Bragg troops’ nonstop flight to Eastern Europe
Stars & Stripes reports that troops of the 82d Airborne Division made a nonstop flight from Fort Bragg, North Carolina to drop zones in Poland, Lithuania and Latvia.
More than 600 paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne Division and the British army’s 16 Air Assault Brigade made nonstop flights from Fort Bragg to Eastern Europe, traveling more than 4,300 miles before leaping onto drop zones near Riga, Latvia and Rukla, Lithuania, on Saturday.
“This is about global readiness for us,” said Maj. Gen. Erik Kurilla, the commanding general of the 82nd Airborne Division. “This is a package that can go anywhere in the world very quickly. Speed matters. This is just a small portion of the [Global Response Force]. The [Global Response Force remains scalable in size and tailorable in scope to a wide array of crises contingencies.”
I once made a jump into Alaska after a nine-hour flight from Hunter Army Airfield, Georgia, so I can only imagine a 4300-mile flight.
n addition to American and British paratroopers, Swift Response also featured airborne forces from Israel, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal and Spain.
“The 82nd Airborne Division is committed to supporting European security,” [Maj. Gen. Erik Kurilla, the commanding general of the 82nd Airborne Division] said. “We maintain a broad interoperability agenda with a fully developed partnership with multinational airborne forces. This kind of complex operation is the result of that partnership. In fact, we incorporate multinational officers at all echelons of the division, to include our British deputy commanding general. Our allied partners do not operate as liaisons; they serve as leaders and planners alongside the rest of us.”
From Latvian public broadcasting;
Eight U.S. C-17 transport planes arrived from Fort Bragg, North Carolina and dropped more than 500 soldiers from the 82nd [Airborne] Division and the British Parachute Regiment.
Swift Response 2018 continues until 15 June, with approximately 2,300 participants from NATO member states and partner countries including the United States, Israel, Italy, Great Britain, Poland, Portugal and Spain.
Category: Army News
I wondered what that sound was. Apparently it was 1000 knees screaming across the Atlantic.
Airborne!
John, It was ’78 (IIRC) when I watched two troopers entangled manage to get one reserve open before hitting the snow at Ladd AAF, Ft. Wainwright, AK. Thank goodness they walked/limped away. That wasn’t your drop by any chance, was it? regards, Alemaster
Nope. Mine was for Jack Frost ’76. We did jump into Wainwright after I had a conversation with Ralph – Air Force box lunches and motion sickness got me.
I got to Wainwright in July of ’76 so that jump might have been your jump as I don’t remember another one on the airfield after that. And it was for the start of Jack Frost Exercise. Whole bunch of Starlifters must have brought a battalion or so up to AK. Dropped from 700 or so feet? I will never forget watching those two troopers fight their way out of that entanglement. Alemaster
We were there in January ’76, during the warmest part of the year 🙂
Jonn: Be glad you weren’t at Wainwright in July. The State Bird might have snatched you all in mid-air..😉
We were in Panama in November, and Germany the month before – my name was “acclimated”
The best part of fire season, otherwise known as summer or tourist season, is the smoke keeps the State “bird” away.
Good example/picture of Alaska’s State “Bird” 😉:
https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/denali-road/index.html
An Air Force box lunch made me into a hero during the flight over for the winter REFORGER of 85.
Long story short, it provided me (as the Battalion S-4 NCO) with the NSN for a all in one package three piece plastic cutlery set instead of having to order a knife, spoon and fork by three separate stock numbers.
The troops (and the cooks) loved me to death when the first boxes of 500 sets were requisitioned/received and put to good use in the Battalion field mess set-up./smile
Claw: Army/Air Force Supply/Class 1 didn’t have Sporks in 1985? 😉
Maybe, but I don’t remember ever seeing one.
The NSN (7360-00-634-4800) is one of those numbers I still have rolling around in my head, just like the stock numbers for Jeep spark plugs and Deuce and a Half Batteries and Oil Filters./smile
What…you don’t have the NSN in your head for a can of coffee? (Me thinks you know what I am talking about, but me may be wrong…well, it used to be like that in the 80s in an S4 Shop..😉)
Nope, don’t have that NSN in the cobwebs right now, just remember there were at least three different numbers due to the size/poundage of the can you wanted.
But coffee grounds were A-Numba One trading material though, usable for bartering for two quart thermos jugs or battery acid./smile
Don’t forget paint and generators. I saw the CSM’s I worked for do some true wheeling and dealing with those two. But you’re right about coffee–it was the number one bartering tool.
Yep, that is what I remembered about the coffee and Class IX…wonder if that is still going on in today’s Army…😊
It’s weird the things people have in the brainpan. I still remember the TM number and date for the M-60.
I’d love to see the SEAD plan supporting that op.
So at cruising speed around 450, that’s a solid 10 hour flight. Call it Frankfurt to Houston commercial. Military flight? Forever.
hey Russia, heads up….
