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Pag. 3
News Custom Courses Upcoming Events
Pag. 4
Reports Parachute Rigger Course
Pag. 15
Sky Soldiers The US Army Paratrooper
Airborne History The French Paratroopers Weapons & Equipments The MICH Combat Helmet Aircrafts & Vehicles The C-130J Hercules Wings & Badges The Israeli Parachute Badge
Airborne History The French Paratroopers Weapons & Equipments The MICH Combat Helmet Aircrafts & Vehicles The C-130J Hercules Wings & Badges The Israeli Parachute Badge
News 3 Upcoming Events Custom Courses
Reports 4 First EPA Parachute Rigger Course Tactical Training: Pistol & Rifle Courses
Airborne History 8 “Les Paras”: The French Paratroopers The 2nd Foreign Parachute Regiment
Weapons & Equipments 12 The US Army MICH combat helmet
Aircrafts & Vehicles 13 The C-130J “Super” Hercules
Wings & Badges 14 The Israeli Parachute Badge
Sky Soldiers 15 The US Army Paratrooper
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TTT o survive in today's violent world you will need more than 'old school' standard training. You will need a combat mindset and field-tested combat skills to stop the
terrorist or hardened criminal. Terrorism is here and it is not going away! You are not going to play a game, you are not going to beat them up and make them tap out! You are going to have to take the fight to them! We will offer our members the opportunity to improve their combat mindset and learn field-tested combat skills. As always, you can count on us to provide you the absolute best in military parachute and combat courses featuring the latest proven tactics and techniques. Now a recent addition to our training program are the newly introduced Field Medic and Scuba diving training courses. You can learn the tactical skills that are used in combat in order to save Combat Soldiers and Police Special Operations Forces. This is our profession and our Association is the best at training military and police for combat. Giulio Festa
EDITORS AND STAFF
Editor-in-Chief
Giulio Festa
Deputy Editor
Dean Hutson
Editorial Assistant
Edyta Wilowska
Editorial Staff &
Collaborators
Dmytro Zinchenko J-C Damaisin d’Arès Lennard G. Hansen
Thodoris Sarafis Tiziano La Mura Zdenek Charvát
Graphic Design
WNS88
Website
www.europeanparatroopers.org
Copyright
Here and abroad of all editorial material is held by the publishers.
No reproduction is permitted whatsoever without prior
consent in writing.
Cover Image: EPA paratrooper
in training
The European Paratroopers Association's Magazine
New Edition
Issue N.14 - Winter 2011
216C - TACTICAL PATROL COURSE - MOUNTAIN Italy, 07.07.11 - 10.07.11
TTT he European Para-troopers Associa-tion’s Combat
Training Center Mobil Training Team (CTC-MTT) will conduct a first ever Mountain Patrol Course this sum-mer in the Apennine Mountains of Italy. This will be a 4 day 3 nights full immersion training course designed to teach you the skills needed to plan, move and conduct military operations in a mountain environment. We will be living and training in the mountains at altitude the entire time. Our classroom will be the mountain! Wind, rain, storms and any other weather condition that comes along will just be an added bonus for your training. Planning your move- ments through the mountainous terrain u- sing map and com-pass will be an integral part of this course. Planning and executing ambushes in the high terrain will also be a daily – and nightly – part your training. This being a Mountain Patrol Course we will, of course, conduct training on the technical and tactical aspects of Mountain Warfare. The use of ropes for climbing, rap-pelling and rescue of your fellow team members will be both taught and practiced. Making your own rappel seat from a simple piece of rope, anchoring of your ropes and gear and proper use of caribiners, decender devices and belaying equipment will be second nature to you before the end of this training. Simple but classic knots, time tested equipment that has pro-ven itself in the most dangerous places on earth and combat specific tactics will be used. The chance to live and train in the mountains with fellow Operators – both Military and Police – from around Europe is a ra-re and exciting opportunity. Now you may be asking yourself when – if ever - you might use these newly developed skills? You don’t have to be deployed to the Tora Bora range in Afghanistan to use your new found tactics and techniques, although you most certainly would be better pre-pared than before. If you spend any amount of time hiking, skiing, climbing or exploring in the mountains and hills these survival and combat skills will prove invaluable! If you are looking for an additional skill-set to compliment your combat abilities and wish to be recognized by your comrades with the awarding of the ‘MOUNTAIN’ tab then consider joining us in July for a new and e-xciting course held in the beautiful mountains of southern Italy. Dean Hutson For answers to specific questions concerning the this course, please do not hesitate to contact us at: [email protected]
Airborne Training Custom basic and advanced airborne training can be ar-ranged and designed espe-cially for you. For answers to specific questions concerning the Airborne Training Courses please do not hesitate to contact us. Tactical Training Custom basic and advanced training in marksmanship and combat techniques and tac-tics can be arranged and de-signed especially for you. For answers to specific questions concerning the Combat Training Courses please do not hesitate to contact us. Airborne Courses For those of our members who haven't yet joined a military airborne course at a military airborne school, we have designed specific basic and advanced airborne courses to give them the opportunity to qualify as military parachutists. Our military parachute training courses are being taught by highly qualified military parachute instructors coming from the NATO countries’ Armed Forces. The courses are held at Pribram airfield in Czech Republic by our Airborne Training Center. This courses are also opened to former military parachutists that need a refresh and will include military parachute static line descents. At the end of the Course, after the jumps, according to host Country’s regulations, students will be awarded Czech wings. On request, besides the Czech wings, there will be also awarded Slovak wings. Once our members have successfully completed the basic airborne training course and earned their military parachutists wings, they will receive the European Wings.
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US Army Mountain Tab
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EPA Rigger in action. On the next page from top: Students packing the MC1-1B parachutes. Awarding ceremony. US Army Rigger Badge. Some participants on a DUKW amphibious truck outside the WWII Museum.
By Tiziano La Mura FFF rom 14 to 16 January the European Paratroopers Association’s Airborne Training Center – con-
ducted for the first time a Parachu-te Rigger Course in Sermide/Italy using our Mobile Training Team – MTT. This specific full-immersion theoretical and practical military parachute rigger course was desi-gned to give our members the op-portunity to refresh and advance their parachute rigger skills. The members/students, most of them former military riggers, received an intensive classroom instruction and practical training focusing on Military parachute rigger techni-ques, Military SL round parachute packing, minor repairs and main-tenance. Also Parachute harness and container systems minor re-pairs and maintenance were con-ducted. Parachute malfunctions, safety procedures, etc. in reference to the military standards were taught by our by highly qualified military parachute rigger instructors co-ming from NATO countries’ Armed Forces. Rigger Course students had the opportunity to pack Static Line main military Parachutes mul-tiple times during the days. All of them had a true exchange of Airborne experience and skills. In-structors and students had many opportunities to pack the MC1-1B military Parachute. As always our members demonstrated that they are the absolute best and brightest in the business by the exceptio-nally high caliber of questions and input from all. The Mobile Training Team staff
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was very impressed by the ou-tstanding professionalism and desi-re to learn by the students. The quality of Military personnel that attend our courses is very high. The final act of our course - upon successful completion of all requi-rements - was the awarding of the hard earned European Paratroo-pers Rigger wings and certificate and the prestigious U.S. Army Rig-ger Wings and certificate to those who completed this outstanding course and worked so hard over the three inten- sive days we were all to- gether. After the a- w a r d ceremony the g r o u p had the oppor- tun i t y to spend so-me hours to visit the Po R i v e r W W I I M u -seum in the n e a r Town of Fe-
lonica. This Museum, born by the hard work of a group of our members, is a cen-tre devoted to the memory of combat actions that took place in the areas along the great Italian river during the Second World War. The museum collection includes moving images, photographs, do-cuments and historical vehicles, uniforms, weapons and equipment from the period between the Allies'
first aerial bom-bing in 1944 and their crossing of
the Po river in A p r i l
1945.
If you have not at- tended this cour-se then please contact us or check the posted schedule to see where we will be next – and c o m e join us there for parachu-t e training that you can
only get from the European Paratroo-pers Association –
A i r b o r n e T r a i n i n g
Center!
EEE uropean Paratroopers’s Combat Training Center – EPA’s CTC was initially established in 2003 by
LT Giulio Festa – President of Eu-ropean Paratroopers Association - with the sole purpose of providing the best possible tactical training (including tactical shooting instruc-tion) to the European Paratroopers Association members. But as with anything good, EPA’s Combat Training Center has grown over the years into a training center that, with this Mobile Training Team – MTT, provides training to military, police, and PSC contrac-tors. Today under the lead of LTC Dean Hutson EPA’s CTC continues to change and evolve in order to meet new tactical, equipment, and environmental demands. EPA’s CTC instructors have never been bound to a certain doctrine in spe-cific gun-handling techniques and so they continue to modify and e-volve their methods while remai-ning true to the core emphasis and focus of what they are teaching, which is the combat mindset. We recently conducted, during the period of December 10-11 2010 and January 28-29 2011, the "Tactical Rifle & Pistol" courses in-structed by our CTC's Mobile Training Team in Naples/Italy. Du-ring both courses the weather was sunny with a slight wind. The cour-ses started with a quick introduc-tion along with the usual student self-intro with which most anyone who’s attended any firearms scho-ol would be familiar. In these clas-ses, as always, the students were
Tactical rifle & pistol course student in training. On the next page from top: Student firing from standing proper stance. Supine position. Kneeling position from barricade. The US Police assault rifle badge.
By Zdenek Charvát
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mostly Military and Law Enforce-ment personnel. Those officers that took it upon them-selves to learn from so-me of the best instruc-tors in the industry are to be commended for their ini-tiative and willingness to le-arn “outside the box”. After a detailed safety briefing and range rules recitation the instructors focused on the combat mindset. Our classes not only work your weapons-handling skills, safety, accu-racy, and technical movements, he also makes sure you walk away understanding the mindset that is so important to winning– and sur-viving–a gun fight. As always the courses started with the common fundamentals of handgun safety/shooting and quickly progressed to more advance tactics and techni-ques. This foundation is built on – by using our combat proven tactics - to prepare you to engage targets and situations that you will find in real life. Weapons handling and re-tention, carry and draw of your weapons, shooting on the move, weapon failure drills & tactical relo-ading, weapon malfunctions and clearing, post engagement actions and scan process, were only few of the elements covered in this cour-se. More attention was focused on the trigger reset techniques with both pistol and rifle. We started with pistol, then worked on the transition from primary weapon (rifle) to pistol. Instructors stres-sed keeping a gun in the fight at all times, so transition from rifle/ car-bine to pistol is an important a-spect of “keeping the fight on”. We continued with standard posi-tions, from upright (with proper stance) to kneeling to prone and worked on shooting from different barricades. We then moved into team drills and shooting on the move. Our courses are not your normal stand-shoot-and-send-
lead-down-range type of class. The class was very fast
p a c e d and fe-atured a high number
o f rounds f i r e d .
After all, you can’t le-arn how to do s o m e t h i n g
unless you a c t u a l l y do it.
W i th respect to information covered and student shooting skill enhancement, this class achieves in 2 hard, long and intense days what other tactical shooting schools would take a we-ek or multiple courses to achieve. As an extra bonus students were awarded the Czech Police training
certificate and US Police Assault Rifle badge with certi-ficate by the
host Unit’s re-s p o n s i b l e
T r a i n i n g Officers.
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Was formed in 1935 by Captaine Gaille of the French Air Force
By JC Damaisin d’Arès
French Paratroopers's Officer. On the next page from top: Legionnaires of the 2nd Foreign Parachute Regiment. HALO jump. Paratrooper in Afghanistan. "Dragons Parachutistes" marching in Bastille Day parade.
CCC onstant "Marin" Duclos was the first soldier of the French military history to execute a
parachute jump on November 17, 1915. He performed 23 tests and exhibition parachute drops without any problems to publicise the system and overcome the prejudice aviators had for such life-saving equipment. In 1935, Captain Geille of the French Air Force created the “Avignon-Pujaut Paratroopers Schools” after he trained in Moscow at the Soviet Airborne Academy. From this, the French military created two combat units called “Groupes d’Infanterie de l’Air - GIA”. Following the defeat of France, General Charles de Gaulle formed the “1ère Compagnie d’Infanterie de l’Air” in September 1940 from members of the free French forces that had escaped to Britain. It was transformed into the “Compagnie de Chasseurs Parachutistes” in October 1941. By June 1942 these units were fighting in Crete and Cyrenaica in June 1942 alongside the British
1st SAS Regiment. As part of the SAS Brigade, two independent French SAS units were also created in addition to the other French airborne units. They operated until 1945. In May 1943 the “1er Régiment de Chasseurs Parachutistes” was created from the 601ème Groupe d'Infanterie de l'Air in Morocco and the 3ème and 4ème Bataillons d'Infanterie de l'Air (BIA) in England in the Special Air Service. The 2ème and 3ème Régiment de Chasseurs Parachutistes followed in July 1944. The regiment kept a star in its insignia in reminiscence of the star of the Soviet Union, but the colour was changed in blue, to emphasize the discrepancy with the politic line of the communist
block. During the invasion of Normandy, French airborne forces fought in Brittany, (operation Dingson, operation Samwest). The first allied soldier to land in France was Free French SAS Captain Pierre Marienne who jumped into Brittany on June 5 with 17 free French paratroopers. The first allied soldier killed in the liberation of France was free French SAS Corporal Emile Bouétard of the 4th Bataillon d’Infanterie de l’Air, also in Brittany. French SAS paratroopers also fought in the Loire Valley on September 1944, in Belgium on January and in Netherlands on April 1945. The “1er Régiment Parachutiste de Choc”, another very famous French airborne regiment,
carried out operations in Provence. After World War II, the post-war French military of the Fourth Republic created several new airborne units. Among them were the “Bataillon de Parachutistes Coloniaux (BPC)” based in Vannes-Meucon, the Metropolitan Paratroopers, the Colonial Paratroopers and the “Bataillons Etrangers de Parachutistes”, known worldwide as the “French Foreign Legion”, which coexisted until 1954. During the First Indochina War, the “Bataillon Parachutiste Viet Nam” was created (BPVN) in southeast Asia. In total 150 different airborne operations took place in Indochina between 1945 and 1954. These included five
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major combat missions against the Viet Minh
strongholds and areas of
concentration. When the French left
Vietnam in 1954 all airborne battalions were
upgraded to regiments over the next two years. Only the French Air Force's Commandos de l'Air (Air
Force) were excluded. In 1956, the “2ème Régiment de Parachutistes Coloniaux” took part in the Suez Crisis. Next the French Army regrouped all its Army Airborne regiments into two parachute divisions in 1956. The 10th parachute division – “10ème Division Parachutiste, 10ème DP” - came under the command of General Jacques Massu and General Henri Sauvagnac took over the 25th Parachute Division – “25ème Division Parachutiste, 25e DP”. Again the Commandos de l'Air were kept under command of the Air Force. By the late 50’s in Algeria, the FLN (the Algerian insurgency) had launched its War of Independence. French paratroopers were used as counter insurgency units by the French Army. This was the first time in airborne operations troops used helicopters for Air Assault and Fire Support. But in the aftermath of the Algiers putsch, the 10th and 25th Parachute d iv is ions were disbanded and their regiments me rged i n t o t h e L i gh t Intervention Division (Division Légère d'Intervention). This division became the 11th Parachute Division – “11ème Division Parachutiste, 11ème DP” - in 1971. In the aftermath of the Cold War, the French Army reorganised and the 11th Parachute Division became the 11th Parachute Brigade in 1999. In the 21st century, some of French Airborne units have merged with some Marines Commandos, Alpine troops and other special forces units to create the “Commandements des Operations Spéciales - COS”, which is the French equivalent of the United States SOCOM.
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French Paras before jumping into the remote valley of Dien Bien Phu to join their comrades, thousands of paras and legionnaires, in the lon-gest and most furious battle of the Indochina War. The French Wings.
