It’s only gravity anyway
I guess budget cuts in the UK are more severe than they are here. In a link sent to us by Andy to the UK’s Daily Mail, they claim that troopers will no longer receive parachute training;
[Former Parachute Regiment officer Dan Jarvis, now a Labour MP], who led paratroops in battles against the Taliban in Afghanistan in 2007 to 2008, said: ‘Our paratroopers in the second and third battalions, 2 Para and 3 Para, cannot jump any more because they are being denied training and resources.
‘Every year there used to be huge parachuting exercises with around 800 paratroopers jumping together.
‘Now only 80 troops are jumping in these exercises. Parachute training is being phased out to nothing.’
The article continues to point out some of the recent military operations which required the use of parachuting forces. The US has had two strategic parachute operations in the war against terror, and there was one each into Grenada and Panama in recent history. But the Brits complain that they haven’t had one since the Suez Canal thing in 1956.
Sad, sad shit.
Category: Military issues
23 years in the Air Force and I always said…”I’m not jumping out of a *perfectly* good aircraft unless I see *fire* and the *ground* coming up at me.”
What’s next? Army guys running around the fields with broomsticks going, “BANG!” or Navy guys topside rowing like galley slaves?
Yet we’ve got all these millions for $26/gal biofuels and millions to reconfigure submarines to accomodate women, etc.
Call me when the revolution starts.
ChipNASA: amigo, parachuting is definitely a case of “better to know how a priori” than “learn when needed”.
TBH who Needs to fall out a perfectly good airplane anyway?
Sparky, we did that in the 90s. We didn’t have the money for blank ammo so we would just yell bang. The machine gunners would go “B-B-B-B-Budget Cuts”.
I have a friend in England on facebook, God Bless her but all her and friends do is bitch and complain about potential cuts to their welfare state… I do not know where they expect the money to come from, but they have all obviously forgotten Winston Churchills warnings about socialism.
So it seems they’ll just have to change 2nd and 3rd PARA to 2nd and 3rd LEG….
I’m sure the troopers won’t mind all the extra work and training to have ZERO opportunity to perform the activity they specifically volunteered to perform in the service of their nation. Should be great for the morale and esprit of the unit.
When I saw the blog title I assumed it was going to a link to duffelblog. I’m not sure if it’s worse having life turn into 1984 or having life turn into sketch comedy, but this reminded me a bit of Monty Python…
Luigi: How many men you got here, Colonel?
Colonel: Oh, er… seven thousand infantry, six hundred artillery, and er, two divisions of paratroops.
Luigi: Paratroops, Dino.
Dino: Be a shame if someone was to set fire to them.
Colonel: Set fire to them?
Luigi: Fires happen, Colonel.
Dino: Things burn.
These bean-counters are the same twits who said that the British military should reconfigure to limit themselves to a war as part of NATO against the Soviets, since they wouldn’t need to go anywhere else.
Then the Falklands happened.
Jumping out of a perfectly good airplane in it self is an act of courage, to face the fear of death by falling from a great height. You could say Para Troopers jump into battle already tested for courage, passed and faced death on every jump survived. Para Troopers go into battle already tested this enables them to over come their fear of death..
I never had the desire to learn how to fall out of an airplane, but I volunteered to be a dope on a rope. I have nothing but respect for the dirt darts.
@10: I’m one of them that did it as a recreational thing. I didn’t get paid to do it and actually spent good money to hang from parachord.
It’s funny because Britain literally pays people that refuse to work but the ones that do work they’ll refuse to pay for training that may save their lives.
Eurozone 1st world problems…..
Considering that the British Army will soon number only slightly more people than the NYPD, LAPD and Chicago PD, combined, the socialists see no need for parachutes. Next year, they’ll see no need for body armor and guns.
Para training? Who needs para training? I’ve heard it said that why practice something that has has to work the first time you do it. Your first jump is all the practice you need. If it works you get to do it again, if not, you don’t get to jump again.
The training I received for my first jump lasted two hours. I jumped, the chute opened, I landed undamaged, and that was that. It was fun but once was enough.
my 3rd jump in airborne school was an emergency bailout. engine fire. so yeah, i don’t buy the perfectly good aircraft bit. js
Roger in Republic: I’ve heard Airborne School referred to as “3 days of training crammed into 3 weeks”. IMO that’s not that far from the truth.
I jumped* from perfectly good airplanes my first Navy tour, and I didn’t need no steenkin’ parachute. And I had every intention of getting back into that same aircraft, too.
