The Airborne-Soldiers from the sky!

[Bruce "Face' Dale]

Great article on the history of military parachute (Airborne) troops.  Had no idea a parachute drop was made during the Peruvian-Ecuadorian Conflict in July 1941! 

I recall being in the Infantry Officer Basic Course at Ft. Benning in 1993 and having a 2Lt. candidate from Swaziland (look it up) who was wearing a French uniform and French Jump Wings.  He had been selected for French Jump School as a member of Swaziland's Airborne Platoon, I remember wondering if they even had planes to jump from.  But it was a reminder of how widespread Airborne Operations had become. 

We became good friends during the school, to the point I was invited to join him after graduation along with some Swazi Infantry Captains for the traditional Swazi celebratory drink of goat milk and whiskey.  The US substitute being Milk and Jack Daniels.....ever cognizant of international relations I choked it back.  I actually received letters back and forth with him for several years, most often featuring his three wives and multiple off-spring.   Enjoy the read!

 

militaryhistorynow.com/2013/03/11/sky-soldiers-historys-first-airborne-operations/

[JayJones]

That's awesome!

One of my favorite aspects of traveling internationally were the people I encountered and made steadfast friends with. I was always struck by how similar, yet different we could be, yet how close you can get to someone in a short period of time.

And yes, I've done the diplomatic choke down as well. They know we hate it, they think it's hilarious, but they respect us for doing it. A good Sudanese friend did the same thing when I made him southern sausage gravy and biscuits, and just like me, he choked it down and smiled his huge broad smile the entire time. Afterwards he clasped my shoulder and said, "Jay...now...we are even."

[jim]

Find a big chart with wings of all the countries that have Airborne Troops.  Pretty easy to see who set up each country's jump school.

One of the hard ones would be Pakistan.

It split from India in 1947 but within a few years the US set up their jump school.