Combat jumps since 9/11

[Madslasher]

I remeber alluding to the same thing once 'salsher. Evidently my stain orders are a figment of my imagination.

[Silverback]

All this information was extracted from Army Regulation 600-8-22. It's a little lengthy bu it should answer most of the questions.

So the question is what is a combat jump?

8–10. Parachutist badges
g. A bronze service star is authorized to be worn on the Parachutist
Badges to denote a soldier’s participation in a combat parachute
jump. Orders are required to confirm award of these badges. (See
para 1–25.) AR 670–1 describes the placement of stars on parachute
badges and the wear of these badges. A soldier’s combat parachute
jump credit is tied directly to the combat assault credit decision(para
7–25) for the unit to which the soldier is attached or assigned at the
time of the assault. Should a unit be denied air assault credit, no air
assault credit for purpose of this badge will accrue to the individual
soldiers of that unit. Each soldier must physically exit the aircraft to
receive combat parachute jump credit and the Parachutist badge
with bronze service star. (See para 6–7 for further information.)

I have always understood that it was diffined by a airborne assult during an initial entry mission IE. Normandy, holland, Panama, not a mission where the country has allready been occupied. I could be wrong. But I am sure in this crowd I will know about it soon.

7–25. Assault landing credit—Arrowhead device
a. Assault landing credit (award of the bronze arrowhead) may be
made to units of the Army who, in the combat zone of a battle,
campaign, or expedition as established by Joint Chiefs of Staff or
DA, accomplishes one of the following types of assault operations:
(1) Makes a parachute jump into enemy-held territory as a part of
an organized force carrying out an assigned tactical mission.
(2) Participates in the assault waves of an amphibious landing on
enemy-held territory.
(3) Makes a helicopter assault landing into enemy-held territory
as a part of an organizational force carrying out an assigned tactical
mission.
b. The assault operation will be of such scope as to warrant DA
designation as a battle or campaign and be of such magnitude as to
include tactical elements of at least one other Service. The forces
committed should be spearheading a major assault into enemy controlled
territory. The operation will be such that the committed
forces will ultimately control the area in which they have landed
and not rely on immediate link-up with other forces or extrication
after a hit-and-run type of mission. Day-to-day combat assault type
missions in an already established combat zone do not qualify for
award of the arrowhead device. For the individual soldier to receive
award of the arrowhead, the soldier must physically exit the aircraft
or watercraft during the assault landing.

[hbe3812]

OK Canada you seemed very confused about this so here goes. Elements of 3/75 jumped in afghanistan following 9/11. The 173rd jumped in northern iraq. Now there is a possibility elements from the 75th jumped in iraq ahead the 173rd but that is neither confirmed or denied. As for the 82d- well theygot fucked no combat jump since Panama.

I did read about PJ's making a HALO jump in afghanistan to execute a rescue operation.

Here's one more for you. In 1988 one of the infantry units from the 82d jumped some where in central America as a show of force, but they were not awarded stars for it. Same deal with C-1-75 during the gulf war.

[hit_it]

In 1988 one of the infantry units from the 82d jumped some where in central America as a show of force, but they were not awarded stars for it

2nd Brigade in Operation Golden Pheasant. It was peacekeeping/Training thing.

no combat mission. no taste of the mustard.

[hit_it]

the AG website now has the date of all the combat jumps listed and states the orders for the arrowheads are pending as of the release of the document.

it says to award combat jump device to the units that participated.

the dates and units are:

26MAR03 173D IRAQ
24MAR03 75TH IRAQ
28MAR03 75TH IRAQ



19OCT01 75th AFGHAN
13NOV01 75th AFGHAN
25FEB03 75th AFGHAN

This is all that was revealed. that's all I'll put on this page.

out.

[hawkdriver]

Same deal with C-1-75 during the gulf war.

B Co 1/75 and a platoon from ACo were on the ground during Desert Storm. They did make 3 practice jumps in Saudi Arabia.

1/75 and elements of Regimental HQ made a show of force jump in Kuwait many months later after the end of Desert Storm.

[FtBraggTACP]

www.Rangertacp.com I beleive has all if not most of the combat jumps done by Rangers since "just cause" check it out.

[FtBraggTACP]

*correction "Urgent Fury" and it does only have Bn jumps. Other than that it is a great site if you ever want any info on our job.

[Everett Ruess]

OK, I'm resurrecting this old ass thread because I found the topic interesting and have been doing some research on it recently. The original question is easy to answer now (DAGO wasn't published as of the last post). As SB stated a "combat jump" is tied directly to a unit's Assault Landing Credit. So "combat jumps" since 9/11 (as per DAGO 0610):

3-75 (elements of Aco, Cco, HHC) - 19-20 Oct 01 - Afghanistan
3-75 (elements of Bco) - 13 Nov 01 - Afghanistan
2-75 (elements of Aco, Cco), 3-504 (elements of Bco) - 25 Feb 03 - Afghanistan
3-75 (elements of Cco) - 24 Mar 03 - Iraq
1-10 SFG, 173rd, lots of others... - 26 Mar 03 - Iraq
3-75 (elements of Aco) - 28-29 Mar 03 - Iraq
RRD TM3 (MFF) - 3 Jul 04 - Afghanistan

Total: 6 SL, 1 MFF

There was a thread sometime back discussing combat MFF jumps since 9/11. I can't find it anymore and it may not have made the upgrade, but there was discussion of other jumps that aren't listed above. I don't question whether or not they happened, I can only conclude that they are either still classified or ultimately the operation was not awarded assault landing credit.

