Posted on Jul 18, 2015
What do you think when you see a Soldier with Airborne wings?
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I once had a commander say, "I always know I can trust a paratrooper, he volunteered twice to get here. Once to join, and then a second time to jump".
What do you think when you see a pair of Airborne wing on a Soldier? Is it a mark of someone who goes the extra mile? Or just some additional flair?
What do you think when you see a pair of Airborne wing on a Soldier? Is it a mark of someone who goes the extra mile? Or just some additional flair?
Airborne School
Paratrooper
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Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 109
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One answer does not fit all situations. I think Jump Qualified individuals have achieved another step in their military career. Jump school requires extra effort, if you don't put out you are put out. I was section chief in Korea and several guys in my unit, one of which wore wings. This person went home on leave and that was the last anyone saw of him. Airborne all the way - all the way to Canada. This was in 1968. But generally speaking I have great respect for Airborne folks especially if that qualification is taken further, i.e. Ranger, S.F, etc.
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It does remind me of an old story bout a trooper at the door waiting for the green light and when it came on he didn't jump. No matter what the Jumpmaster screamed at him or how hard he pushed he couldn't get that trooper out the door. He finally screamed at him that if he didn't jump the Jumpmaster was going to stick his boot up his ass. I asked the trooper did you jump then? "Just a little" he said. Yeah I know its an old joke but it works! ha ha
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Grandpa always wondered why a feller would jump out of a perfectly good airplane! He always figgered a wing must be loose, or an engine ready to fall off that made them jump?
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None of the above. Just as serving in the military, in and of itself, doesn't qualify someone to be president, jump wings aren't an indicator of a persons character. I spent the better part of my 10 year Army career in the 82nd, and I ran across several duds. Don't matter where you go, the duds are always there. When I see Airborne wings, I think no more or no less of the individual. Wings alone do not a standup guy make.
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SP5 Larry Morris
I was in the 101st lots and lots of duds and low life crooks steal from you hated them
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SFC (Join to see)
No offense to commisioned officers intended, but as an Army guy you all can imagine how proud we were of being one of two branches that don't exvlusively use commissiioned officers for pilots (Army warrant officers [Cessnas, Pipers & choppers] & Navy petty officers [choppers] are the only ones I've heard about or know of - if anyone knows any other instances where non-coms fly airframes please correct me). This comment is less about the person who earned the wings, & I apologize for going a bit off topic - I basically just wanted to say warrant officers rock! Served with some great ones, & alot of them have really interesting bios too! As always, my thanks to my niece for her help with all this internet stuff.
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SFC (Join to see)
Oh, I just realized I forgot to think about the glider pilots in WWII - does anyone know if those "one time" pilots were allowed to be perhaps even mid to senior level enlisted personnell for that mission? I can't find the show, but I think I once saw a documentary that said that but I don't know if the story is true.
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I think that they volunteered and there are a lot at the airborne divisions that are high speed but have met a lot of low drag airborne s also. We are all legs in the end! we all do the same job, just different ways of getting there!
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I've always viewed it as someone who is willing to go the extra mile under tough conditions. Airborne is a combination of competence and cockiness that is valuable under fire.
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