Stretched thin, 82nd Airborne giving up rapid-reaction unit

[maddezmom]

Stretched thin, 82nd Airborne giving up rapid-reaction unit
Division will no longer maintain brigade that can move on short notice

Jay Price, Staff Writer
The U.S. military could take days rather than hours to respond to a surprise international crisis because all four of the Fort Bragg-based 82nd Airborne Division's combat brigades will be in Iraq and Afghanistan later this year.

The deployments have forced the 82nd to begin transferring responsibility as the Army's only short-notice "division ready brigade" to the 101st Airborne Division at Fort Campbell, Ky. But the 101st, which specializes in air assault by helicopter and fixed-wing aircraft, can't deliver a major force via parachute, so for some missions it could take days longer to strike, said John Pike, an analyst at GlobalSecurity.org, a think tank that tracks international military issues.

If the objective is safe enough to land transport planes, the 101st should be able to arrive just as quickly as the 82nd, at least once it has learned the procedures for shipping out rapidly, he said. But an emergency mission requiring helicopters, say for a well-defended target, could take much longer because of the logistics of moving so many helicopters by cargo jet.

The 82nd's division ready brigade -- about 3,300 soldiers -- is always on call, ready to begin flying anywhere in the world in 18 hours. It has been assigned that job for decades, in part because it is the nation's only full division of paratroopers. It's an integral part of the identity of the division, which bills itself as "America's 911 Force."

more:
http://www.newsobserver.com/102/story/556192.html

[krispos42]

1. Well, this is just GREAT!!!

Christ Almighty, this whole thing sucks like a black hole!

Now we've go to hope that the next crisis takes place near someplace flat enough and open enough for planes to land. Woo-hoo!

And, hmmm... that would exclude most of Iran...

[Steepler0t]

2. Oh man that pic

That made my night. President Pyle! :spank:

[maddezmom]

3. I guess we're fighting them over there because we can't fight them anywhere else anymore

:crazy: