It’s been more than a month since the last of the 82nd Airborne Division paratroopers deployed to Iraq returned to Fort Bragg.
But for many, last week was the true mark of their return to “normal” Army life.
That’s because for the 82nd Airborne, “normal” means jumping.
On Wednesday, roughly 250 paratroopers from the division’s Headquarters and Headquarters Battalion leapt from a C-17 onto Salerno Drop Zone, slowly descending under the canopies of T-11 parachutes.
The day before, the soldiers prepared for the jump with a Basic Airborne Refresher course, which is standard for paratroopers who haven’t jumped in several months.
At the Advanced Airborne School, the soldiers had their equipment inspected, practiced rigging their rucksacks and walked through an airborne operation by practicing their exits from an aircraft and their landings.
“It’s been 10 to 11 months since their last jump,” said Sgt. 1st Class David Ortiz, the battalion’s master jumpmaster. “Some have been waiting longer than others.”
Ortiz said the refresher course was key to any return to jumping.
There are perishable skills, he said. And new ways of doing things, developed while the soldiers were serving in Baghdad and other parts of Iraq.
Outside of the Advanced Airborne School, Ortiz holds up a modular airborne weapons case.
It’s where jumping troops would keep their guns while in the air.
But those jumping last week had never used one before. At least, not a case quite like this one.
It was fielded during their deployment. And Ortiz leaves little wiggle room in his instructions on how to connect it to their gear, and how far the case is allowed to hang from their bodies.
Last year, a soldier died during a jump on Fort Bragg, in part because his weapons case was too low.
Army investigators said improper rigging of the case may have contributed to his death. Ortiz shows…
Read more at Army
from DefenseNewz.com http://ift.tt/1QiKTIq
via Defense News
No comments: