they held the line while the rest of the Allied coalition came together. Later, they went along with the rest of XVIII Airborne Corps into Iraq, guarding the left flank of the coalition.
Finally, there was the drop that almost happened: Operation Uphold Democracy. This was to have been the three-brigade drop into Haiti which I described at the beginning of this chapter. Had it gone off, it would have been the biggest airborne operation since Market Garden. However you look at it, the 82nd is still ready to do whatever they are asked.
Currently the 82nd is designated as America’s quick-response ground force, and continues to be headquartered at Fort Bragg. It is prepared to be self-sustaining for seventy-two hours after crisis deployment, and has its own artillery, engineer, signal, intelligence, and military police aviation. With the proliferation of regional conflicts on the post-Cold War map, and the emergence of AirLand Battle doctrines synchronizing tactical air-ground operations, it is certain that the 82nd will be an indispensable component of our military presence well into the next century. Now, let’s get to know the All-Americans as they are today.
The 82nd Airborne Division: America’s Fire Brigade
Down the road from the XVIII Airborne Corps headquarters at Fort Bragg is an even bigger and more ornate building. Here, on a hill overlooking the rest of the base, is the nerve center of America’s own fire brigade, the 82nd Airborne Division. Security is tight here, perhaps even more than at the Corps headquarters. However, once you are passed through the security desk, you arrive in a world where the history and tradition wash over you like a tide. Everywhere, there are memories of the 82nd’s many battles and actions. Battle streamers hang from flags, and combat photos and prints are on every wall. This is an impressive place because, while every military unit has a headquarters, few have a tradition like the All Americans of the 82nd Airborne Division. The 82nd is a division that has done it all. From fighting in both World Wars, to having been involved in almost every U.S. military contingency and confrontation since VJ Day.
Up on the second floor is the office of the commanding general and divisional sergeant major, the leaders of this most elite of American ground units. Interestingly, my first visit here found their offices unoccupied. This is hardly unusual, though. The leadership of the 82nd is unique in the Army for its lack of ruffles and flourishes. There is also an image to uphold. The 82nd is famous for never having lost a battle or given up an inch of ground, whatever the cost. One of the prices of this reputation has been the extremely high casualty rate among senior officers within the division. Another is that every officer who can walk, and some who cannot, is expected to lead the fight from the front. During the D-Day invasion, the commander of the 2nd Battalion of the 505th Parachute Regiment, Lieutenant Colonel Ben Vandervoot, broke his leg on landing. Riding in a commandeered pushcart, he led his regiment for weeks before admitting himself for treatment. Similarly, the division commander during Operation Market Garden, the immortal General James Gavin, fought the entire battle with a cracked spine, which he fractured upon landing the first day.
These heroics are not just bravado, though. The nature of airborne warfare requires that leadership during the initial phases come from the front. For this reason, you always find the division commander being the first one out of the jump door during a parachute assault. As a matter of fact, this was how I came to meet the division’s commanding general (CG) in mid- 1996. Late one afternoon, while touring Fort Bragg, I was informed that “the CG wishes to have the pleasure of your company at dinner tonight.” After making sure that I was not the planned entree, I quickly RSVP’d, and continued my tour. This was how I came to be seated in the rear of a C-130E Hercules cargo aircraft of the 23rd Wing over at Pope AFB early that evening. Wondering what was up, I found my curiosity rewarded a few minutes later when about fifty paratroopers in full gear started marching aboard, moving past me to sit down along the four rows of folding red-cloth-covered seats. Once they were seated, a HMMWV rolled up, and out came the CG of the 82nd Airborne Division, Major General George A. Crocker, USA. As soon as he strode up the ramp and sat down next to me, the flight crew started engines and we headed into the air, followed by several other C-130s. Once airborne, we began to talk over the noise of the four big turboprops, and I got to know something about this lean and lanky man.
Born in 1943, George Allen Crocker is a native of Russelville, Arkansas. A graduate of West Point, with a master’s degree in education from Duke University, he looks and sounds like a very serious man. With eyes like an eagle and a voice like a truck full of gravel, he is one of the current generation of division and corps commanders whose Vietnam experience came to them as young lieutenants and captains. Along the way, he managed to pick up a Silver Star, three Bronze Stars, and a Purple Heart for his service in combat. Prior to joining the 82nd as the CG in March of 1995, he had done numerous tours all around the Army, with an emphasis on airborne operations.
His tour at Fort Bragg has been a busy one, though not necessarily for the reasons that he would like. During his tenure, he has been forced to deal with a storm of publicity about racial problems within his division. Nevertheless, General Crocker is no rookie in dealing with such problems, and has gone a long way towards healing the wounds with the public and the country that the 82nd serves. He also is a man who loves to lead by example. I found this out about twenty minutes into our flight when he got up and said, “See you at dinner!” Then, donning his own parachute rig, he led the paratroops (yes, he was first out of the door!) in a mock assault onto a Fort Bragg drop zone for a delegation of community and business leaders watching on the ground. The amazing thing was that he did this with about as much concern for his safety as I might have getting into my car and driving to the market for groceries! Later that evening over dinner in a tent on the DZ, when I asked him how many such jumps he had made in his career, he pulled a notebook from his pocket and calmly commented, “Oh… about two hundred and fifty… and could you pass me the steak sauce, please?”
The 82nd Today: A Guided Tour
The 82nd Airborne is currently configured as a normal “triangular” military force, which means that the major units are designed to break down into threes. For example, the division can break into three equally powerful brigade task forces. In turn, each of these brigades can further divide into a trio of reinforced battalions. This triangular system has been standard in the U.S. Army since the Second World War. It provides a maximum of flexibility for the division and corps commanders, as well as the National Command Authorities (NCAs). However, before we get too deeply em-broiled in organization charts and unit designations, it is important that you understand some of the standard building blocks that make up a standard U.S. Army infantry unit.
The primary building block of any airborne unit is the fire team. This is a four-man unit which provides the basic maneuver unit for the airborne, and all the other infantry units in the Army. A fire team is composed of two troopers armed with basic M16A2 combat rifles, another with an M16A2 equipped with an M203 40mm grenade launcher, and a fourth with an M249 Squad Automatic Weapon (SAW). Mines, hand grenades, and AT-4 rocket launchers would also be carried, depending upon the mission and the established rules of engagement (ROE). Usually led by a sergeant (E-5), the fire team is the result of over two centuries of infantry tactical development in the U.S., and is the most powerful unit of its kind in the world today. With three combat rifles, a light machine gun, and a grenade launcher, the fire team can generate an incredible amount of lethal firepower, and still be both mobile and agile. Perhaps even more importantly, every team member has a weapon firing common NATO-standard 5.56mm ammunition, which greatly simplifies the logistics chain all the way up to Corps. When deployed, the fire team tends to work in pairs (much like fighter planes in combat), with one M16A2-armed trooper being paired with
