support for days on end. Therefore, I keep in mind and body always fit to do my part in any Airborne task. I am self-reliant and unafraid. I shoot true, and march fast and far. I fight hard and excel in art and article of war. I never fail a fellow trooper. I cherish as a sacred trust the lives of the men with whom I serve. Leaders have my fullest loyalty, and those I lead never find me lacking.
I have pride in the Airborne! I never let it down!
In peace, I do not shirk the dullest of duty, not protest the toughest training. My weapons and equipment are always combat ready. I am neat of dress — military in courtesy — proper in conduct and behavior. In battle, I fear no foe’s ability, nor underestimate his prowess, power, and guile. I fight him with all my might and skill — ever alert to evade capture or escape a trap. I never surrender, though I be the last. My goal in peace or war is to succeed in any mission of the day — or die, if need be, in the try. I belong to a proud and glorious team, the Airborne, the Army, my country. I am its chosen, with pride to fight where others may not go — to serve them well until the final victory.
I am a trooper of the Sky! I am my Nation’s best! In peace or war I never fail. Anywhere, anytime, in anything — I AM AIRBORNE!
The Airborne Creed
What kind of person jumps out of a perfectly functional aircraft loaded with over 150 lb/68 kg of weapons, explosives, and other assorted supplies and equipment strapped to their body? This is the basic question that most folks ask when they first consider the idea of being a paratrooper. Personally, I only know that my personal answer is, “Not me!” For other people, though, they find the concept of jumping into a war zone intriguing enough to ask some other questions. Sometimes, the answers are so fascinating they can send an inquisitor off on a quest which will ultimately lead down a road in Georgia to a place which will change him into a special breed of American warrior: a paratrooper.
When a soldier signs up to go into airborne training, he or she is telling the world and their fellow soldiers that they are cut from a different cloth, and are taking a different path in life. One that will mark them as part of a small and elite group, which does something difficult and dangerous, just to go to work! The paratroopers are clearly a breed apart from their Army brethren, and I hope to be able to show you why.
Most special forces claim a unique ethos.[13] Many other branches of military service have tried to claim their own code: one that is special to them. Trust me: In most cases, the people doing the claiming are full of crap. In the whole of the American military, only a handful of groups are truly worthy of such a distinction — the Marine Corps, certain special forces units, and of course, the airborne.
The airborne ethos is at the very core of each paratrooper’s being. The undeniable heart of the airborne philosophy is toughness. It’s essential that each member of the airborne must be both physically and mentally tough. If you try to make an animal such as a dog or horse jump into water or over a wide ditch, they balk. The natural instinct of any animal, including humans, is to avoid danger. The human animal is different, however. Only we can rationalize and assess risk. In short, we have the mental capacity to overcome instinct, and do things common sense tells us not to. Things like jumping out of airplanes, and going to war. The type of person who can rationalize such ideas has to be more than just physically qualified. They must also have a mental ability to set aside the danger, and see the rewards of parachuting behind enemy lines into a combat zone. Some might call it cavalier, or reckless. I think it’s just plain tough.
Now, it may be that I am oversimplifying the mentality of paratroops just a bit, but the central theme of almost every part of their lifestyle is toughness. From their early training to how they actually deploy and fight, they do so with a mental and physical edge that is frankly astounding.
It also can be a little frightening. You notice their collective will when you talk to people like General Keane. A lieutenant general (three stars) and in his fifties, he still jumps in the first position from the lead aircraft whenever he can. He is hardly unusual, though. There is a popular notion in the American military that paratroopers are short little guys with bad attitudes. Actually, they come in all shapes and sizes, and in both sexes.
In the 82nd Airborne Division, every person assigned must be airborne qualified at all times. This means that everyone in the division, from the commanding general to the nurses in the field hospitals, must have a current jump qualification, no matter what their job is. In a worst-case scenario, every person assigned to the 82nd, as well as every piece of their equipment and all supplies, might have to be parachuted into a hot drop zone (DZ), since air-landing units would be difficult or impossible. Let me assure you, everyone with a jump qualification in the U.S. Army is tough, because just getting through airborne school requires it.
There is one other basic characteristic you notice about paratroops as a group: They are in incredible physical condition. Being in shape is an obsession with the paratroopers. Not just hard like the Marines, but a kind of lean and solid look that you expect in a marathon runner. In addition, there is a dash of raw power to a trooper’s body, mostly in the upper body and legs, where paratroopers need it.
Physical strength comes in handy, especially during drop operations. An average 180-1b/81.6-kg trooper getting ready to jump from an aircraft will likely be saddled down with a load equal to or exceeding their own body weight. Consider the following average loadout for a combat jump. The trooper’s T-10 main/reserve parachute/harness assembly will weigh about 50 lb/22.7 kg. American paratroopers then add a rucksack (backpack) loaded with food and water (for three days in the field), clothing and bedding, personal gear, ammunition (including two or three mortar rounds and possibly a claymore mine or two), and a personal weapon (such as an M16A2 combat rifle or M249 squad automatic weapon [SAW]), with a weight of up to 130 lb/60 kg! They must walk (more of a waddle, actually) with this incredible burden up the ramp of a transport aircraft, if they are to even begin an airborne drop mission. Later, they have to stand up, and jump out of that same airplane flying at 130 kn, and land with much of that load still attached. Once on the ground, they drop off their load of heavy munitions (mortar rounds and mines) at an assembly point. Finally, they must heft what remains in their rucksack (probably loaded with more than 100 lb/45.4 kg of supplies, equipment, and ammunition) around a battlefield. All the while fighting their way to their objectives, whatever the opposition. If that is not tough, I don’t know what is!
The number of people who have both the physical strength and endurance for such exertions is small, and the mental toughness needed to go with it is rare. That’s why there are so few folks who wear the airborne badge in an army of almost 500,000 soldiers. So why go to all the trouble and risk to select and train a group of people like the paratroops? The top airborne leaders like General Keane would tell you that we need paratroops to establish American presence, and to win the first battles of our conflicts.
The basic objectives of airborne training are defined by these goals: to successfully parachute into enemy territory, and to fight to the objectives. The first challenge, to teach people to throw themselves out of an aircraft, into a dark and empty night sky, to enter a battlefield hanging from a fabric canopy, is the easy one. The second challenge is to teach the troopers to fight until their objectives are taken no matter what the odds. This is perhaps the most difficult set of training tasks that any school in the U.S. military has to teach. Lessons like this require a special school with the best teachers available. In the airborne, it is called Jump School, and is located at Fort Benning, Georgia.
Fort Benning: The Cradle of the Airborne
Fort Benning is located in the southwest corner of Georgia — an area nobody just passes through. You have to really want to get there. You start by flying to Atlanta’s miserable Hartsfield Airport, though I highly recommend that you not do it on the last night of the 1996 Summer Olympiad as I did! Then, after renting a car, you head down Interstate 85 toward Montgomery, Alabama, and the heart of the old Confederacy. At La Grange, you take a hard turn to the south onto I-185. Fifty miles later, after you have passed through the town of Columbus, Georgia, you hit Route 27 and the front gate to one of the U.S. Army’s most important posts. It is literally at the end of the road, but it’s the beginning of the journey for those who want to become airborne troopers.
