The Associated Press February 20, 2006
82nd ready, but no one says 'jump'
Last mission by air was in Panama
By Estes Thompson
For seven years, including four tours in Iraq, Maj. Andy Ulrich has served with the Army's 82nd Airborne Division, a storied unit trained to parachute into battle at a moment's notice and fight without reinforcements for days.
But Ulrich has never once carried out such a mission when it counted.
In fact, the last time Ulrich and his battalion jumped out of an airplane at all it was over North Carolina after they returned from four months on duty in Iraq. And the last time the 82nd actually parachuted into combat was in 1989, landing in Panama to help oust dictator Manuel Noriega.
During the first Gulf War, during peacekeeping operations in Kosovo, and in Afghanistan after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the 82nd joined the fight like any other regular Army grunts -- walking off a transport plane.
"We're trying to get everybody in the battalion jumped before we go on leave," Ulrich, 36, of Broomfield, Colo., said as he and other members of the 82nd prepared for a recent refresher jump. "Just because there are wars going on in two countries doesn't mean a problem won't pop up somewhere else."
In World War II, the 82nd Airborne, nicknamed the "All-Americans," jumped into Italy, flew on gliders into Normandy and later parachuted into Holland. Today, the 82nd serves as the nation's ready-reaction force, with one brigade of paratroopers always available to jump into a fight should the president call.
At the start of the current war in Iraq, the 82nd was scheduled to jump into Baghdad International Airport, but the plan was shelved and the paratroopers were put to work guarding supply lines. And there is no specific mention of paratroopers in the recently published defense review ordered by Congress that takes a 20-year look into the military's future.
Yet the Army is in the process of expanding the number of paratroopers in its ranks, adding a fourth "brigade combat team" to the Fort Bragg-based 82nd, which will boost the division's strength to more than 18,000 soldiers.
Also planned is a new airborne brigade to be based in Alaska, joining a brigade of paratroopers in Italy -- which jumped into Kurdish-controlled Iraq in 2003 -- that is separate from the 82nd.
"You could imagine that might come in handy one day," John Pike, a military analyst with globalsecurity.org, said of the paratroopers' ability to jump into a fight. "If it's something you have done in living memory, you think that maybe we'll live to do it again. A lot of people can remember Panama. That's recent memory."
The additions to the military's ranks of paratroopers are part of the Army's shift to a force that's built around the independent brigade combat teams, fighting force that are less dependent on support units than those in the traditional structure of regiments and division headquarters.
During the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, in which 52 soldiers from the 82nd have died, at least one of the division's combat brigades -- made up of about 3,500 paratroopers -- has remained on alert at Fort Bragg, ready for a rapid deployment while the division's other units rotate in and out of the Middle East. Once back from tours overseas, the 82nd's paratroopers are required to undergo a round of refresher jumps.
In a typical noncombat year, each of the division's soldiers is required to jump at least four times, but most jump as often as they can. The division also practices hundreds of air drops of equipment and supplies.
"I think there's still a real need today for a forcible entry capability," said Maj. Gen. Bill Caldwell, the 82nd's commander, who makes it a habit to jump as much as possible.
© Copyright 2006,The Associated Press
