the right place and parked in a visitor’s spot and went inside.
Back when I got my orders for the 319th, I also got a packet from my future owners. It had a variety of letters, mostly form letters welcoming me to the 82nd and the 319th, but there was one I needed to read for sure. When I got to the Replacement Company at DivArty, I was to dig up my ‘sponsor’. It was a lot like visiting any big company, in that you go up to a counter and ask where to go, although in this case most of the people are wearing fatigues and jump boots. At the Replacement Company a phone call was made to my ‘sponsor’, a first lieutenant already in the 319th. He came along and greeted me. “Welcome, my name is Stinson. I’ll help run you through and get you where you’re going.”
“Yes, sir. Thank you, sir.”
He smiled and nodded. “You can cut the sir’s down to one every hour or so. My first name is Jack. Welcome to the Replacement Company. You belong to them for a few days. They will process you into the system.” He then handed me a garrison cap with an Airborne flash and a butterbar on it. “Lose the bus driver’s hat. We wear cunt caps in the Airborne.” The fore-and-aft, or garrison, cap is known to one and all as the cunt cap, basically because that’s what it looks like from a certain angle. I settled it on my head, and he smiled. “Airborne!”
I laughed and gave the proper return — “All the way!”
I was then turned me over to a Spec 4, along with a very thorough check-in list. I really was going to belong to him for the next week! There was a lot of paperwork, I had to get a BOQ assignment, get a medical check (healthy), a dental check (one cavity), finance department (payroll details), and legal (up-to-date will). I also saw the MP office, got an orientation lecture with a few other butterbars, was taught about Fayetteville and the history of the area and the Airborne. Surprisingly I never saw Clarence Bodecker; he was either at a different Replacement Company, or he was nursing another hangover.
I think the worst part was the shot line. The 82nd is ready to deploy at a moment’s notice anywhere in the world. Because of that, everybody needs to be inoculated against every disease known to mankind! Said diseases included, but were not limited to, cholera, typhoid fever, yellow fever, dengue fever, and bubonic plague! Personally, I think the theory is that if they don’t make you sick, then you can become a paratrooper. I spent the next day as sick as a dog, but still had to go through with my orientation procedure. For real fun, I was informed that this was a requirement once a quarter. I was pretty sure that Harlan, at Fort Hood, had a better deal going on! This would become a recurring event.
One week later, Stinson grabbed me as I finished with the Replacement Company and it was time to join the 319th. First we reported to DivArty, and processed me in there, and then from DivArty we went to the 319th, where we repeated the process. Then a captain found us, and looked us over, then turned to me. “Reporting in, Lieutenant?” he asked pleasantly.
“Yes, sir.”
“Well, follow me. You can make your manners to the colonel.” He came around the counter and we followed him down the hallway to a closed door. He knocked on the door, and at the muffled, ‘Come!’, from the other side, he turned the knob. “You’re on!” he said with a smile.
We marched into the office and I saw a lieutenant colonel sitting at a desk. On the desk was a small sign saying, ‘Lieutenant Colonel Marchlight.’ Both Stinson and I marched and came to attention, and saluted, and then I said, “SECOND LIEUTENANT BUCKMAN, CARLING P., REPORTING FOR DUTY, SIR!”
The colonel smiled at the captain for a moment and then looked back at me. He waved a hand sketchily in the direction of his forehead and said, “As you were, Lieutenant.” Then he pointed at some chairs and said, “Have a seat, gentlemen.”