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Hi everyone.

Thought i'd put a post on here since noone uses this page anymore !
anyway my bugging question is, do the US airborne forces have similar training to us brits? Do they have their own equivelent of P comany or anything like that. Also the what about the aussie airbourne forces? the reason i ask is because when i did my PRAC we were told that paras around the world often check out each others training and sometimes do joint excersises, i'm curious as to how we compare.

The simple answer is YES

A good American friend of mine in the States, served in the U.S Rangers and earned his jump wings. He was shot in the thigh in Iraq near the beginning of the last conflict, he's now retired.

Dixie66 wrote:A good American friend of mine in the States, served in the U.S Rangers and earned his jump wings. He was shot in the thigh in Iraq near the beginning of the last conflict, he's now retired.

Do you know if he was involed in the 'black hawk down' operation, the rangers were the main force in that op weren't they?

Black Hawk Down i think was Somalia in 1993, doubt he was in the forces then. I think he was wounded capturing an airfield in early 2003 just before or at the beginning of the liberation/invasion (what ever word is most suitable, Liberation probably) of Iraq.

paraprep1 wrote:Hi everyone.

Thought i'd put a post on here since noone uses this page anymore !
anyway my bugging question is, do the US airborne forces have similar training to us brits? Do they have their own equivelent of P comany or anything like that. Also the what about the aussie airbourne forces? the reason i ask is because when i did my PRAC we were told that paras around the world often check out each others training and sometimes do joint excersises, i'm curious as to how we compare.

In the US Army Basic Airborne Course students spend their first week in "Ground School" which consists of a week of harrasment and training on the swing landing trainer, learning to do PLF's, and Capewell Cutaways. You also become acquainted with "Palmetto Beetles" which are cockroaches big enough to wear flea collars that run across the walls and ceilings of the barracks. The second week is "Tower Week" and the trainees get to jump the 34' tower until their legs are sore from climbing the stairs (the worst detail on the 43" tower is "Rope Man" who gets to run the trolleys back to the tower for the next group of 4) and they get to jump the 250' tower at least once. (This one is a bitch for the bigger guys because the canopy is a 30' flat circular that has seen too much ultraviolet light and slams you into the ground like a sack of shit)
The last week is Jump Week where you get to do a daytime "Hollywood" Jump without kit, 3 Day jumps with full combat equipment and one night jump with full combat equipment (some of our classmates made 5 Night Water Jumps .....they went out the door with their eyes screwed shut and pissed their pants). All in all, the course can be described as three days of training condensed into 3 weeks. Navy and Marine Corps personnel get to wear the Army Basic Parachutists wings until they complete their 10th jump in their parent unit, then they switch to the Navy Gold Wings (Similar in shape and design to the Guatemalan Basic Wings)

Once you have completed the Jumpmaster Course (at your Parent Unit) and accumulate 32 jumps you get to be a Senior Parachutist and the wings have a star above the canopy. When you get to 65 jumps the star gets a wreath around it and you become a "Master Parachutist". The Navy and USMC do not change from the Basic Gold Wings and do not have the Senior or Master rating.

Good insight

This fella was in that raid:

http://www.spartantactical.com/index.html

There's a bit about it in the first article that it links to. Top man and the reason why I wouldn't pre-judge any of our former colonial cousins soldiering abilities.