82nd Airborne ever do air assaults? (Paratroopers OR 101st only please.)?

Question

I know you Paratroopers are airborne, but do you guys ever get helicopter training in division, or do you HAVE to go to air assault school for that?

And when I say air assault, I mean fast roping, not just hopping off the helo.

Also, does 82nd, 173rd or 101st learn to conduct raids and hostage rescue etc... like Marine MEU's do?

Answer 1

Yes, they do Air Assault. Air Assault is more than just being a “Dope on a Rope” swinging to the ground. Air Assault is all about moving troops and equipment to the fight by helicopter and whether the helicopter lands or not is irrelevant. Fast roping and hopping are just two ways to get off a helicopter. You can rappel as well as grab a chute and jump. In Air Assault School, rappelling and fast roping are only small parts of the course. Rigging sling-loads is the bulk of the training. I’ve seen a company of tankers (19Ks) do an air assault in support of an operation in Iraq. They didn’t get to bring their tanks and they got the play Infantry for the day.

The part of your question about raids & hostage rescue – yes and usually no. A raid is a combat task that almost all the combat arms branches of the army practice. The hostage rescue is another story. It isn’t something that they (the three units you mentioned) train to do on a regular basis. But that doesn’t mean that their specialty units haven’t trained to do it or to assist those units whose mission it is. The key is to be flexible so that you can improvise and adapt to overcome the obstacles of the situation.

Answer 2

In general, the answer is yes.

101st just has more helicopters then any other divisions, but even mech infantry will air assault at times.

We do cross train some. Raids yes, NEO sometimes, hostage rescue is more of a Special Forces/SEAL mission.