Alpha Bravo Delta Guide to American Airborne Forces

W. Thomas Smith Jr., an airborne-qualified writer, has put together an interesting look at the airborne forces of the U.S. military. Part of a series by Penguin Press (Alpha Bravo Delta series), this one fits well in the group as a look at the history, training, psychology, equipment, and future demands for this elite group of forces. Smith looks at the airborne forces in the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force, as well as special OSS/CIA airborne forces. Almost as long as aircraft have been used in military operations, there has been a need for airborne forces, which include parachutists/paratroopers, as well as other groups (for example, the no-longer-active Gliderborne forces, of which the late senator Strom Thurmond was one). Airborne forces are something special, and something a bit foolhardy, which Smith honestly addresses. He says in his introduction that during his time in jump school, they said that ground week separated the men from the boys; tower week separated the fools from the men; the final weeks, the fools who were left actually jumped. There's something not quite right instinctively about jumping out of a perfectly good aircraft - it takes a special breed to do this, and into combat situations no less. Smith gives a great account of the skills and dangers involved in airborne operations from a strategic level as well as a personal, in-the-air and on-the-ground level. While parachuting is a growing and popular sport now, which has taken some of the mystique away from this part of the military, the conditions under which airborne soldiers must operate are vastly different - from the altitude of jumps to night conditions to unknown landing situations; this is vastly different from sports. Smith writes about the early days, including the balloonist days of the nineteenth century. The first parachute jumps happened a few years prior to World War I, but it was really World War II that saw the growth and utilisation of parachute forces. The jump school at Fort Benning, still the major operations training facility, was started in 1940, turning out thousands of jump-qualified airborne forces each year. All airborne forces are volunteers - no one is drafted into these ranks, and the training is highly competitive, as a good percentage drop out during the training. Smith includes interesting appendices that cover everything from the Airborne Creed and Riggers' Pledge (parachutes are not folded and rigged by parachutists themselves, but by a trained corps dedicated to that job), an explanation of parachute badges and the beret designations, as well as interesting trivia and an extensive bibliography. Smith writes in an inspiring way, and this is a good tribute to a special group, the soldiers of the sky.