...Airborne school is a three week long course. Soldiers will have to take an initial Army Physical Fitness Test to ensure soldiers meet the physical standards to become a paratrooper. After soldiers pass their physical fitness test week one begins. Week one consists of ground week where soldiers learn basic fundamentals of becoming a paratrooper. The next week is week two, week two is tower week. Week two uses all the fundamentals learned in week one but is now being put to use. The main purpose of week two is for soldiers to learn the basic concept of falling and jumping out of an aircraft. Finally week three is jump week. This is where soldiers will make five jumps out of a high performance aircraft at an altitude of twelve hundred...
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...Airborne Jumping out of an airplane is a life experience one will never forget. People have different reasons for doing it. Some people skydive for the sport of it. It is an exhilarating and adrenaline pumping experience. I jumped out of an airplane to earn my airborne wings in the army. It all started in Airborne School, during ground week, where we were taught how to land safely and dawn a parachute. During tower week, the second week of training, we learned pre-jump preparations and how to properly exit an airplane. Finally, the third week of training came: jump week. My classmates and I made five jumps from a C130 aircraft. Two of the jumps were with just a parachute, known as Hollywood jumps. Two of the jumps were with full combat loads. One of the combat jumps had to be at night so that we could earn our jump wings. I woke up at “zero dark thirty”; a phrase that means before dawn in the army. I rolled out of bed sore from the two weeks of five mile runs every morning in full uniform and boots. My legs hurt from jumping from platforms and throwing myself to the ground learning to land correctly. I stood in formation, half asleep, while the airborne instructors briefed us for the events of the day. The airborne instructors are called Black Hats because of the black baseball caps that they wear with their rank and wings pinned to the front. That morning, our class had to jog three miles to the air field to get our Jump Master brief. I felt a slight chill in my bones...
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...short-term battles they are mainly focused towards operations that will secure airfields for more forces to deploy in particular areas. Airborne operations are unique in the way they operate because of their flexibility, mobility and the surprise element they bring. Depending on the mission, they jumped in large masses or small packages depending on the mission. Being able to be sent anywhere in the world within a very short time gives them a strategic mobility that many units lack. Paratroopers live by a creed that states they...
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...Introduction Attention Statement: On the morning of September 23, 1957, the nine African-American high school students faced an angry mob of over 1,000 White Americans protesting integration in front of Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. Thesis: I am here to inform you about the Integration at Central High School which the President Eisenhower had to send in 1,000 army paratroopers and Governor Orval Faubus Body I. Main Point: President Eisenhower had to send in 1,000 army paratroopers for the students to be able to walk into the school. 1. Under escort from the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division, nine black students enter all-white Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. 2. After a tense standoff, President Dwight D. Eisenhower federalized the Arkansas National Guard and sent 1,000 army paratroopers to Little Rock to enforce the court order. 3. President Dwight D. Eisenhower sent in federal troops to ensure that the black students made it to school. II. Main Point: Governor Orval Faubus had surrounded the school with National Guard troops to prevent its federal court-ordered racial integration. 1. On September 2, Governor Orval Faubus—a staunch segregationist—called out the Arkansas National Guard to surround Central High School and prevent integration, ostensibly to prevent the bloodshed he claimed desegregation would cause. 2. Governor Faubus, acting under the authority of a state law that granted him the power to close schools, ordered the high...
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...It was added by general Dwight Eisenhower to ensure the capture of the port of Cherbourg(Trueman). According to Trueman, Cherbourg was the only port big enough to handle all of the supplies that the allies needed. The target landing site was 3 miles wide and lightly defended compared to Omaha(Trueman).The attack was scheduled for 6:30am and the plan was to drop paratroopers 2-5 miles inland at 1:30am to cause chaos, while infantry men came from the beach attacked latter that morning(Trueman). The paratrooper mission went as planned but, the infantry men coming from ships were knocked off course by strong currents and landed about 2 kilometers off(Trueman).Luckily for them, that part of the beach wasn’t as heavily defended as the original landing point.Many of the paratroopers drowned in the marshes because of their heavy equipment and other were shot out of the sky(Greenspan).One even got caught on a church steeple and hung there for two hours before he was captured(Greenspan).Overall out of the 20,000 troops who landed at Utah there were less than 300...
