Airborne: A Guided Tour of an Airborne Task Force

by Tom Clancy

  A seasoned World War II veteran and airborne commander, Kinnard had dropped as a lieutenant colonel with the 101st, served as the Division operations officer for the defense of Bastogne, earned the Distinguished Service Cross for his valor, and attained the rank of full colonel while still under the age of thirty. During the 1950s he and Gavin became strong proponents of the helicopter as a tactical and logistical combat aircraft.

  In 1963, Kinnard was chosen to head the experimental 11th Air Assault Division and determine whether his airmobile theories would hold up in practice. The test came with a grueling, month-long series of war games with the 82nd Airborne—whose soldiers were matched against the 11th’s and its UH-1 troop carriers and gunships—that were conducted across three states and nearly five million acres of ground. In virtually every mock conflict with its crack opposition force, the trial 11th Division came out on top. Airmobility had finally gained acceptance among the top brass. As a result, the 11th AAD (Test) was redesignated the 1st Air Cavalry Division and quickly deployed to Vietnam. The 82nd’s 3rd Brigade and other units soon followed—as airmobile rather than airborne troops.

  Unlike the rest of the Army, however, the 82nd stubbornly upheld its traditions, remaining the only U.S. military organization to insist that all its personnel be jump-qualified: a capability that has served the division well in recent times. This has been evidenced with its successful performance in several airborne operations, including Operation Just Cause (the December 1989 mission to oust General Manuel Antonio Noriega from Panama).

  Along with maintaining its airborne tradition, the 82nd has also remained the U.S. Army’s premier infantry force on the ground. Although no parachutes were seen over the skies of the Persian Gulf region during the 82nd’s hasty deployment during Desert Shield in 1990, its elite attitude served it well while holding the “line in the sand” at the vanguard of massing Coalition troops. While many of the veterans of the division’s 2nd Brigade (built around the 325th Airborne Infantry Regiment) considered themselves just “speed bumps” for Saddam Hussein’s T-72 tanks, they held the line while the rest of the Allied coalition came together. Later, they went along with the rest of XVIII Airborne Corps into Iraq, guarding the left flank of the coalition.

  Finally, there was the drop that almost happened: Operation Uphold Democracy. This was to have been the three-brigade drop into Haiti which I described at the beginning of this chapter. Had it gone off, it would have been the biggest airborne operation since Market Garden. However you look at it, the 82nd is still ready to do whatever they are asked.

  Currently the 82nd is designated as America’s quick-response ground force, and continues to be headquartered at Fort Bragg. It is prepared to be self-sustaining for seventy-two hours after crisis deployment, and has its own artillery, engineer, signal, intelligence, and military police aviation. With the proliferation of regional conflicts on the post-Cold War map, and the emergence of AirLand Battle doctrines synchronizing tactical air-ground operations, it is certain that the 82nd will be an indispensable component of our military presence well into the next century. Now, let’s get to know the All-Americans as they are today.

  The 82nd Airborne Division: America’s Fire Brigade

  Down the road from the XVIII Airborne Corps headquarters at Fort Bragg is an even bigger and more ornate building. Here, on a hill overlooking the rest of the base, is the nerve center of America’s own fire brigade, the 82nd Airborne Division. Security is tight here, perhaps even more than at the Corps headquarters. However, once you are passed through the security desk, you arrive in a world where the history and tradition wash over you like a tide. Everywhere, there are memories of the 82nd’s many battles and actions. Battle streamers hang from flags, and combat photos and prints are on every wall. This is an impressive place because, while every military unit has a headquarters, few have a tradition like the All Americans of the 82nd Airborne Division. The 82nd is a division that has done it all. From fighting in both World Wars, to having been involved in almost every U.S. military contingency and confrontation since VJ Day.

