# 82nd Airborne:  Life in the New Sparta?



## Marauder06 (Jan 6, 2016)

I spent a bit of time at Bragg but was never in the 82nd.  For those of you who were,

82nd Airborne: Life in a New Sparta


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## Gunz (Jan 6, 2016)

That's a nice piece on the All Americans. I'll share it with some of my buddies who are old 82nd Troopers. Great soldiers. I got to hang with a bunch of them at Homestead AFB in '72.


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## RetPara (Jan 6, 2016)

Sounds like the Division I knew and lived in.  LTC Garrison broke his ankle on a jump just before deploying to MFO in '82.  He was in a cast when the El Al airliners left Pope.  On the way over he removed his cast (Doc Cheney, the Bn PA had kittens & puppies when he saw it).  Then he walked with the Bn Main in the Movement To Contact the Bn did to the Base Camp in Sharm.   He was also the ONLY officer to every have me for lunch over an Intell Brief.  Before that when I was in 313th, a group of us were asked to brief a ODA going on to some kind of alert status (we didn't need to know).  When we walked in the briefing room, my Sqd Ldr told me to keep an eye on the Tm Sgt...  he was a bit odd.  Sure enough, I slightly moved my head to make sure my foil point was on the right point of the map...  the Tm Sgt threw a mess hall coffee cup....  at my head.  Just because my glasses frame is past your location does not mean I lose peripheral vision...  I managed to catch the cup and throw it back at the Tm Sgt, saying that I really didn't need coffee while briefing.

Surviving (not everyone does), let alone do well, in Division or Regiment established your reputation, especially in the old MI Airborne Mafia.  (At one time Fort Huachuca was very cool on MI people going airborne.  This was mainly the School House to Seoul or Hiedleburg and return crowd.)   Years later, during Desert Storm I was briefing a ODA we might be reinserting for a CSAR (heavy on the search) for a RT that was missing.  One of the SSG's on the team asked if I had been the Intell Sgt for 1/505 in '82.  When I confirmed that, he said that he was glad that I was the one briefing because he knew and trusted me from the MFO deployment; that I would not broke or put out bad info.   Sometimes, like that one, a reputation becomes a burden that cannot be dropped.


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## Devildoc (Jan 6, 2016)

For a non-Army guy, that was a nice read.  "Fuck the Queen."  Outstanding.

I will say, having been in the service (I did do some training at Ft Bragg), and being a military brat, I have had the fortune (good or bad is debatable) to having been to many bases of all branches.  Ft Bragg indeed has a 'special feel.'


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## RetPara (Jan 7, 2016)

Devildoc said:


> I will say, having been in the service (I did do some training at Ft Bragg), and being a military brat, I have had the fortune (good or bad is debatable) to having been to many bases of all branches.  Ft Bragg indeed has a 'special feel.'



That special feel is the tension of apprehension.  While the senior level commands may get a few weeks or so notice of a situation going down the tubes (Grenada in'83); you NEVER know when something is going to flush the Division Ready Force/kick off the 18 hour sequence.  It's  a feeling of you have to be ready TODAY, tomorrow is too late.  This is especially true on Ardennes Street which historically has been the main street of the 82nd.  Add to that there is always someone doing something that NEVER make the news.  Important shit done quietly that we will not know about for 20+ years sometimes.


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## Muppet (Jan 7, 2016)

I miss it sometimes. Not the fuck fuck games but the cammeradiere with brothers I served with. I know we were not special operations but we had the same hunger and pride for the unit we served for. There is nothing like running down Ardennes or a platoon of brothers that would do anything for each other. 

M.


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## Devildoc (Jan 7, 2016)

RetPara said:


> That special feel is the tension of apprehension.  While the senior level commands may get a few weeks or so notice of a situation going down the tubes (Grenada in'83); you NEVER know when something is going to flush the Division Ready Force/kick off the 18 hour sequence.  It's  a feeling of you have to be ready TODAY, tomorrow is too late.  This is especially true on Ardennes Street which historically has been the main street of the 82nd.  Add to that there is always someone doing something that NEVER make the news.  Important shit done quietly that we will not know about for 20+ years sometimes.



No doubt, and good analysis.  My dad retired from the Marines, most of his career in intel.  I grew up at Camp Lejeune and there was often that sense of urgency as well....and I could often see in his face that there was stuff lurking around about which we never knew.

I did get the sense Bragg was different, of course, given the nature of most of the units on Bragg....weird aircraft parked in the corner of Pope, parking lots full and buildings all lit up in the middle of the night, etc.


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## DA SWO (Jan 7, 2016)

The Division was (is?) special.
The 18 hour sequence (36 hours if you knew what to look for) is impressive to watch.
I think Grenada may have been the last "out of the blue" deployment, planning may have been broken but the operational sequence worked.
Ft Huachuca hasn't changed much.
Wife's nephew graduated and went to Korea, then back to Huachuca.  one "Tactical" assignment after that, then back to the Strategic Intel world.


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## Florida173 (Jan 7, 2016)

What I experienced at the the 173rd was closer represented in this article compared to my experience with the 82nd.


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