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...World War II paratroopers: not many people know much about the hardships, dangers, and terrors that they had to endure. The novel Those Devils in Baggy Pants, by Ross S. Carter is a captivating story about what the author and the other members of the 82nd Airborne Division experienced on the front lines of battle as paratroopers. This book provides entertaining insight of what life was like for paratroopers during World War II. One of this book’s most prominent features is the depth and intensity in which it describes the events that occurred. “The air was frosty. A chill wind blew from the north. High up the stars twinkled dimly and far off to the west, where the 5th Army was raising hell with the enemy, lightning flashes lighted up the peaks....
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...and how the legacy of imperialism is tied to the suppression of indigenous resistance. The film is set in the city of Algiers which was the capital of Algiers, during French colonist rule of the 1950s and 1960s. The film depicts how the French colonists were successful in winning the Battle of Algiers in 1957, however, in the end, their tactics cost them the colony of Algeria; three years later, the people overthrew French colonial rule and won their independence. The film is an insightful interpretation of the effect of Western colonialism; as such, it's an important source of reference in the discussion of current events involving the West's intervention in the Middle East. The movie begins with a torture scene in which French paratroopers have just gained information about the freedom fighters. The French know where the leader, Ali Pointe, is hiding and he has thirty seconds to surrender. Much of the film is a flashback from the point of view of Ali Pointe, the leader of the resistance. The way the film came about is surprising in many ways. The movie was subsidized by the Algerian government and written by the real leader of the Algerian National Liberation Front (FLM) while he was in a French prison. The rebel leader, Saadi Yacef interviewed three filmmakers and chose Pontecorvo as his movie director. Yacef stars as the leader of the FLN in the film; he's also the film's producer. This makes for a shockingly realistic portrayal of the bombings and assassinations...
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...Gregg Zoroya’s book, “The Chosen Few,” provides a comprehensive account over the small skirmishes and the three major battles that paratroopers from Chosen Company—and soldiers from sister units, pilots, and faithful allies who assisted—of the 2nd Battalion, 503rd Parachute Infantry Regiment, 173rd Airborne Brigade fought during their fifteen-month deployment to Afghanistan that ended in the summer of 2008. Paratroopers, from all walks of life, would come together and face some of the most daring battles, exhibit heroism and courage, and make the most of their limited resources. This Battle study will offer an analysis over the three major battles: Ranch House, the Ambush, and the Battle of Wanat. I will draw an extensive examination on the...
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...Review: The Battle of Algiers Gillo Pontecorvo was a director way ahead of his time. He directed two anti-colonialism in the 1960, when most of the movie-going audience was probably comfortably numb to the plight of the Third World. He created a film genre (anti-colonialism) that while at first controversial would eventually become a mainstream source for modern classics. He was one of the first directors to take on the challenging subjects of terrorism and torture, in an era where the preferred treatment of the historical film was sterilization, not realism. Pontecorvo portrayed women realistically, not as an idealized pieces of scenery. Most important, Pontecorvo achieved the admirable feat of creating films that accurately reflected historical accuracy and cinematic excellence. And he did all this while advancing a political thesis. In The Battle of Algiers (1966) Gillo Ponetcorvo uses factual content extrapolated from the history of the Algerian War to demonstrate a historical lesson: to defeat an ideologically entrenched, locally supported underground nationalist movement, you must employ measures (suppression of civil liberties, police brutality, military aggression, and eventually torture) that while crucial to winning battles against underground networks (like the FLN in Algiers) in the short run, these counter-insurgency actions will ultimately serve to bolster the opposition to authority in the long run. Eventually, as Pontecorvo's coda suggests, the tactics of the...
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...The first type of transport aircraft to be used were passenger aircrafts. These aircrafts were used to carry friendly soldiers to and from battle and to different countries where they would be stationed to fight. Sometimes, passenger aircrafts dropped paratroopers, parachuting soldiers, over battlegrounds for strategic advantage. The average transport aircraft could carry around twenty men and could hold useful equipment. Transport aircrafts weren’t just used for transporting soldiers, some of these were used as ambulances that carried injured soldiers to hospitals. Other passenger aircrafts were used to tow military gliders that contained heavy equipment and men to used on the battlefield. Passenger aircrafts could be used for aerial refueling, airlifts, and...