  Up on the second floor is the office of the commanding general and divisional sergeant major, the leaders of this most elite of American ground units. Interestingly, my first visit here found their offices unoccupied. This is hardly unusual, though. The leadership of the 82nd is unique in the Army for its lack of ruffles and flourishes. There is also an image to uphold. The 82nd is famous for never having lost a battle or given up an inch of ground, whatever the cost. One of the prices of this reputation has been the extremely high casualty rate among senior officers within the division. Another is that every officer who can walk, and some who cannot, is expected to lead the fight from the front. During the D-Day invasion, the commander of the 2nd Battalion of the 505th Parachute Regiment, Lieutenant Colonel Ben Vandervoot, broke his leg on landing. Riding in a commandeered pushcart, he led his regiment for weeks before admitting himself for treatment. Similarly, the division commander during Operation Market Garden, the immortal General James Gavin, fought the entire battle with a cracked spine, which he fractured upon landing the first day.

  These heroics are not just bravado, though. The nature of airborne warfare requires that leadership during the initial phases come from the front. For this reason, you always find the division commander being the first one out of the jump door during a parachute assault. As a matter of fact, this was how I came to meet the division’s commanding general (CG) in mid- 1996. Late one afternoon, while touring Fort Bragg, I was informed that “the CG wishes to have the pleasure of your company at dinner tonight.” After making sure that I was not the planned entrée, I quickly RSVP’d, and continued my tour. This was how I came to be seated in the rear of a C-130E Hercules cargo aircraft of the 23rd Wing over at Pope AFB early that evening. Wondering what was up, I found my curiosity rewarded a few minutes later when about fifty paratroopers in full gear started marching aboard, moving past me to sit down along the four rows of folding red-cloth-covered seats. Once they were seated, a HMMWV rolled up, and out came the CG of the 82nd Airborne Division, Major General George A. Crocker, USA. As soon as he strode up the ramp and sat down next to me, the flight crew started engines and we headed into the air, followed by several other C-130s. Once airborne, we began to talk over the noise of the four big turboprops, and I got to know something about this lean and lanky man.

  Born in 1943, George Allen Crocker is a native of Russelville, Arkansas. A graduate of West Point, with a master’s degree in education from Duke University, he looks and sounds like a very serious man. With eyes like an eagle and a voice like a truck full of gravel, he is one of the current generation of division and corps commanders whose Vietnam experience came to them as young lieutenants and captains. Along the way, he managed to pick up a Silver Star, three Bronze Stars, and a Purple Heart for his service in combat. Prior to joining the 82nd as the CG in March of 1995, he had done numerous tours all around the Army, with an emphasis on airborne operations.

  (Then) Major General George Crocker (left) speaks with Major General Michael Sherfield (right), the Commanding Officer of the U.S. Army’s Joint Readiness Training Center. General Crocker was the Commander of the 82nd Airborne Division in 1995 and 1996.

  OFFICIAL U.S. ARMY PHOTO

  His tour at Fort Bragg has been a busy one, though not necessarily for the reasons that he would like. During his tenure, he has been forced to deal with a storm of publicity about racial problems within his division. Nevertheless, General Crocker is no rookie in dealing with such problems, and has gone a long way towards healing the wounds with the public and the country that the 82nd serves. He also is a man who loves to lead by example. I found this out about twenty minutes into our flight when he got up and said, “See you at dinner!” Then, donning his own parachute rig, he led the paratroops (yes, he was first out of the door!) in a mock assault onto a Fort Bragg drop zone for a delegation of community and business leaders watching on the ground. The amazing thing was that he di
d this with about as much concern for his safety as I might have getting into my car and driving to the market for groceries! Later that evening over dinner in a tent on the DZ, when I asked him how many such jumps he had made in his career, he pulled a notebook from his pocket and calmly commented, “Oh ... about two hundred and fifty ... and could you pass me the steak sauce, please?”

  The 82nd Today: A Guided Tour

  The 82nd Airborne is currently configured as a normal “triangular” military force, which means that the major units are designed to break down into threes. For example, the division can break into three equally powerful brigade task forces. In turn, each of these brigades can further divide into a trio of reinforced battalions. This triangular system has been standard in the U.S. Army since the Second World War. It provides a maximum of flexibility for the division and corps commanders, as well as the National Command Authorities (NCAs). However, before we get too deeply em-broiled in organization charts and unit designations, it is important that you understand some of the standard building blocks that make up a standard U.S. Army infantry unit.