TTT he "2ème Régi-
ment Étranger de Parachutistes",
(2ème REP) is an Airborne regiment in
the French Foreign Legion. It is a part of the 11e Brigade Para-
chutiste and the spearhead of the French Rapid re-action force. As
such, it is typi-cally described as being the
French Foreign Legion's special forces unit, al-
though it is technically not a part of the French
Army Special Forces Brigade At least one third of the regiment's members are French. Part of the regiment are Commando Parachu-te Group, a French special forces unit. From Indochina to Afghanistan INDOCHINA. As a consequence of the successes of the 1st Foreign Parachute Battalion (1er BEP) in the First Indochina War, the 2nd Foreign Parachute Battalion (2ème BEP) was formed on 9 Oc-tober 1948, at Legion's main can-tonment at Sidi Bel Abbes, Alge-ria. The battalion was deployed to Indochina in January 1949, where they served as 'sector troops' from February to November. In 1950, the battalion became a part of the General Reserve in In-dochina. Following the French de-
feat on Route Coloniale 4 in Octo-ber 1950, the battalion was tran-sported by ship to North Vietnam. The battalion took part in several battles, including the first battle of Nghia Lo (October 1951), the Black River (November-December 1951), and the fight for Route Co-loniale 6 (January-February 1952) during the Battle of Hoa Binh. The battalion made a parachute drop on Dien Bien Phu as reinforcement during the Battle of Dien Bien Phu (March-May 1954). Fighting wi-thout reinforcements, remnants of the 1er and 2e BEP were over-whelmed after a final assault by Viet Minh forces; fewer than 100 legionnaires of the 2e BEP were taken prisoner. On 1 December 1954, after the surviving mem-bers of the battalion had returned from captivity after the Armistice, the 2e BEP was later reconstituted with replacements, and returned by ship to French Algeria. On 5 June 1956, the 2ème BEP was en-larged to a full regiment, and was redesignated the 2nd Foreign Pa-rachute Regiment. ZAIRE. In May 1978, a force of gendarmes katangais entered the Katanga province of Zaire from Angola and occupied the mining town of Kolwezi. They began to loot the town and kill government soldiers and civilians (including several Belgian and French emplo-yees of a mining company). At the request of the government of Zai-re, 2 REP was airlifted to Kinshasa and dropped on Kolwezi. The ope-ration was a success and the town was quickly recaptured with minor casualties in the ranks of the pa-ratroopers. Some 120 civilian ho-stages died in the occupation. AFGHANISTAN. The 2nd REP has been on tour in Afghanistan from jan 2010 to july 2010, arming the battle group of Surobi : Task Force "Altor". The regiment has suffered 2 KIA.
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The Glorious Airborne Regiment of the French Foreign Legion
he Modular Inte-grated Communi-cations Helmet (MICH), com-monly known as the Advanced
Combat Helmet (ACH) is the Uni-ted States Army's current combat helmet. It was developed by the United States Army Soldier Systems Center to be the next generation of protective combat helmets for use by the U.S. Army. The difference between MICH and ACH are the communications components which the ACH lacks. The MICH was originally part of a series of combat helmets designed for the United States Army Special Operations Command as a replacement for the PASGT helmet solely within those units. However, the Army later d e t e r m i n e d t h a t t h e improvements presented by the MICH over the high cut and no brim PASGT helmet warranted organization-wide distribution. To date, the MICH has replaced the PASGT in active United States Army service for Ground Troops and Parachutists. Some units of the Army National Guard and Army Reserve and Army ROTC in college and universities continue to use the PASGT, though its use will eventually expire. The MICH is in use with all branches of the United States armed forces in at
least some capacity. The MICH was officially adopted as the standard issue helmet of the Air Force Security Forces. The United States Marine Corps evaluated the MICH during its own search for a PASGT replacement, but chose to adopt a helmet that retains the profile of the PASGT, known as the Lightweight Helmet. The Navy also uses the Lightweight Helmet. MICH helmets are available for p u r c h a s e b y l a w enforcement agencies and the public. They have become popular with various SWAT units and private security companies. The current MICH used, along with Marine Lightweight Helmets, may be replaced with the Enhan-ced Combat Helmet currently un-der development. The MICH ran-ges in weight from about 3 lbs (1.36 kg) (size medium) to just over 3.6 lb (1.63 kg) (extra lar-ge). It uses a new, more advan-ced type of Kevlar and provides increased protection against han-dgun rounds. A pad system and four-point retention system, simi-lar to the cushions and straps found on bicycle helmets, repla-ces the nylon cord suspension system, sweatband and chinstrap
f o u n d o n t h e
PASGT hel-met. The change
provides greater impact protec-tion and comfort for the wearer. The MICH allows maximum sen-sory and situational awareness for the operator. This includes an unobstructed field of view and increased ambient hearing capa-bilities. The MICH's chinstrap re-tention system and pad suspen-sion system provides unsurpas-sed balance, stability, and com-fort. This system provides for proper size, fit, and ventilation. The MICH's pad suspension system provides impact protec-tion throughout all operational scenarios, including static-line airborne operations.