Now, going back further has been more difficult. I'm still sorting through information so what I have now is quite likely wrong/incomplete, but FWIW here are the combat jumps the U.S. has participated in since the dawn of time...

WWII - 16 (16 Operations, however some of these spanned multiple days on multiple DZs)
Korea - 3
South Vietnam - 10 (5 MFF - the first combat MFF jumps)
North Vietnam - 13
Laos - 1
Grenada - 1
Panama - 1
Desert Storm - 1 MFF

Grenada was only one Operation but included SL and MFF

Only one Marine unit has a combat jump (that I found so far) - 1st Force Recon in Vietnam

Only one SEAL Team has a combat jump (that I found so far) - SL in Grenada

I'm working on compiling this into an Excel spreadsheet to make it easier to reference. Some of these operations are fascinating, though I've only just begun to scratch the surface here. Did you know that on 23 Feb 45 the 511th PIR jumped at 400 or 500 FT AGL!! (accounts vary) to rescue prisoners at Los Banos Prison Camp in the Philippines? 400 or 500 feet with 1st generation parachutes from C-47s! Damn!

The 5 MFF jumps in SVN were to attempt closing the Ho Chi Minh Trail by calling airstrikes in directly. They "HALO'd in and STABO'd out" just like in the cadence.

So, that's what I have so far. I'll keep digging though...

[Everett Ruess]

BTW - before anyone gets nervous about my post, all the information I put out there is unclassified, public knowledge. In fact I left out details that are public...

[PocketKings]

This stuff brings out the history geek in me.

I gotta say, I think a mustard stain (or two, or more...) is the coolest of the cool guy badges. It's one thing to go to a school, and another to get shot at, but it takes balls to hang from a chute while folks aim to kill you, then land, and then deal some death. Even the relatively 'chill' combat jumps (Market Garden, Panama day 2, etc.) take some serious sack. My heart was in my throat on Hollywood jumps, I'd be crapping my pants knowing there were enemy on the ground. Combat scuba is nuts, but at least go can go back into the water. You can't Jesus your way back into the aircraft once you've exited the door. It's 100% commitment.

I'm not the jealous type, but I envy you mustard stained guys.

As a side note, my buddy who jumped with C 3-75 into Rhino said that in the pre jump brief for the initial location that they fully expected to possibly lose one AC to ground fire. Fortunately, the SF guys took the city before the jump could occur.

[Jim]

South Vietnam - 10 (5 MFF - the first combat MFF jumps)
North Vietnam - 13
Laos - 1
Only one Marine unit has a combat jump (that I found so far) - 1st Force Recon in Vietnam

The 5 MFF jumps in SVN were to attempt closing the Ho Chi Minh Trail by calling airstrikes in directly. They "HALO'd in and STABO'd out" just like in the cadence.

Mike, What is your reference on these. The 173d made one in 1966 or 67. I got to watch from a distance. Advisors with the VN Airborne Division and White Star in Laos made combat jumps with their units and in some instances, got it documented. Most were simply not documented.

[Everett Ruess]

South Vietnam - 10 (5 MFF - the first combat MFF jumps)
North Vietnam - 13
Laos - 1
Only one Marine unit has a combat jump (that I found so far) - 1st Force Recon in Vietnam

The 5 MFF jumps in SVN were to attempt closing the Ho Chi Minh Trail by calling airstrikes in directly. They "HALO'd in and STABO'd out" just like in the cadence.

Mike, What is your reference on these. The 173d made one in 1966 or 67. I got to watch from a distance. Advisors with the VN Airborne Division and White Star in Laos made combat jumps with their units and in some instances, got it documented. Most were simply not documented.

Jim, I've been digging through the interweb for the past while, trying to find any and all references I could to any combat jumps and am (slowly) doing my best to verify via archived DAGOs on the Army USAPA website. I haven't yet gotten far enough along on the process to verify the North Vietnam jumps - but at this point I don't doubt their validity. Some Operation names seemingly associated - Eldest son, Italian Green, Pole Bean. They seem to have been conducted by MACV-SOG/SOG36 from what I can tell so far.

Some Operation names for South Vietnam - Ap Bac, Junction City (this was the 173rd jump - 22 Feb 67), Harvest Moon, Oregon, Blue Max.

This stuff honestly fascinates me, but finding solid information isn't as easy as it would seem despite the fact the Army grants the Assualt Landing credit. As you mentioned, in many cases the jumps simply weren't documented. It seems that some get "declassified" but almost no information is given even if Assualt Landing Credit is given. At least from what I can tell. But I'm still researching and may be WAAAAYYYYY off on the actual numbers/jumps.

[BruteForce]

Much like you, Everett Ruess, I too am a history buff. What public (non-OPSEC) information exists for the RRD jump in July of 2004?

[K.Ingraham]

Well, the the RRD MFF jump, there's the guy manning the display at RR'07 wearing the MFF wings with mustard stain...

I recently read, I'm pretty sure it was in Army Times, an article describing an SF MFF mission since '06 in Iraq. Very detailed.
The ODA concerned had trained up for it pre-deployment and watched for a mission where they could apply the skills and jumped on it when the opportunity arose. (pun intended).