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As some of you may know, due to spending cuts the government has decided to cut parachute training for the parachute regiment. the plan to have only 80 trained paratroopers kinda beggars belief.

please show you're support and sign the petition to make the government rethink the stupid idea as its going to cost us tactically.
while there hasn't been a whole battalion dropped since suez that does not mean the parachute is not still a valid and useful method of entry onto the battlefield, as the Americans and the french have shown recently.


http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/47045

this is not my petition, but i was going to start one if somebody hadn't already.

my reasons for backing this are not based solely on lack of capability. Im currently in the process of joining the paras, and i want to earn my wings just the same as all those that have been before, and i'd happily forgo the extra 2k a year if it meant i could jump. Also i liked the idea that everyone around me is batshit crazy enough to throw themselves out of a moving plane, into the pitch black of a hostile area. history has shown if you have enough crazy bastards in the same place at the same time, magical things can happen, please help us show the government the error of their ways.

A story in The Mail on Sunday on 10th March 2013 claimed that The Parachute Regiment has been forced to reduce the amount of parachute training it provides its personnel.

Response

Due to ongoing campaigning in Afghanistan and in line with Defence Strategic Direction 2012 the contingency response task against 16 Air Assault Brigade has been reduced from delivery of a PARA Bn Gp to delivery of a PARA Coy Gp.

The assertion that only 80 Paratroopers will be trained at any time to parachute is not true.

There are 1,778 qualified and in date parachutists across 16 Air Assault Brigade and each of the Parachute Battalions have more than 360 in date parachute trained personnel able to carry out the Company Group contingency task.

With continuous campaigning in Afghanistan reducing aircraft availability and the multiple deployments of 16 Air Assault Brigade on Op HERRICK it has been difficult to meet the full demand across Defence for parachuting.

Under Army 2020 16 Air Assault Brigade is now the lead Reactive Force in the Army and, freed from campaigning, is steadily growing capability towards the Airborne Task Force BG despite the TAC AT fleet remaining heavily committed to Afghanistan.

There is no lack of parachutes to deliver the Coy Gp requirement. There are no plans to remove this capability from the British Army. Once there is sufficient RAF resource to allow it, the aspiration is to return to a PARA Bn Gp capability.

Parachuting has not formed part of basic training since 1998 and the period of time between recruits graduating and going on to parachute school has always depended on course availability, operational considerations and resultant priorities. All recruits completing training at Catterick are posted to a Parachute Battalion where they are then loaded onto the Basic Parachute Course.

The number of jumps required to qualify as a parachutist on the Basic Parachute Course has been reduced to 5.

Once qualified the number of jumps to retain parachute pay has been reduced from 2x jumps a year to 1x jump every two years to retain Parachute Pay.

Due to lack of resources there is a backlog of both ab initio and continuation jumping but parachute training has not stopped and there are no plans for parachute training to stop. However since returning from their last HERRICK tour 16 Air Assault Brigade has conducted more parachuting over the last 12-18 months than in any similar period since 2008.

cheers for the info tab, but just to clarify, has 2para been taken off the tour rotation as well? everywhere i look has just said 3para have but 2para haven't. i only ask because i was looking to join 2para to get a tour or 2 under my belt then see about transferring over to 3para because i kinda like the idea of the ish kicking off and getting thrown at it in 5 days or under