Team 'jumps' over to Iraq to train paratroopers

Photo By Sgt. Mike MacLeod | Jumpmasters conduct JMPI on their partners while U.S. Army Advanced Airborne School cadre observes during Jumpmaster Refresher Training at Combat Operating Base Adder.  

TALLIL AIR BASE, IRAQ

07.04.2008

Story by Spc. Mike MacLeod 

1st Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division Public Affairs

By Sgt. 1st Class Gary L. Qualls, Jr.
1st Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division Public Affairs Office

CONTIGENCY OPERATING BASE ADDER, Iraq – Most Soldiers have to go somewhere to train, sometimes traveling for miles. Last week, the trainers for paratroopers in the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division came to them, half-way around the world.

The U.S. Army Advanced Airborne School came to conduct Jumpmaster Refresher Training June 17 through 26 here. In addition to conducting training at the Fort Bragg school house, the U.S. Army Advanced Airborne School team travels to Iraq, Afghanistan and Germany overseas, and Alaska and Florida stateside to train paratroopers to be jump masters.

They travel to combat zones to recertify jump masters of redeploying airborne units so that they are prepared to conduct airborne operations when the Paratroopers return from deployment. The paratroopers will conduct airborne operations within 30 days of their redeployment back to the United States.

"It helps ensure a smooth transition when the units return to (the) continental United States, so paratroopers will be able to focus more on reintegration classes and family when they get back home," 1st Sgt. John Coomer, U.S. Advanced Airborne School, said.

The jumpmaster refresher training is a two-day event. On the first day and the morning of the second day, they train on properly conducting jumpmaster personnel inspection for both combat and non-combat equipment. On the afternoon of the second day, jumpmasters are then tested. They have three minutes to properly inspect the paratroopers in the proper sequence, identify and call off any deficiencies found or created. They must also use the proper nomenclature during the inspection.

If one major or two minor defects go unchecked, the jumpmaster is given a "no go." If they pass, they have 90 days to conduct jumpmaster duties on an airborne operation.

The refresher training helps jumpmasters re-familiarize themselves with what is a perishable skill. The 1st BCT, 82nd Abn. Div. jumpmasters performed well in the training, Coomer said.

The cadre also conducted a pre-test for jumpmaster qualification during their visit. In the pre-test, paratroopers had 15 minutes to properly rig combat equipment with no deficiencies. The paratrooper must also know the associated nomenclature of the airborne equipment.

Paratroopers truly appreciated the training and felt they benefitted from it.

The jumpmaster refresher training recertified 125 jumpmasters and 122 Paratroopers were given "GO" slips to attend the U.S. Army Advanced Airborne School within the next 90 days at Fort Bragg.

"It will help save time, and we'll be less distracted (back at Fort Bragg)," Staff Sgt. William Andreu, a senior paralegal noncommissioned officer in Headquarters, Headquarters Company, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division. "This way the training won't take away from time with the family, and that's great."

"It makes everyone anxious to do what we came to the unit to do in the first place," added 1st Lt. Eric Bradley, the executive officer for Company C, 2nd Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment.

Coomer sees the training as serving an even more important purpose.

"That paratrooper is putting his life in the jumpmaster's hands," he said. "If he doesn't do his job properly, the results can be catastrophic."

• Date Taken: 07.04.2008
• Date Posted: 07.04.2008 11:41
• Story ID: 21183
• Location: TALLIL AIR BASE, IQ