  An organization chart of the 82nd Airborne Division.

  JACK RYAN ENTERPRISES, LTD., BY LAURA ALPHER

  The primary building block of any airborne unit is the fire team. This is a four-man unit which provides the basic maneuver unit for the airborne, and all the other infantry units in the Army. A fire team is composed of two troopers armed with basic M16A2 combat rifles, another with an M16A2 equipped with an M203 40mm grenade launcher, and a fourth with an M249 Squad Automatic Weapon (SAW). Mines, hand grenades, and AT-4 rocket launchers would also be carried, depending upon the mission and the established rules of engagement (ROE). Usually led by a sergeant (E-5), the fire team is the result of over two centuries of infantry tactical development in the U.S., and is the most powerful unit of its kind in the world today. With three combat rifles, a light machine gun, and a grenade launcher, the fire team can generate an incredible amount of lethal firepower, and still be both mobile and agile. Perhaps even more importantly, every team member has a weapon firing common NATO-standard 5.56mm ammunition, which greatly simplifies the logistics chain all the way up to Corps. When deployed, the fire team tends to work in pairs (much like fighter planes in combat), with one M16A2-armed trooper being paired with the SAW gunner, and the other being paired with the grenadier.

  If you pair up two fire teams and give them a command element consisting of a staff sergeant (E-6—known as a squad leader), then you have an infantry squad. Now things begin to get a little more involved. If you combine three squads and a weapons squad under a lieutenant (O-½) and first sergeant (E-5), along with a radio operator and forward observer, you get an infantry platoon. The weapons squad is normally made up of two M240G 7.62mm medium machine gun teams, as well as a pair of Javelin (starting in 1997 these will begin to replace the old Dragon) anti-tank/bunker missile teams. This gives the platoon the ability to engage armor, lay down suppressive fire, or to engage targets at good ranges. This is the smallest unit that would normally have a radio and GPS receiver, as well as some sort of transport like a HMMWV to act as a command/resupply vehicle.

  Take three infantry platoons and give them a command element composed of a captain (O-3), command sergeant (E-8), a pair of 60mm mortar teams, and a small command staff, and you get an infantry company. Properly laid out, a company might hold a line between 500—1,000 meters/550—1,100 yards in length.

  The next step is to build an infantry battalion, which is composed of three of the aforementioned infantry companies (usually designated “A” through “C”), and an anti-armor, or “Delta” (“D”) company. The Delta company is usually composed of five platoon-sized units, each of which has a mix of weapons mounted on HMMWVs. These include M2 .50-caliber machine guns, Mk 19 40mm automatic grenade launchers, and TOW antitank missile launchers. The anti-armor company is also equipped with four 81mm mortars to provide organic fire support for the battalion. This unit (with about 600+ troopers) would be commanded by a lieutenant colonel, and he would be assisted by a battle staff equipped for round-the-clock operations, as well as the necessary communications to work as part of a brigade task force. Along with the personnel and their weapons would be a handful of vehicles (HMMWVs and five-ton trucks), as well as the staff and equipment needed to establish a small tactical operations center (TOC). Usually a brigade is made up of three infantry battalions, an artillery battalion, a support battalion, an aviation element, as well as some other attached units. More on this later. With our lesson in infantry building blocks completed, it is time for us to begin our tour of the 82nd Airborne Division.

  We’ll start our tour with the command section of the Headquarters and Headquarters Company (HHC). This is the nerve center for the division, and the primary source of tasking for the various units in the “All-Americans.” Normally based at the division headquarters, the HHC forms the staff for the 82nd’s TOC when deployed to the field. The HHC is formed into a typical staff structure of numbered sections. These include:

