C-17 drop

[Chris V]

Pretty cool video. 

http://shock.military.com/Shock/videos.do;jsessionid=65A6A493BFFAFC84E7D5F92D988C7D29?displayContent=221523&page=2

[Dave S.]

I'm not usually one for videos, but damn - that was cool watching those Humvees fly out into that black abyss.

[scottcolbath]

Are those skids on some sort of guide/rail? What keeps them from getting out of shape as they are sliding out of the plane?

S.C.

[Jay Beckman]

If you look along the edges of the HUMVEE skids, you'll see that the tracking on the floor is tilted up (outboard edges down .. inboard edges up) making a track to keep the HUMVEEs squared up going out the back.  I assume they have longtitudinal pivot points.

Love how the one soldier is sitting with a point and shoot just at camera right!

[wingsnstuff]

It's amazing how close those vehicles were to the paratroopers who were sitting in the web benches along the sides of the aircraft.  Can you say Danger Close ... WoW !!!

[Jay Beckman]

It's amazing how close those vehicles were to the paratroopers who were sitting in the web benches along the sides of the aircraft.  Can you say Danger Close ... WoW !!!

"Hey Sgt Smith, did you fold in the right-hand mirror on that third Hummer?"   

[Chris Kennedy]

I've often wondered why the Army continues to maintain large airborne forces. I think the last large-scale parachute assaults were in WW2 and those weren't particularly effective.

[Jay Beckman]

Grenada

[Chris Kennedy]

Even Grenada was 27 years ago. I'm pretty sure that most of the airborne troops actually landed in aircraft there and didn't drop by parachute, although some Army Rangers did drop in to secure the airport.

I think there were some parachute drops in Panama also (21 years ago), but I don't think they were very large or very significant.

[wingsnstuff]

And lots of other places they don't talk about.  Low and dark...static line tug, chute opens, one swing, impact....yikes!  My brother was a master blaster combat engineer with the eighty duce.

[Jay Beckman]

But both operations still used paratroops.

Probably a safe assumption that at least some who jump in these mass drops early in their military careers go on to jump in smaller groups that we don't hear much (if anything) about.

Also, no way of knowing how many in that video may have been jumping just to stay current.  Correct me if this is wrong but there are disciplines in the Airborne in which you earn your jump wings despite not jumping full-time, yes?

[Joe Copalman]

Um, there was a massive combat drop over Northern Iraq in the opening days of OIF that was very successful in opening up a second front against the Baathist army.  Still a very relevant skillset.  It's another way to insert troops and vehicles where a secure beachhead or a friendly nation bordering an adversary that allows us basing privileges might not exist.  That's exactly what led to the airdrop in Iraq - Turkey would not grant basing privileges to US forces - I think they even denied us the use of Incirlik for combat missions.  Airborne units exist to give us the option of aerial insertion, but most airborne units that deploy do so as conventional infantry and never make a combat drop. 

Jay, there are tons of soldiers in the Army who go through airborne school that don't jump full-time.  Slots to airborne, air assault, or other "hooah schools" are frequently used as incentives for soldiers, as they count toward promotion points and such.  A lot of admin/logistics/rear area personnel attached to airborne divisions also go through the school.  Same with air assault.