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With all the talk about special ops and the 160th SOAR, a thought occurred to me.

While during training, I know they retrieve the fast ropes when they're done, but during combat I'm sure they don't, so does that mean you've got fast ropes laying around all over the world where these guys have gone?

I'm sure they aren't cheap and I seriously doubt they haul out the ropes when they're wrapping up a combat assault.

 

Just wondering while at work!

Tim

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Right, but who's gonna put it in the FRIES bag after you've just wrapped up a combat assault deep behind the enemy,--I doubt anybody, I can't see Seal Team 6 or Delta retrieving the 2 ropes while waiting for extraction.

 

Tim

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2 hours ago, hawkwrench said:

I was in the 82nd Airborne and they told us that in combat you dug a hole and buried your chute.

 

Tim

I've not heard that, and I was also in the 82nd.  That doesn't seem to make a lot of sense, once you jump the enemy knows you are there. Having 2000+ paratroopers each digging a hole and burying a parachute before assaulting an objective seems like it would be a big waste of time.   

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3 minutes ago, hawkwrench said:

Haha!

Good luck trying to bury an 1 1/2 inch thick 70 foot long rope all the while keeping stealthy and quiet.

 

Tim

 

A real operator would be able to do this in under 60 seconds.   With no tools.   While in a firefight.  While reviewing movie / book offers*

 

*Applicable only to SEALS

 

 

 

 

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15 minutes ago, hawkwrench said:

Haha!

Good luck trying to bury an 1 1/2 inch thick 70 foot long rope all the while keeping stealthy and quiet.

 

Tim

That would be as hard as burying a parachute, but the rope isn't as big.   :cheers:

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All I know is that I was told by a jumpmaster in my unit what I said earlier.

Maybe he was pulling my leg, or maybe he was serious, I don't know. But I took it at face value. When your a 19 year old cherry fresh out of jump school, you tend to believe what jumpmasters say.

I see your point about leaving it, but I was told what I was told.

 

Tim

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1 hour ago, hawkwrench said:

All I know is that I was told by a jumpmaster in my unit what I said earlier.

Maybe he was pulling my leg, or maybe he was serious, I don't know. But I took it at face value. When your a 19 year old cherry fresh out of jump school, you tend to believe what jumpmasters say.

I see your point about leaving it, but I was told what I was told.

 

Tim

He could have been serious, things change over time.   Certainly in a stealthy insertion you would want to hide the parachute and burying it could be an option   In a mass tactical brigade jump there is no hiding 30+ C-17s and C-130s flying over and 2000+ jumpers and that's what the Division really concentrates on now.     Even in big exercises we just bag them up and leave them close to where we landed,  a detail collects them later on.   

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Like everything else, situation dictates. (do they still teach METT-T?) If your element is four-six people fast roping off a little bird, it is probably less likely you dedicate one person to get the rope,  If it's 30+ coming out of a Chinook, maybe you designate someone.    Are people still shooting at you?  Even in combat they will not have and endless supply of fast-ropes and loosing ropes after every insert may eventually hurt your mission capability.  

 

As far as burying chutes, again situation dictates. I could see a small team burying chutes, but if you are jumping a sizable unit, burying the chutes probably doesn't matter.   I recall rehearsing for an airfield seizure in which we needed to assault an objective right after landing.  At the same time, they couldn't have loose chutes on an airfield as follow on aircraft landed.  Really bad FOD.  Each Ranger gathered their chute, placed in a kit bag and left it (with the zipper/snaps down) at least 10m off the runway.  

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8 hours ago, TMReich said:

Like everything else, situation dictates. (do they still teach METT-T?) If your element is four-six people fast roping off a little bird, it is probably less likely you dedicate one person to get the rope,  If it's 30+ coming out of a Chinook, maybe you designate someone.    Are people still shooting at you?  Even in combat they will not have and endless supply of fast-ropes and loosing ropes after every insert may eventually hurt your mission capability.  

 

As far as burying chutes, again situation dictates. I could see a small team burying chutes, but if you are jumping a sizable unit, burying the chutes probably doesn't matter.   I recall rehearsing for an airfield seizure in which we needed to assault an objective right after landing.  At the same time, they couldn't have loose chutes on an airfield as follow on aircraft landed.  Really bad FOD.  Each Ranger gathered their chute, placed in a kit bag and left it (with the zipper/snaps down) at least 10m off the runway.  

 

 

That's what we did in the 82nd as well, we would bag the chutes and move to our assembly areas. 

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In a training environment, yes we also bagged up our chutes into the kit bag, clipped our reserve to it, threw it over our heads and humped it to the rally point or chute turn-in area.

I was in the 82nd CAB, so honestly, my chances of jumping into combat were small to none.

Now flying into combat aboard a UH-60 would be a total different story!

 

Tim

Edited by hawkwrench
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