Paratroopers Beware

Following decades of tradition, this week is All American Week on Fort Bragg. I participated in a number of these over the years, both before and during the Global War on Terror. The week is a celebration of the 82nd Airborne Division “All American” and the Paratroopers who have served within the historic division through the decades. The 82nd is affectionately known as “THE Division” by those that have been there, very much in the way alumni accentuate “THE Ohio State University”.

The week starts with a Division run that is simultaneously awesome, motivating, inspiring, painful, awful, and mind numbing. Five miles at a very slow pace, singing cadence. The entire Division of approaching 10k Paratroopers. The week continues with competitive team and individual sports including boxing, softball, combatives, running and a myriad of others. While the days of Pushball (IYKYK) are long gone, the units and Paratroopers take pride in winning during All American Week.

While all of this is happening, there is ongoing preparation for the Division Review. A division wide parade with everyone in Berets and Jump Boots, an inspection of the ranks by the Commanding General, and then a Pass In Review at the conclusion. Somewhere in the middle is a speech by a guest speaker, usually someone of great import. Presidents have been that guest speaker in the past. I stood in formation when George H.W. Bush spoke. This year, accompanying the Division Commander Major General Pat Work (a friend of mine), was Secretary of Defense Hegseth.

Although SECDEF was an Army officer, he isn’t a Paratrooper. In his role of SECDEF that isn’t necessarily important. As an Army officer, it wasn’t either. As an Infantry officer, his lack of Parachutist Wings and Ranger Tab are disturbing to many of us. But I digress.

During his speech, SECDEF whooped up the crowd by emphasizing the base was once again known as Fort Bragg after the reversal from Fort Liberty. He also announced an increase in Jump Pay from $150 to $200 per month. Additionally, after DECADES of begging, Jumpmasters will finally receive incentive pay of somewhere between $100 and $300 per month. Reports I have seen have been very conflicting, so I am not exactly sure of the dollar amount. That extra bit of money doesn’t do service to the danger of jumping out of a plane OR the responsibility Jumpmasters assume when they PUT people out of a plane.

The announcement was met with the expected cheers from the thousands of Paratroopers and their families in attendance, along with many of the “old timers” standing by who likely responded with “do I get backpay?” Don’t get me wrong, these Paratroopers and Jumpmasters DESERVE that money and much more.

In a very Ceaser-esque way, and like a lot of things coming out of this SECDEF office, it is a distraction. While the individual Paratrooper is going to get paid more, the Airborne community is being gutted. Somewhat quietly, there have been thousands of personnel slots across the Army being removed from “Jump Status” where they will NO LONGER jump from planes at all, thus not earning that extra money.

Does that suck for them? Sure, it does. Almost all, if not all Airborne slots at the Joint Readiness Training Center and the National Training Center have been cut. Hundreds of slots. Those are the people who are supposed to evaluating Airborne units when they come to these top tier training events. Now, they can do everything EXCEPT evaluate an Airborne unit’s proficiency at their CORE task… jumping out of planes.

There have been hundreds, if not thousands, of Airborne slots removed from XVIII Airborne Corps, the 82nd Airborne and 11th Airborne Divisions, as well as the 173rd Airborne Brigade. The Pentagon has determined there are plenty of people that don’t need to jump, even when assigned to those units. Yes, you can be assigned to an Airborne unit, even as a qualified Paratrooper, and NOT jump out of planes.

While that isn’t necessarily new, as there have been slow reductions in jump slots for a few years, this is a much more significant cut to the force. Many Airborne Veterans are shocked when they hear this, some of them even realizing they would have been one of those who don’t get to jump if they were serving today.

The Department of Defense has also endorsed LESS jumps for Airborne Units overall. If you happen to be the ONE Brigade within the 82nd Airborne Division that is on “recall” to answer the 911 call from the President, you will jump enough. The expectation is 10-12 times per year. If you are in one of the OTHER two brigades that will spend a year or two NOT on that “recall”, you will only jump 2-4 times per year.

Standing on the outside, especially if you’ve never lived the life of a Paratrooper, you may look at that and not see any issues. I will tell you, as a very experienced Paratrooper, there are LOTS of issues. At the very top of the list is a loss of proficiency and expertise across the Airborne community. What does that mean? It means more accidents and more incidents and more injuries and more fatalities.

Why? Because jumping out of a plane is dangerous. Jumping out of a plane with 100 other people is MORE dangerous. Jumping out of several planes with 1000 other people is EVEN MORE dangerous. And now do it at night. With lots of heavy equipment.

In the late 90s and early 2000s, the 82nd Airborne was REALLY DAMN GOOD at those tasks because we did them ALL THE TIME. Was it dangerous? Yes. But back then, a young E-4 had about 20 jumps under his or her belt. And they had enough experience to SEE things and PREVENT incidents and accidents. Even if we got a new Soldier, Noncommissioned Officer, or Officer into the ranks, they could be paired with someone who knew what they were doing and could look out for them.

Even during the War on Terror when we were gone for months and years at a time, there was still enough experience in the ranks to carry everyone through safely and maintain a level of proficiency that minimized the danger of what we were doing. But, when we were home… we still jumped. And we jumped as often as we could.

We will now have entire UNITS that don’t have that kind of experience and won’t have the opportunity to build or maintain it because they will be limited in how often they can jump. And that is DANGEROUS to the individual Paratrooper and to the nation.

America’s 911 force won’t be as capable as it should be. On the surface, it all looks the same but those of us that know what we are looking at know the SECDEF is assuming significant risk. The strategic capability Airborne forces provide is being significantly degraded and that puts our nation in a position of NOT being able to respond adequately to global threats. It won’t be long before our enemies realize it too.

And whether the SECDEF used to be a Paratrooper or not, this has all been explained to him. I know it has. And I know he made a decision to cut BIG costs across the Department of Defense but add SMALL costs and offer it to those dedicated Paratroopers knowing they would cheer.

Maybe it isn’t Ceaser-esque in the way of putting on the gladiatorial games to distract from the mess Rome had become. Maybe it is more Marie Antoinette and a “let them eat cake” kind of moment. Regardless, the individual Paratrooper is going to be able to buy more beer or diapers or Copenhagen or a nicer car, but the Airborne community is going to pay the price… along with some individual Paratroopers who will likely be injured or killed due to lack of knowledge, skills, ability, or proficiency. Shameful.

Paratroopers Beware.