Preface

Little groups of paratroopers (LGOPs) seem to run the army. They certainly do in the airborne. This phenomenon stems from a cultural expectation that because decentralized autonomous groups of varying ranks accomplished their missions during World War II, they will continue to do so in the twenty-first century. This attitude affects all activities in the 82nd Airborne Division, from planning for a high-intensity live-fire range to cleaning disparate areas on-base for the annual Operation Clean Sweep. In my experience, commanders issue guidance, but execution is decentralized in all facets of daily operations. This gives paratroopers a swagger extending well beyond the drop zone and into the everyday operations of airborne units. It is also carried throughout the army.

This book is drawn from my decade on jump status across multiple airborne units. I was immersed in the culture and history of these elite forces. The idea for this project germinated, really, twice. First in 2006 when I arrived in Italy at my first airborne assignment and was gifted a copy of E. M. Flanagan’s Airborne so that I could better understand the history of airborne units. And again, in 2011 when while deployed to Khost Province, Afghanistan, I found a copy of James M. Gavin’s memoir, On to Berlin. I read the book voraciously during that tour of duty. It was my second airborne unit, and I was already steeped in the culture, but reading this introduced me to one of the most charismatic leaders in army history. I did not know it then, but that started me on this journey into the history of airborne culture, with Gavin naturally at its center. That copy is still on my shelf, more marked up than any of the memoirs I own.

Later, I spent the seventieth D-Day anniversary in Sainte-Mère-Église in Normandy, witnessing the legacy of that day while jumping onto a drop zone next to La Fière bridge. I went to jumpmaster school and obtained master parachutist and Pathfinder badges. I loved jumping from planes, and that love motivated my research into the attitudes still shaping airborne units today. I uncover these cultural roots in the creation of the first airborne divisions. Their innovations in tactics and technology shaped an ethos passed through generations of paratroopers. This outlook influenced operations, fighting spirit, and self-perception as an elite force. By documenting airborne history from the start, I contextualize contemporary attitudes, situating today’s paratrooper within an evolving legacy that informs everything from rituals to cohesion. My book illuminates a culture that shaped my own path in and out of uniform.

This book is personal but does not center on my experience. Its origins are in my experience as both an observer and a product of airborne culture, but it is about the origins of that culture in which I took part. Initially I wanted to study culture at the soldier level, which comes out at times. But as historians realize, sources drive you in different ways. As research and writing progressed, I realized this was less about how young soldiers viewed airborne service and more about how pioneering a new battlefield arrival method had lasting effects on the US Army. Though rooted in my own history, this work is the product of careful study of the World War II and early Cold War US Army. I’ve dedicated this book to all paratroopers who have lived this airborne culture.