Path: utzoo!utgpu!watserv1!watmath!att!cbnews!military From: eos!woody@eos.arc.nasa.gov (Wayne Wood) Newsgroups: sci.military Subject: Re: Airborne Operations Message-ID: <1990Jul10.025007.10522@cbnews.att.com> Date: 10 Jul 90 02:50:07 GMT References: <1990Jul5.020552.14422@cbnews.att.com= <1990Jul6.032814.27856@cbnews.att.com= Sender: military@cbnews.att.com (William B. Thacker) Organization: NASA Ames Research Center, Calif. Lines: 89 Approved: military@att.att.com From: eos!woody@eos.arc.nasa.gov (Wayne Wood) In article <1990Jul6.032814.27856@cbnews.att.com= jpulliam@silver.ucs.indiana.edu (Jacqueline Pulliam) writes: = =From: jpulliam@silver.ucs.indiana.edu (Jacqueline Pulliam) ==From: Scott.Johnson@p0.f7.n391.z8.fidonet.org (Scott Johnson) == The tradeoffs of paratrooper ops is vulnerability . A ==paratrooper, hanging from a parachute for several minutes, is ==possibly the easiest target in the military world (except for ==grounded airplanes, maybe). Until he gets clear of that parachute, ==he is a target, not a soldier. = =I still agree, at least with all after the first sentence. = unfortunately, i do not. first, depending on conditions, a 'trooper is in the air for less than a minute. my own jump experience averaged about 45 *seconds*. except for disasterous mistakes like Ste. Mere Eglise at Normandy the idea is to drop the troops somewhere where they aren't likely to be seen. "Where is the prince so mighty that he can protect his country from assault from the air?" -- unknown (and pretty damn mangled, but you get the idea) ==That was the reason for the developement of gliders. Paratroop ops ==had such a high potential for casuualties that it was thought that ==it would be better to put them all in a ctransport that could land ==and then be discarded. The transport could manuveer (sp?) and =Nope, not according to my source (Devlin's _Paratroopers_). What =source did you get this info from? = yes, they do have a high potential for casualties. that's why they're considered expendable troops. but if you wish to do a small unit insertion you can't beat a drop. all airborne operations do not involve battalion or larger mass tactical jumps! try a hop-n-pop sometime... ==(hopefully) avoid AA, and large numbers of troops could be landed in ==one spot safely. In execution, however, the gliders were bears to ==handle, the pilots that flew them were poorly trained, and they were ==almost as easy a target as the parachute. = =If I were a glider pilot, I'd be insulted. Everything I've seen, =heard and read about the glider pilot program and the troops who =graduated from it has been very complementary. Again, I'd =double-check my source... = apparently the pilots of the gliders were sergeants... and though the training may have been sketchy, the performance was admirable. much better i might add, than that of the pilots of the troop transports who delivered their loads so far off target and widely scattered that several units were virtually ineffective during D-day. how many sticks of 'troopers were dropped in the English Channel? How many were dropped so low their 'chutes didn't open before impact? keep in mind that a 'trooper must fall ~250 feet *before* his 'chute opens. == Today most paratroop ops are conducted from hhelicopter. The ==troops are kept low, out of AA and missle fire, in a h (relatively) ==fast, manuverable craft. They repel off the helicopter and are on ==the ground and ready to fight in a few seconds. hahaha... you must be a puking buzzard... [mod.note: I'm told that "puking buzzard" is a friendly (if uncomplimentary) reference to the 101st Airborne (Screaming Eagles) - Bill ] =addition, every light (or light and heavy?) division now has a platoon =of troops on jump status in a rebirth of the old long range recon =patrol mission (can't remember the name of these new platoons, but =they're a division asset, controlled by the G-2). I'm sorry that I glad to know they're back... =By the way, it is much more common for air assault troops to dismount =from an aircraft than to rappel out of it. There are situations when =the bird can't touch down to unload; but when it can, it is actually =faster and safer to do so than to throw out the ropes. true, but the latter is more impressive for demonstration purposes! /*** woody **************************************************************** *** ...tongue tied and twisted, just an earth bound misfit, I... *** *** -- David Gilmour, Pink Floyd *** ****** woody@eos.arc.nasa.gov *** my opinions, like my mind, are my own ******/