To compensate for the fact that once they're on the ground the troopers are basically leg infantry, the Army has figured out how to also parachute in a variety of heavy support for them. They can drop artillery, trucks, jeeps, and even tanks. Well, tanks don't airdrop so well, they tend to be too heavy to parachute and tend to fall straight to the ground and make a huge mess when they crash. The Army even developed a special lightweight tank, the Sheridan, with aluminum armor that didn't work all that great, and even it was a touch too heavy to drop from a parachute. What they developed instead was a LAPES system, a Low Altitude Parachute Extraction System, where they strapped a tank to a pallet in the back of a cargo plane, and then flew that plane down a runway or a road inches off the ground. At the proper moment, they toss a chute out the back of the bird and it drags the pallet with the tank on it out the ass of the airplane. It's still damn exciting, but it's a lot safer than trying to drop it from a parachute.
Still, the absolute last thing the airborne actually wants to do is to actually have to jump out of an airplane! The perfect operation would have just a small detachment of pure paratroopers, like Rangers or a parachute infantry company, drop onto an enemy airport and seize control before the bad guys know what's going on. Then the rest of us swoop in fifteen minutes later, before the bad guys have a chance to have an argument with our guys, and drop off everybody else, in perfect working order and no injuries. They walk off the airplanes just like they walked on, organized, safe, and combat ready. AIRBORNE!
I was to report for duty at 0900, so I drove in at 0830 and followed the road signs to In-Processing. As an artilleryman, I was being assigned to Division Artillery, a brigade- level command including the 1st Battalion, 319th Airborne Field Artillery Regiment, '1st of the 319th' as it was called and two other battalions with different numbers. I had been to Bragg twice before, during ROTC training, but they don't bring you near the real army, so I got a bit lost and almost ended up in the wrong building. Bragg is huge, with headquarters for the 82nd, the XVIIIth Airborne Corps, 1st Corps Support Command, and several HQ elements for units stationed elsewhere. I found the right place and parked in a visitor's spot and went inside.
Back when I got my orders for the 319th, I also got a packet from my future owners. It had a variety of letters, mostly form letters welcoming me to the 82nd and the 319th, but there was one I needed to read for sure. When I got to the Replacement Company at DivArty, I was to dig up my 'sponsor'. It was a lot like visiting any big company, in that you go up to a counter and ask where to go, although in this case most of the people are wearing fatigues and jump boots. At the Replacement Company a phone call was made to my 'sponsor', a first lieutenant already in the 319th. He came along and greeted me. "Welcome, my name is Stinson. I'll help run you through and get you where you're going."
"Yes, sir. Thank you, sir."
He smiled and nodded. "You can cut the sir's down to one every hour or so. My first name is Jack. Welcome to the Replacement Company. You belong to them for a few days. They will process you into the system." He then handed me a garrison cap with an Airborne flash and a butterbar on it. "Lose the bus driver's hat. We wear cunt caps in the Airborne." The fore-and-aft, or garrison, cap is known to one and all as the cunt cap, basically because that's what it looks like from a certain angle. I settled it on my head, and he smiled. "Airborne!"
I laughed and gave the proper return - "All the way!"
I was then turned me over to a Spec 4, along with a very thorough check-in list. I really was going to belong to him for the next week! There was a lot of paperwork, I had to get a BOQ assignment, get a medical check (healthy), a dental check (one cavity), finance department (payroll details), and legal (up-to-date will). I also saw the MP office, got an orientation lecture with a few other butterbars, was taught about Fayetteville and the history of the area and the Airborne. Surprisingly I never saw Clarence Bodecker; he was either at a different Replacement Company, or he was nursing another hangover.
I think the worst part was the shot line. The 82nd is ready to deploy at a moment's notice anywhere in the world. Because of that, everybody needs to be inoculated against every disease known to mankind! Said diseases included, but were not limited to, cholera, typhoid fever, yellow fever, dengue fever, and bubonic plague! Personally, I think the theory is that if they don't make you sick, then you can become a paratrooper. I spent the next day as sick as a dog, but still had to go through with my orientation procedure. For real fun, I was informed that this was a requirement once a quarter. I was pretty sure that Harlan, at Fort Hood, had a better deal going on! This would become a recurring event.
One week later, Stinson grabbed me as I finished with the Replacement Company and it was time to join the 319th. First we reported to DivArty, and processed me in there, and then from DivArty we went to the 319th, where we repeated the process. Then a captain found us, and looked us over, then turned to me. "Reporting in, Lieutenant?", he asked pleasantly.
"Yes, sir."
"Well, follow me. You can make your manners to the colonel." He came around the counter and we followed him down the hallway to a closed door. He knocked on the door, and at the muffled, 'Come!', from the other side, he turned the knob. "You're on!", he said with a smile.
We marched into the office and I saw a lieutenant colonel sitting at a desk. On the desk was a small sign saying, 'Lieutenant Colonel Marchlight.' Both Stinson and I marched and came to attention, and saluted, and then I said, "SECOND LIEUTENANT BUCKMAN, CARLING P., REPORTING FOR DUTY, SIR!"
The colonel smiled at the captain for a moment and then looked back at me. He waved a hand sketchily in the direction of his forehead and said, "As you were, Lieutenant." Then he pointed at some chairs and said, "Have a seat, gentlemen."
Both the captain, Stinson, and I grabbed a chair and brought it to the desk, and then sat down. The captain spoke first, "Lieutenant Buckman is reporting in, sir."
Lieutenant Colonel Marchlight grunted, and said, "Welcome to the 1st of the 319th. Just finished at Sill, Lieutenant?"
"Yes, sir, just over two weeks ago, sir."
"You his sponsor, Stinson?"
"Yes, sir.", replied Stinson. That was the only time Stinson was asked anything or responded in the meeting.
Marchlight nodded again. He looked over at the captain, named Hudson by the nametag on his uniform. "What's the plan for Lieutenant Buckman?"
Captain Hudson replied, "Bravo Battery, sir."
Marchlight grunted and gave a touch of a distasteful look, and said, "Well, they need you, that's for sure. Battery B is Captain Harris' outfit. What was your ranking at Sill?"
"Top of my class, sir." The colonel glanced over at Hudson, who shuffled through some papers in a file and just nodded.
"Well, you'll do well, then. Captain Hudson will sort you out and take you over there. Just learn your job and do it well, and we'll never have a problem."
"Yes, sir."
"Very good. Now, I know they teach you that after checking in, at some point you're supposed to visit my home and be social. You may consider that done."