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Are any members former paratroopers?

I have been watching Ken Burn's "The War", the history of WWII.  Parachute drops seems to be an insane and costly, in lives, way to place soldiers.

Posted - April 17, 2017

Responses


  • No, not actually Airborne but as Green Berets? We had to do many paradrops in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. We were a S.O.A.R. unit. It was actually very effective at that time as we could get in fast, run our mission and get out before the enemy could mass enough strength to get to us.
    WW2 Airborne troops were used a lot differently but very effective at creating diversions and taking vital bridges and crossroads.
      April 18, 2017 7:54 AM MDT
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  • I'm surprised that paratroopers were used in Vietnam.  I always thought that to be a WWII tactic.  What I'm mostly thinking about is the vulnerability of floating down to earth.  One would think snipers could very easily target them. 
      April 18, 2017 8:16 AM MDT
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  • They could in WW2 but our drops were very low altitude and in the very few clearings they could find. We also dropped in the jungle and had to rappel down out of the trees and brush.
      April 18, 2017 9:13 AM MDT
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  • In the Burns documentary one former paratrooper was telling a story of a mission where the drop was so low parachutes didn't have time to open and the men hitting the ground sounded like splattering pumpkins.
      April 18, 2017 9:37 AM MDT
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  • We dropped sometimes at 800 feet and once or twice at 600 feet. Chute would pop open just before you landed.
      April 18, 2017 12:12 PM MDT
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  • Is there an absolute minimum height?  Anyway the Burns documentary is very interesting and very well done.  It is also very depressing.  The whole world seems to have gone insane in the 1940s!   
      April 18, 2017 12:45 PM MDT
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  • Supposed to be 700 feet but we dropped at 600 feet a few times.
      April 18, 2017 1:17 PM MDT
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  • 14795
    No......but I was always up for the high jump so long as there's no strings attached ....:)p
      April 18, 2017 10:03 AM MDT
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