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T
Specifications (MICH / ACH) The MICH / ACH is a helmet system that provides ballistic and impact protection. This system is com-patible with the current night vision devices (NVG's), communications packages, and nuclear, biologi-cal, and chemical (NBC) defense equipment and body armor. The MICH / ACH provides ballistic pro-tection within this spectrum of environments:
● -40 oF to +130 oF ● salt water or fresh water ● petroleums, oils, and lubricants (POL) The MICH / ACH has five basic components: The helmet shell, the pad suspension system, the retention syst em (chinstrap/napestrap), helmet cover, and eye strap.
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he Lockheed Mar-tin C-130J "Super" Hercules is a four-engine turboprop military transport aircraft. The C-
130J is a comprehensive update of the venerable Lockheed C-130 Hercules, with new engines, flight deck, and other systems. The C-130 was originally designed as a troop, medical evacuation, and cargo transport aircraft. The ver-satile airframe has found uses in a variety of other roles, including as a gunship (AC-130), for air-borne assault, search and rescue, scientific research support, wea-ther reconnaissance, aerial refue-ling, maritime patrol and aerial firefighting. The Hercules has outlived several planned succes-sor designs, most notably the A-dvanced Medium STOL Transport contestants. Fifteen nations have placed orders for a total of 300 C-130Js, of which 206 aircraft have been delivered by Decem-ber 2010. The C-130J is the ne-west version of the Hercules and the only model still in production. Externally similar to the classic Hercules in general appearance, the J-model features considerably updated technology. These diffe-rences include new Rolls-Royce AE 2100 D3 turboprops with Dowty R391 composite scimitar propellers, digital avionics (including Head-Up Displays
(HUDs) for each pilot), and redu-ced crew requirements. These changes have improved perfor-mance over its C-130E/H prede-cessors, such as 40% greater range, 21% higher maximum speed, and 41% shorter take-off distance. The C-130J's crew in-cludes two pilots and one load-master (no navigator or flight en-gineer). Lockheed Martin recei-ved the launch order for the J-model from the RAF, which orde-red 25 aircraft. The largest
operator of the new model will be the U.S. Air Force, which is ordering the aircraft in increasing numbers. Current operators of the C-130J are the USAF, Royal Air Force, the Italian Air Force, Canadian Air Force, Royal Australian Air Force, Danish Air Force, Royal Norwe-gian Air Force and Indian Air Force.
T
Specifications (C-130J) Length: 112 ft 9 in. / 34.37 m Height: 38 ft 9 in. / 11.81 m Wingspan: 132 ft 7 in. / 40.38 m Horizontal tail span: 52 ft 8 in. / 6.05 m Power Plant: Four Rolls-Royce AE2100D3 4,591 pshp tur-boprop engines Dowty R391, 6-blade propellers all composite.
Maximum take-off weight (MTOW): 164,000 lb / 74,389 kg Maximum payload: 48,000 lb / 21,772 kg Maximum cruise speed: 355 KTAS / 660 km / hr Landing/take-off ground roll: 1,500 ft / 457 m Payload at 500 n. mi /926 km: 47,000 lb / 21,319 kg Range with 35,000 lb/24,690 kg: 2,900 n. mi / 5,375 kg Cargo compartment length: 55 feet (15 feet longer than the C-130J-Short)
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n May 28, 1948, less than two we-eks after the cre-ation of the state of Israel on May
15, the provisional government created the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) which would succeed the Haganah, a Zionist military organization re-presenting the majority of the Jews in Palestine after the First World War. The newly formed IDF immediately recognized the need for Special Forces units and in the same year the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) ordered Major Yoel Palgi to form a Special Forces unit that would be trained in parachuting. Yoel Palgi was an Hungarian Jew, who lived in the British Mandate for Palestine, who was trained with other 37 Jews by the British Army Paratroopers to parachute in Central Europe during the last years of Second World War in order to help the British pilots who parachuted in-to enemy territory and to recon-struct the crumbling Zionist youth movements there after the war. Major Palgi formed a new unit f r o m J e w s w h o w e r e parachutists, trained by the British during World War II and many of whom had conducted military jumps in Central Europe. The new unit was initially platoon sized (35 members) and was named TZAΝHANIM. Its symbol became the Flying Ser-pent. As soon as Palgi started
forming the unit, he faced many difficulties. At the beginning, the training facilities were at a poor state and the training was not ideal, resulting in many deaths and injuries. Be-
cause of that, the paratroo-pers moved to a more suita-ble base, acquired proper equi-pment, and organized the first jump-masters course. The Israeli Military Parachute Badge is a pair of Eagle wings with a parachute on top of them. Initially the first wings were made from cloth, but in 1953 they were replaced by metal ones. The background color of the badge depicts whether they have conducted military jumps and whether they belong to reconnaissance units. The common wings have a blue background, whereas green depicts reconnaissance unit. White depicts instructors while the red depicts combat duty. Once a paratrooper conducts more than 50 jumps, he is awarded the Senior Parachute Badge which is similar to the basic one, but on the top of the parachute there are olive branches and a star. Paratroopers that belong to reconnaissance units (Sayeret) can attend the Free-Fall school.