  G-1-Personnel

  G-2-Intelligence

  G-3-Operations, Planning, and Training

  G-4-Logistics and Support

  The core of the division’s combat power is resident in the three organic infantry regiments assigned to the 82nd. These are the 504th and 505th Parachute Infantry Regiments (PIRs), and the 325th Airborne Infantry Regiment (AIR). All share a common heritage dating back to the massive airborne operations of World War II. By the way, if you are wondering about the difference in the names, there is a story behind that. The 504th and 505th have always been parachute infantry units. The 325th, though, was originally formed as one of the glider infantry units that went into battle with the 82nd and 101st. Therefore, in spite of the fact that all three regiments are jump-qualified, the 325th is called an airborne, not parachute, regiment. There is a bit of resentment in the 325th about this, and troopers of the 504th and 505th like to kid them about “riding” into combat. Such is the mystique of the 82nd that two words, “airborne” and “parachute,” can still arouse emotions five decades after the last combat glider landing.

  An infantry regiment (with about twenty-two hundred troopers) is composed of three infantry battalions. Each regiment is headed by a colonel (O-6), who is assisted by a command sergeant major (E-8/9) as well as an HHC staff. They also provide the brigade task forces with the bulk of their HHC staff when those are deployed for action. This is why each regimental commander is “dual hatted” with the extra job of commanding a brigade task force as well. Currently, the 1st Brigade of the 82nd (1/82) contains the 504th PIR, the 2/82 the 325th AIR, and the 2/82 the 505th PIR.

  The three infantry regiments provide the core of the brigades. In addition, the division has a number of other organic units that can be used to provide additional combat power and capability to the brigades. Some of these include:• 82nd Airborne Divisional Artillery (DIVARTY): This unit provides artillery support for the three brigade task forces. The 82nd DIVARTY is composed of the 319th Airborne Field Artillery Regiment (319 AFAR) an HHC and three artillery battalions: 1/319, 2/319, and 3/319, each composed of three battery (with six guns per battery) of M119 105mm towed howitzers. In addition, each battalion is equipped with a TPQ-36 Fire-finder counterbattery radars. Each brigade is normally assigned one battalion of M 119s.

  • 82nd Aviation Brigade: The aviation brigade provides the division with a base of aviation support that also can be parceled out to the brigades. Currently, the aviation brigade of the 82nd is composed of the following units:1st Squadron of the 17th Cavalry Regiment (1/17): This is a unit of OH-58D Kiowa Warrior scout/light-attack helicopters assigned to provide the division with reconnaissance services. Composed of three troops each with eight aircraft, the 1/17 is a tiny but powerful unit that can either act as the division’s eyes (by using its onboard Mast Mounted Sight and target-hand-off systems), or claws (with Hellfire and Stinger missiles, as well as rockets and machine guns). 1st Battalion of th
e 82nd Aviation Brigade (1/82): Also composed of three troops of OH-58D Kiowa Warriors (each with eight aircraft), the 1/82 is primarily an attack unit. It was only recently converted over to the OH-58D, having previously flown the now-obsolete AH-1F Cobra attack helicopter. 2nd Battalion of the 82nd Aviation Brigade (2/82): This is a utility unit composed of three aviation companies. Companies A and B are each equipped with fifteen UH-60L Blackhawk utility/transport helicopters. Company C is a “pickup” unit, equipped with six UH-60Ls set up for general support and casualty evacuation, three other UH-60Ls configured with special radio gear to act as command and control aircraft for the division and brigade commanders, and three EH-60 Quick Fix electronic warfare helicopters.

  When the division breaks up into brigades, the aviation brigade can be broken down to provide an aviation component for each. Since it is rare for the division to deploy more than two brigade task forces at a time, the aviation brigade usually gives each one battalion/squadron of OH-58Ds, and a company of UH-60Ls, along with a split of the aircraft of 2/82’s Company C.

  • 82nd Airborne Division Support Command (DISCOM): The 82nd DISCOM is a brigade-sized element that provides the division with logistical, medical, and maintenance support. The 82nd DISCOM can be spit into three equally sized and matched brigade support elements, each assigned to one of the brigade task forces.

  • 82nd Signal Battalion: The 82nd’s signal battalion provides the division with communications equipment and services (including cryptographic and satellite communications). Along with being able to support a divisional command post (CP), the unit can create three task organized signals companies, one of which is assigned to each brigade task force.