Old Sarge Introduction

[Old Sarge]

I didn't go to Pathfinder school that I know of, the Army called us Pathfinders. I have no idea why, I always thought it was connected to my MOS. Maybe because we were trained in going in first to set up the DZ? Again, I have no idea. I've never been to Ft. Bragg. In this order:  Ft Dix, Ft Leonard Wood, Ft. Benning, then on to my unit.

Edit: Yes, I did rappelling, but that was just on our own time and voluntary. We had a Capt Hamner in Battalion who wanted to start a battalion recon team. I volunteered. One of the things we did was set up a stick of men in a Chinook, all roped up in 2 ropes. then singly went down. I have no idea what practical use it would have been but we did it. That was unusual for my unit as the company was airborne and not airmobile.
I was in the 8th infantry Div, 12th engineers, and the only airborne company in battalion was Alpha. We supported the 509th infantry which was also airborne. I assume the 509th was also mechanized, because we were. We were told that we were the only airborne mechanized engineers on the planet. I have no idea if that was true or not. But our job in case of a Soviet invasion was to blow the bridges over the Rhine with nukes. I later discussed it with a retried brass and was told it was widely known that we never would have used them. But in theory we could have been anywhere on the planet in 24hours. Before I got there the unit had been on the tarmac, with grenades, ammo, wills made out and just waiting to board the plane to jump into the mid east during one of the wars Israel was involved in.

But jumping from choppers was the sweetest jump ever, it just took longer for the 'chute to open. C-141 was sweet too because it had a shield in front of the door. Just walk out and drop down. C-130s always kicked my butt and spun me around. My exit positions was never good and one jumps right into the propwash. Naturally we jumped from C-130s most of the time.

Thanks for sharing your history with me...I love to hear folks stories of their lives! It sounds like your were in a pretty high speed unit, moral must have been super high. 

8th ID...sweet patch! Germany was my first duty station, both Karlsruhe and Wildflecken (1990-1993). I was in country when 8th ID deactivated out of Baumholder, I believe. So you guys must have had some kind of backpack nuke that you trained on. Must of felt a bit surreal for sure! I bet you also have a lot of memories of having recall drills (not remembering if that is the correct terminology) and everyone coming in and prepping to move out...only to have it be called off.

Over the years I spoke with a bunch of airborne guys and they all loved getting their quarterly jump out of a helicopter if possible. Not only that it was an easier jump, like you stated...but, there was much less time waiting in the lead up to the jump. And they said these jumps were usually Hollywood, which made for an easier landing.

Thanks again for sharing!