The school lasts 1 month and the badge awarded is worn with the senior parachutist badge. The Free Fall badge depicts a
free fall paratrooper arching while falling from the sky,
having an olive branch on the left side. Airborne Instructors are distinguishing themselves by a red lanyard worn on their left shoulder. Moreover all Special Forces units tend to distinguish their unit with a badge. The badges are worn below the airborne wings, and they have Eagle wings and in the center the unit distinction (e.g. the leopard for Sayeret Golani, the sword for Sayeret Matkal, fox and sword for Sayeret Palsar etc).
O
The Israeli Parachutist Badges Type: Military Badges Status: Currently awarded Awarded by: The State of Israel Awarded for: Military Parachutist Proficiency Eligibility: Soldiers of the Israeli Armed Forces and Allied Nations Types: Comes in two types (Basic and Senior)
ISRAELI MILITARY PARACHUTE BADGE
ISRAELI HALO/HAHO BADGE
US ARMY PATHFINDER
BADGE
US ARMY COMBAT INFANTRYMAN
BADGE
US ARMY (MASTER ) PARACHUTIST BADGE
ON OVAL (2ND BN, 503RD ABN INF)
US ARMY BERET FLASH WITH MAJ RANK
(2ND BN, 503RD ABN INF)
US ARMY WALKING-OUT
DRESS
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US ARMY UNIT BADGE
(173RD ABN BDE)
US ARMY PRESIDENTIAL UNIT CITATION
MERITORIOUS UNIT COMMENDATION
US ARMY SHOULDER CORD
(INFANTRY)
MAJOR (MAJ) 2ND BN, 503RD INF, 173RD ABN BDE US ARMY VICENZA, ITALY CURRENT DAYS
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InvictusInvictusInvictus Out of the night that covers me,Out of the night that covers me,Out of the night that covers me, Black as the Pit from pole to pole, Black as the Pit from pole to pole, Black as the Pit from pole to pole, I thank whatever gods may beI thank whatever gods may beI thank whatever gods may be For my unconquerable soul. For my unconquerable soul. For my unconquerable soul. In the fell clutch of circumstanceIn the fell clutch of circumstanceIn the fell clutch of circumstance I have not winced nor cried aloud. I have not winced nor cried aloud. I have not winced nor cried aloud. Under the bludgeonings of chanceUnder the bludgeonings of chanceUnder the bludgeonings of chance My head is bloody, but unbowed. My head is bloody, but unbowed. My head is bloody, but unbowed. Beyond this place of wrath and tearsBeyond this place of wrath and tearsBeyond this place of wrath and tears Looms but the Horror of the shade, Looms but the Horror of the shade, Looms but the Horror of the shade, And yet the menace of the yearsAnd yet the menace of the yearsAnd yet the menace of the years Finds, and shall find, me unafraid. Finds, and shall find, me unafraid. Finds, and shall find, me unafraid. It matters not how strait the gate,It matters not how strait the gate,It matters not how strait the gate, How charged with punishments the scroll, How charged with punishments the scroll, How charged with punishments the scroll, I am the master of my fate:I am the master of my fate:I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul. I am the captain of my soul. I am the captain of my soul.
William Ernest Henley.William Ernest Henley.William Ernest Henley. 184918491849–––190319031903
