The Jump Blog

At my core I’m a paratrooper. The only thing I am more proud of and would defend with more zeal are my children. I feel a sense of deep kinship with other paratroopers and it is for that reason that I post the following list of the fallen. Their sacrifice was not greater than that […]

National Airborne Day
AKA “Buy a Paratrooper a Beer Day”. What? You don’t believe me? Why the tradition of beer consumption has a long and illustrious history in the airborne:

Francis ain’t one to hang out in the fighting position sucking on Charms and tossing dice to see who gets the Ham Slice MRE, so I’m not surprised he came out swinging over at his new happy home on the web.
Don’t get me started on Shinseki. Me and Treadhead had this debate already. I […]

Even though this deployment isn’t part of a regular rotation, it doesn’t come as a surprise, either, said Sgt. 1st Class Jason Nelson, a platoon sergeant with C Co.
“In the 82nd Airborne, we’re paid to be ready to go,” Nelson said.
Abso-freaking-lutely
Afghanistan elections spur Paratrooper deployment

A request to support paratroopers
from Sondra K:
We’ve been sadly informed that despite all our efforts (mine vis a vis) our 82nd Airborne Division has slipped through our troop support radar somehow in the mad shuffle of paperwork and info transfer.
We have approx. 2000 guys and gals that need our letters and thoughts right now during […]

There are a rash of really good jump stories floating around ye olde blogosphere these days. Matt was even kind enough to link mine.
Update: Jack at Texas Music is one of my favorite bloggers (he’s one hell of a good writer) has written a great jump story that, well… I’ll let him tell it.
While reading […]

This review of The New American Militarism, How Americans Are Seduced By War by Andrew J. Bacevich has more than a few points that I would like to discuss with John, but since I haven’t yet read the book I’ll reserve comment on the bulk of it until I do. That said, there was a […]

Any active duty Devils in Baggy Pants (that’s the Devil Brigade - 1st Brigade of the 82nd Airborne Division) I could use your help.

CNN.com - Soldier guilty of premeditated murder in deadly Kuwait grenade attack - Apr 21, 2005
I try not to relate my military experience to the experience of fighting the GWOT because they are apples and oranges. The nearly eight years I served were in a flux period that wasn’t the Cold War and wasn’t the […]

FortBraggNC.com Story - Ship named for Tech. Sgt. Chapman
Combat controllers are trained in air traffic control and to set up makeshift runways anywhere in the world. They are skilled in radio communications. Chapman was a military freefall parachutist, a static-line jumpmaster and a military scuba-diving supervisor.
”John, like all of our battlefield airmen, bring high tech […]

I used to frequent a great little Special Forces bar in Fayetteville, NC (that’s just outside Ft. Bragg for those not fortunate enough to have routinely exited aircraft in flight), the proprietor –known universally as ‘Bear’– and his wife were the nicest people one could care to meet. Bear was a Vietnam vet, had worked […]

In honor of Veteran’s Day, I’ll relate a Jump Story…
So there I was, at 800ft. AGL (that’s Above Ground Level for all of you legs), I was stood up and hooked up, third man in the stick. Number 1 was the Battalion Commander LTC Steven Fondacarro (I’d charge hell for that guy, wearing a gasoline […]