82ND ABN BASIC AIRBORNE COURSE REFORM PROPOSAL

Proposed by PV2 AlaskanReality

The 82nd’s Airborne Selection and Training process at it stands is lacking in many of the things that make the 82nd Airborne Unique and Special.

It does not inspire esprit de corps, it does not give any incentive to being a paratrooper, it does not create a culture of excellence.

Rather, all it serves to do is set the bar to join extremely low and let anyone with a mouse and keyboard into the highly sought-after Airborne Community.

This proposal is broken down into three sections:
1. Cultural Changes
2. Jump Procedure Changes
3. Training Structure Changes

Cultural Changes

1. Add French Foreign award to every set of 82nd formal uniforms.

This “rope” was awarded to every paratrooper in the 82nd after their liberation of France. It is found on every set of 82nd ASU’s and sets us apart, in addition to instilling unit pride.

2. Change the spoken motto of the division to “Airborne All the Way!”. The 82nd’s formal motto is “Death from Above”, yes, but it is never said in the division.

3. Change the enlisted greeting of the day to “All the Way Sir/Ma’am” and the Officer response to “Airborne”. This is how the division functions and reminds paratroopers of their pride to be in the division.

4. At the beginning and end of every training, the trainees will recite the All-American song. This will instill esprit de corps within the ranks and teach them to appreciate the division heritage more.

The song is as follows:
PUT ON YOUR BOOTS BOOTS BOOTS
AND PARACHUTES CHUTES CHUTES
WE’RE GOING UP UP UP
WE’RE COMING DOWN DOWN DOWN
WE’RE ALL AMERICAN AND PROUD TO BE
FOR WE’RE THE SOLDIERS OF LIBERTY
SOME RIDE THEIR GLIDERS TO THE ENEMY
OTHERS ARE SKY PARATROOPERS
WE’RE ALL AMERICAN AND FIGHT WE WILL
TIL ALL THE GUNS OF THE FOR ARE STILL (GET READY)
AIRBORNE WE’RE COMING THROUGH
THE SKIES ARE BLUE

LET’S GO!

JUMP PROCEDURE CHANGES

The jump command system is redundant, and believe it or not, the real-life version of this is far more simple.

Actions on the ground

1. Jump Brief: Jumpmasters brief the paratroopers for the time on target, target area, expected resistance/situation on the ground, and desginate a rally point
2. Parachute rigging: Paratroopers equip parachutes, jump masters ensure that every paratrooper has the proper uniform, tools, and knowledge of the jump they are about to perform

Actions on the plane

1. Paratroopers, once on the aircraft, will sit down, and not talk.
2. The jumpmaster will give the following commands, when they give them, all paratroopers on the aircraft will echo the commands.

“30 MINUTES”
“10 MINUTES”
“5 MINUTES”
“OUTBOARD PERSONNEL STAND UP” — (everyone stands up)
“INBOARD PERSONNEL STAND UP” — (any additional personnel stand)
“HOOK UP”-(paratroopers echo this command, then say *hook*)

“CHECK STATIC LINES” — Paratroopers echo this command, and then say *check*

“SOUND OFF FOR EQUIPMENT CHECK” — (paratroopers echo this command, the person at the rear will sound off with “OK”, the next person will sound off with “okay”, and so on, the person closest to the jumpmaster will sound off with an “ALL OKAY JUMPMASTER”)

“30 SECONDS”
“STANDBY” — The paratroopers will not echo this command but instead can exclaim (woot, wee, f### yeah!, etc.) and await the final command

“GO” paratroopers exit the aircraft

RED LIGHT — If for any reason the jump needs to cease, the jump master will exclaim “RED LIGHT RED LIGHT RED LIGHT” and everyone echoes this while stopping, this command does not apply to paratroopers already past the jumpmaster

Training Changes

1. New jump instruction is taught to standard
2. Jump portion and parade portion are switched around in the training order