Since World War II, the number of soldiers the Army has trained to be able to jump into combat has more than doubled. But as the service prepares for a future war, it worries there are too many soldiers who need to maintain their jump status, especially those who would not actually be jumping directly into combat.
The Army is reclassifying around 20,000 paid parachutist positions to manage limited resources and prioritize airborne training for soldiers who would be the first ones on the ground, officials said. Paid parachute positions include paratroopers in airborne units as well as soldiers in other staff units.
Those soldiers who are coded as paid parachutist positions will still receive jump pay and need to maintain their jump status, according to Army officials. All soldiers are still able to go to airborne school. The change was first reported by Army Times.
“It’s not about the money, per se. It’s literally about — for the forces that will jump in the alpha echelon and fight off a potentially contested drop zone. We want them at the highest level of readiness,” Commander of the XVIII Airborne Corps Lt. Gen. Greg Anderson said on an episode of the From the Green Notebook podcast on Wednesday. “Three jumps, most of those currency jumps, is not going to get us the readiness we need.”
Soldiers are required to jump once every three months to maintain their status.
Anderson said that maintaining “collective proficiency” across the airborne force under current conditions is “unsustainable” due to “dwindling resources.” Those resources range from a limited number of aircraft, to riggers who pack and inspect chutes for all jumps and the need to maintain highly proficient jump masters.
“All these things are contributing to a decline in the collective proficiency of our forces,” Anderson said. “For the last three fiscal years, the 82nd Airborne per capita is jumping less than four times — somewhere in the two-and-a-half to three jumps per paratrooper. That doesn’t even meet airborne currency, let alone airborne proficiency.”
The changes will go into effect Oct. 1, said Col. Mary Ricks, a spokesperson for the XVIII Airborne Corps.
After the Army realized that hundreds of soldiers were not able to meet the requirement to jump four times a year, the Pentagon amended its policy in 2018 for commanders to waive one jump per year in certain cases, such as a lack of available jump equipment or aircraft, bad weather or a soldier’s need to attend a military education course. Because of the lack of resources, in fiscal year 2016, some 780 service members were forced to pay back more than half a million dollars for not meeting the requirement, according to the Army.
The service has more than 56,000 paid parachutist positions, a number that’s grown by over 13,000 since fiscal year 2002 without an increased demand for airborne assault, according to the Army. To put that in perspective, in 1945 during World War II, the U.S. military had nearly 24,700 parachutists across five airborne divisions.
“We have tens of thousands of soldiers who are on airborne status and getting paid to be on airborne status that’s ballooned over time and not realistic to combat,” said Col. Dave Butler, a spokesperson for the Army. “Admin personnel at a division level, even in an airborne division, probably aren’t going to jump into combat.”
However, all soldiers can still go to airborne school.
“You’re in a parachutist position, you just won’t jump and you won’t get paid jumping because you’re not jumping,” Anderson said. “At some point, you may be transferred to an alpha or bravo battery or back and forth, and so you can come in and out of there. That’s just simply an administrative task of going to basic airborne refresher, and then you’re back on jump status.”
The changes were decided after an analysis by 25 organizations across the Army and Air Force which looked at adjustments to the service’s airborne force in order to meet the readiness requirements over the next five to 20 years. U.S. military wargames suggest that the Army would need its airborne forces to be ready to deploy without notice and early on in the event of a crisis, according to the Army.
Officials are looking at increasing jump pay for paid parachutists, which is currently an extra $150 per month although it has not been finalized, according to the Army.
The Army is also looking at new “proficiency” pay for jump masters in order to retain their experience in airborne formations for longer periods of time. Jump masters are experienced paratroopers who help plan the jumps, handle personnel inspections of soldiers’ equipment and the aircraft itself, and make sure everything goes smoothly up until the moment a soldier jumps out of the aircraft.
The reclassifications could include soldiers from the following commands, however Army officials said the numbers are not final: 3,500 from Forces Command; 9,000 from Special Operations Command; 1,000 from Army Pacific; 850 from Army Europe-Africa; 3,600 from the Army National Guard; And 1,900 from the Army Reserve.
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