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Airborne Then

Airborne Then

05 May 2022
Airborne Mind-dump, Sans Reserve

This is the exact film I watched many times as a teenager before going to jump school at Fort Benning, Georgia. I graduated at the top of my Basic Training and Infantry training at Fort Benning, Georgia, then went to Airborne school just down the road.

Graduated first try, and straight to Special Forces Selection at Fort Bragg. That was a little tougher. I did not graduate at top of class, but high, at 19 years-old. Days after earning Green Beret, as if on terrible queue, I promptly went to jail after being attacked by a violent man. The fist fight resulted in the death of my attacker.

Six months later, charges were dropped and I attended Defense Language Institute for German in San Francisco. (Yes, San Francisco, not Monterrey).

I was on two A-teams. The first at Fort Devens, Massachusetts, where I graduated Jump Master school, and more training than the Army could stuff in my head. Later I was on an A-team in Bad Toelz, West Germany. Our target country was Poland. To fight and kill Soviets. Link up with Polish. And kill more Soviets.

Nobody expected sympathy, or breaks. As Major Payne would famously say, something like, “If you want sympathy, look in the dictionary between shit, and syphillis.”

We are Americans. We don’t call 911. We Are 911.

This is the type of teenager selected for. We didn’t want soy boys. Still don’t:

Michael Yon

Michael Yon is America's most experienced combat correspondent. He has traveled or worked in 82 countries, including various wars and conflicts.

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1 Comment

  1. get your “can – o -peas”
    been there courtesy Union Street Motorcycle Club….
    (gonna run all day…. gonna run all night… gonna jJUMP in the daylight… gonna JUMP at midnight…)
    SEMPER FI


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