Sorry about the Brits, though. Seems a waste of talent.
*From a 15 foot hover into the ocean, that is. Helo rescue swimmer.
Hondo: I just graduated jump school two weeks ago, and I can tell you that a) “3 days of training crammed into 3 weeks” is dead on, and b) I’m very happy about that. I needed all that repetition to get to the point of muscle memory, because my mind sure as hell wasn’t keeping up with events when it came time to jump…
SGT E: looks like things haven’t changed much at jump school in 30+ years. (smile)
IMO, the duration is more due to the factors of (1) class size and (2) some IMO nonessential but traditional stuff tossed in than actual need.
Large class size (around 150 in mine, if I recall correctly) is the killer. Because of that, facility constraints, and the need to ensure everyone does a fair number of reps so that some things indeed become “muscle memory”, yeah – what might take an hour or so with a small group might take close to half a day. As I recall, I spent a helluva lot of time waiting for my turn and/or practicing while waiting to be observed/critiqued by an instructor. Not a total waste (you can learn watching others and/or practicing on your own), but that’s still nowhere as near as effective as doing it yourself multiple times with immediate instructor feedback.
The second is a fair amount of traditional stuff that really isn’t IMO essential. If the folks there are already in shape (and they’re going to work the piss out of you anyway), the PT during ground and tower week doesn’t seem completely necessary. Ditto much of the traditional “beat your boots”/”push away Georgia” nonsense. That takes up time. It’s also not a complete waste – it keeps people occupied while they’re waiting and at least arguably provides negative reinforcement for errors, sorta – but IMO it isn’t really essential.
Since it doesn’t seem to have changed that much in 30 years, I kinda doubt jump school will change much any time soon. And it does work pretty well, even if it takes a bit longer than arguably it should.
Why would anybody jump out of a perfectly good airplane?
@21 2 reasons; 1)obviously you have never ridden on an Air Force Bird, ‘perfectly good’ is not how I would describe them compared to a 737. When you cram 64 paratroopers with combat equipment in a C-130H, it is a TIGHT fit! Most grunts are ready to do anything to get out of the plane after a few hours in there. You can’t go to the bathroom with an 80+ lb ruck in your lap and 21 lb. parachute on your back. and 2) To get to the enemy faster, that’s why! Call the Airborne crazy if you will, I’ll take my chances jumping from a plane any day. It is merely my means of conveyeance to the battlefield. In Airborne School, it’s easy. Just remember the 5 points of performance and keep away from your fellow jumpers until you hit the ground (Most jumps taking place during daylight to dusk hours). However, upon being assigned to an Airborne unit, you face a much different proposition: a Mass-Tactical Airborne Operation. These usually involve over 1500+ people being thrown out the aircraft as quickly and safely as possible over a Drop Zone, along with heavy-dropped artillery pieces and vehicles. This is not something you want to just do once and then not worry about doing again for a year. Add in the difficulty of jumping at night (Normal Time for most non-SOF, airborne ops) or under Adverse Weather conditions, and the pucker factor goes up even more. This is something that has to be practiced to be proficient at it. Not only on the Army side, the Air Force Pilots have to get trained on it as well. In summation, what seems like it should be simple in theory is VERY complicated in execution. And if not done properly, can get someone hurt or killed quickly. For those who have never experienced it, a Mass-Tactical Airborne operation is quite the sight to see, if you can see it! (did I forget to mention we jump at night)? On the other hand, My definition of crazy is anyone who goes under the… Read more »
RayRaytheSBS: yes, it is something that needs frequent practice. When on status 30+ years ago, I though a requirement to jump monthly would have been a better idea than quarterly for exactly that reason. I’m guessing cost and injuries were why that wasn’t the case.
And if you want a really “great” ride to the DZ, try a C123 – piston engines that shook like hell, small auxiliary jets (“two turning and two burning”) for takeoff, and no doors (just a safety strap across the fuselage openings where the doors were supposed to be). Trust me, you were damn ready to get out of that bird after about 5 min even jumping “Hollywood”! (smile)
@23: “jumping Hollywood”
Now that is a term I have not heard in a very long time.
Well, if the Brits by their own admission have not dropped troops by parachute in more than 55 years – a time that has included little conflicts such as the Falklands, Iraq and Afghanistan, plus a number of dirty little colonial dustups where that capability could possibly have been used – maybe they don’t NEED paratroops and maybe it’s time to stop paying to train paratroops. Is the British army complaining they are no longer being issued red coats and being trained to fight in the square?