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...In 1983 the band U2 released their new album ”War” and it went to number 1 on the charts in the UK. The band’s first ever album to reach number 1 and the band’s first political theme album. The song ”Sunday, Bloody Sunday” is about the conflict in Northern Ireland and the event called bloody Sunday. In the lyrics of the song, you can clearly see that the band is upset about the incident and they are talking about the consequences of the war. “Broken bottles under children’s feet. Bodies strewn across the dead end street”. The lyrics also have parts like this, “How long? How long must we sing this song? How long, how long?” Which indicates that the band is tired of the battling and is wondering when it all is over? The morning on 30th January,...
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...Summary of Soldier Boys by Dean Hughes Spencer Morgan and Dieter Hedrick, American and German respectively, are both young men that are eager to get into the action of World War II. Hedrick is a member of the Hitler youth movement and had actually met Hitler himself. Now he is more determined than ever to make it to the front lines and defend Germany. Morgan is only 16 and has to convince his father to sign his enlistment forms so he can become a paratrooper, some of the toughest soldiers on either side of the battlefield. He is motivated by trying to prove everyone he is more than just some nerd and wants to see the look on everyone’s face when he returns a paratrooper. Hans Keller is the local leader of the Hitler youth program and throughout...
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...needed to change their tactics. Dieppe had severe losses, but they know knew what it would take to defeat the Germans. It is said that “the battle of Normandy was won on the beaches of Dieppe. For every 1 man who was killed at Dieppe, at least 10 or more had their lives spared on the beaches of Normandy.” Dieppe was the sacrifice that needed to be taken before the stunning victory of Normandy. The lessons learned regarding military decisions, secrecy, and planning at Dieppe ensured a victory at Normandy. Many poor military decisions were made by the Allies at Dieppe that caused a quick defeat. At Dieppe, airplane bombers held back for fear of civilian casualties. They also cancelled the paratroopers due to bad weather. But, at Normandy, they continually blasted the coastlines and dropped paratroopers which significantly slowed German defences. The Allies learned that cancelling these two military tactics cost them the battle at Dieppe. At Normandy, they knew what to do and ended up taking out more German defences. In war, military decisions are only important if secrecy is kept. Without it, defences will be waiting and all those decisions will be useless. Around the time of the Dieppe attack, Germany had already started...
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...virginia calverley. He was three miles near the confederacy. He went to a naval school and learned all about navel studies like tides etc. He graduated first in his class because he loved navel. Then he went to naval architecture and graduated first in his class there too. After he graduated his classes he was appointed as an assistant naval constructor with the rank of lieutenant. He served in world war one and thought of the need of detecting sumberines.So he worked on a machine that could detect things underwater. He tested them on a iceberg and it worked and the sonar was made. Nixon also served in world war two after graduating from Army Officer Candidate School. He made the decision to be a paratrooper and that's what he did. He was assigned to the second battalion. After he was a paratrooper for a while he was appointed as as the Second Battalion Intelligence Officer. Then one day his friend gave him a piece of paper with the places of the enemy's artillery. It wasn't until late that night he discovered it was a valuable piece of info. So he ran three miles to headchartors and dropped of the info. After that he was promoted but then he had a drinking problem and they demoted him. He actually never fired a shot in the war but got three combat stars on his jump boots (medal) he was the one hundred first person to achieve it. Then in his later life he married two times but he broke up with them because of drinking. Then he married again and got over his drinking problem. Then he died...
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...were able to stop our attack at the shore. Things eventually got so bad that we almost pulled all troops off the beach and moving them elsewhere along the coast. But just as things looked the worst, our troops slowly started gaining ground and eventually gained heights and beach exits and were able to drive the enemy inland eventually giving us the victory. Second we have the Invasion of Utah Beach. On June 6, the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions were air dropped behind UTAH Beach to secure four causeways across a flooded area this was performed to protect the invasion's western flank. We dropped paratroopers behind enemy lines, however numerous factors caused them to miss their drop zones. Fortunately they were eventually able to organize themselves enough to be able to complete their missions. Although at first the scattered paratroopers seemed bad at first, ended up being a tremendous benefit because the enemy could not consistently track us so they never could counter our attacks. The 4th infantry division landed smoothly on Utah beach...
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