DISPATCH: 82ND AIRBORNE PARATROOPERS DOING WHAT THEY DO BEST
Coffee or Die Magazine was in Fort Bragg, North Carolina, with the 2nd Brigade Combat Team for a mass tactical jump.
December 31, 2022 ·Jenna Biter
FORT BRAGG, N.C. —
Surrounded by pine trees and knee-high grass, soldiers stared up at the night sky as a deep roar rolled across the sandy field.
Above Sicily Drop Zone at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, the shadow of a C-17 sped below silvery clouds. The shadow grew larger until it was nearly overhead with its wing and taillights blinking.
It was 10 p.m. on a cool, mid-September night. Mosquitoes were still biting even as summer wound down, and the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division paratroopers were doing what paratroopers do: a “mass tac” parachute drop.
Paratroopers on the Ground
Half a day earlier, the “Outlaw” soldiers of Alpha Company, 37th Brigade Engineer Battalion, showed up to work at the sprawling compound of garages, hangars, and dorms of the 82nd’s 2nd Brigade Combat Team. It was 11:30 a.m., a far later showtime than normal. But with the mass tactical jump, or “mass tac” as paratroopers call it, scheduled for long after dark, with a follow-on mission, it was still the beginning of a long day.
In one bay of the compound, 1st Lt. Mitchell Dill and Sgt. 1st Class Jeremy Labuda oversaw the Hellcats, A Company’s 3rd Platoon.
The soldiers joked, checked their phones, and readied personal gear, keeping a loose but focused attitude as they drew weapons, assembled for a final headcount, practiced procedures, and donned their parachute rigs.
https://www.coffeeordie.com/82nd-airborne-paratroopers-mass-tac