So what are the cadence lyrics for “C-17 rolling down the strip….?”
I was curious about the distance myself. Hunter to Wainwright is 4400 mi. Went TDY there in 81 for 2 wks that became 2 months. Couldn’t believe they had me washing outside spaces in Dec/Jan/Feb. Came back with frostbite. Wondered about that CMSgt’s sanity for years.
Going further to the FAR East, there were the “TEAM SPIRIT” exercises in March with South Korea. The Marines would land across a beach or Helo assault across the beach, the Air Wing would setup on a air field outside Pusan. AND the Army would fly in a couple of units to practice their dropping in by Parachute direct for their base at Ft. Benning and/or FT Brag.
The one year I could have been boots on the ground with the Wing Headshed, I was left to man the office on Okinawa.
OOPS!!!!!
FT Bragg (with 2 g’s not 1)
Look up operation Centrazbat 1997. It was 8000 miles with air to air refueling all the way.
4,300 miles in full gear, and no inflight movies or popcorn?
Perogies and cabbage rolls upon touch down?
We can fly troops to jump into places 4300 miles away that quickly, but people contend we had “nothing” we could’ve responded with in Benghazi….
This is definitely something cool to be a part of for those that did it. Of course during is probably less cool.
They could have had fighter aircraft over Benghazi in a couple of hours, but commander 0’s bootlicks decided they wanted to let the locals handle that attack. Someone in Foggy Bottom or Langley thought that would be a better “optic.”
Carter Ham was unavailable for comment.
So were Hillary and Barry from what I understand.
Barry had to turn in early that night as he had a busy next day at his fundraiser/rally in Los Wages.
I still gnash my teeth thinking of the firepower sitting ready to go at Aviano Air Base. But President Queerly and SoS Cocksucker decided, as you said, that even a show of force, via a power flyover presence would be seen poorly by the Muslims Oqueerly loved.
Sons of bitches every one of them!
Not my expertise so I will remain silent. Well, I’ll add something in. So this guy jumps out of the aircraft and is trying to get his chute opened. He sees a blob coming up towards him which turns out to be a man with all his clothing tattered so he yells to the guy as they were passing each other and says, do you know anything about parachutes and the guy answers no, but do you know anything about boilers? Drum Roll?????
Do they even know if they are coming back home?
Cool. Hope there were no injuries.
Especially afterwards……
I was a “White Falcon” with the 2d Battalion, 325th Infantry Regiment, 82nd ABN DIV. back in 1970 at Bragg (home of the “Jumping Junkies” as it was affectionately know back then).
Myself and seven other NCO’s were sent TDY to McChord AFB for three months & attached to a Combat Control Team. We were test dummies for Air Force pilots that needed to get personnel drop flights in. There were two of us assigned to each aircraft. Did this every day over Yakima, Mon-Friday unless the weather was bad and made a bit over 50 plus jumps.
Also learned to pack our own chutes, with a HUGE pucker factor jumping with it the first time. After that, it was no big deal.
Funniest thing that happened there, was one of the CCT guys was getting married, so the rest of his “buddies re-packed his chute (T10) and laced it with toilet paper……including about three whole rolls. We were already on the ground and looked up to see him jump. Looked like a mini-explosion when the ‘chute opened and all of the tp blew out of it. Still laugh at remembering the whole rolls spiraling towards the ground with the paper streaming behind it. He landed and was laughing his ass off. Good times. (smile)
That’s pretty damn funny Skyjumper!
I haven’t spent much time at McChord, but have a lot of Yakima time.
While I wasn’t there for this, a friend of mine tells a story of a soldier getting off the plane in Afghanistan, looks around and says; what did they do.. fly us BACK to Yakima?!
Weren’t we also going to send some people up to Norway this year? Seems to me I read that somewhere a while back.
We sent a reinforced infantry battalion form Germany to Norway for a simulated combat jump and field exercise in 1969. I helped plan the jump and the exercise in Norway, so I didn’t get to jump in, but watched the 34 C-130’s drop the troops and equipment from the ground. It was quite impressive.
This is a huge “we can reach out and touch you any time, Mr. Kim” kind of message. Good to remember that we can black out the sun over your little kingdom.
1968 3rd. brigade lifted to Vietnam quickly.
They are training to rescue Western Europe from the impending destruction of the EU? That is the real threat over there beyond the millions of raping and pillaging Muslims.
I bet they had to piss.
Anyone help eject the Pennsylvania National Guard from Jones County, NC in late winter or early spring 1973? We found some purple smoke and tent poles after a helo landed next to the house. I think my dad found my Army demo knife during this time. We also went to a demonstration at Hargott’s Crossroad (Jones / Onslow County line at US 258 / NC 41) where a C-130 did a pallet drop out the ramp at very low level—on the deck for real.