Is Airborne special forces?
 

Are they? And what makes a branch of the military special forces?

My brother in law is in the 82nd airborne down at Ft. Bragg. I thought it was apart of the Special Forces......not sure.

You'd probably have to look at the definition of special forces.

Some might say airbore are Soecial forces, some may say no.

I really don't know though.

In Canada we have airborne troops attached to Infantry and I suppose you could call them special forces, but their not really anything like JTF-2 Special Forces.

Main Entry: Special Forces
Function: noun plural
Date: 1962
: a branch of the army composed of soldiers specially trained in guerrilla warfare

so if there specially trained then ya bigzooka: M16:

They are not Special Forces. Airborne unit are main force units. Typically special forces are considered first strike small force units. Such as Rangers, Green Berets, or Delta Force.

Furhter more Airborne troopers are not Special Forces trained. IE there is a special course that needs to be taken. Like Ranger School.

[quote:1ff30]Airborne troopers are not Special Forces trained. IE there is a special course that needs to be taken[/quote:1ff30]

Airborne School?

you need to earn this patch: [img]http://www.vwip.org/images/insignia/special-forces.jpg[/img]

Anyone know the training involved for Airborne. Is it that more difficult then basic training?

Doesn't everyone go through basic training? And then after that they branch off to different paths? Like Airborne, infantry, artillery etc.

[quote="Bean 2":6a5c2]Anyone know the training involved for Airborne. Is it that more difficult then basic training?[/quote:6a5c2]

eek:

Uh, dude... basic training is BASIC TRAINING: nothing gets easier or more
basic than this.

The rest is specialisation I believe...

Ok folks i'll draw a freaking diagram

Step one: Go to baisic and finish
Step Two: AIT (Specialized job training) for special forces this is infantry school
Advanced Individual Training
Step Three: AirBorne School
Step Four: Special Forces training

You do NOT need to be airborne qualified to be special forces.

AS for what makes basic differant from airborne. That should be obvious. Basic teaches basic soldiering skills that ever person in the army needs. AIT teaches the recruit there job. Like a radio man would be further trained on the radio during AIT. Airborne school is the teaching of airborne assualt, mass parachute exit, and landing. There are seperate stages during the school. Ground week, tower week, and airborn jumps which if i recall is two weeks. After you are airborne qualified you can be placed in any unit within the army not just an airborne unit. Though do to demand you will likly be placed in one. After all this then you may take a test to see if you've got the knowledge to start special forces training.

The term Special Forces is two fold.

1. It is a trained unit within the army
2. It is a term used to describe elite units within the army that are not "Special Forces" Classified.
A. Rangers
B. Delta Force
C. Green Berets

Within the army the general feel is that the "Special Forces" are the low end of all "Special Forces" units.

Higher Archy of Pestege

1. Delta Force
2. Green Berets
3. Rangers
4. Special Forces

Delta force is a secret organization and does not have a unit patch or any identifing markers on there uniform. Green Berets wear, well green berets. Rangers wear a tan beret and the covited ranger tab. Spec For also has a tab with no special color.

Any one need anything else?

I think airborne is like eliet infantry, just like our Rangers are

Airborne are not elite. They are Paratroopers...nothing more. They have a jump badge and exit a plane using static line parachutes....all Infantry in Advanced Infantry Training do a few static line jumps as far as I know.

When they start training using steerable parachutes, train in counter insurgency/guerilla warfare techniques, advanced weapons and explosives, then they can be called "elite".

There are "elite" branches WITHIN Airborne and Infantry... Recon Platoons, Sniper Teams so on, but just because they know how to jump out of a Hercules doesnt make them Spec Ops.

Solidus....there is nothing easy about Basic Training. The word easy and Military training dont mix.

[quote:0f842]Miscguy: You do NOT need to be airborne qualified to be special forces.[/quote:0f842]

No, you dont, they will make you Airborne qualified. I know in Australia, especially if your going for Special Air Service selection, you need to atleast have 2 years prior infantry service, or 2 years within your field, and if your going for SAS Officer selection, you need to be of the rank Corporal or above.

Our Special Forces Group (comprised of SASR and 4RAR Commando) take selections twice a year with a dropout rate of 70% to 75%. The selection for both units is held together for 3 days, prospective SASR and 4RAR Commando's train together, then when they have passed go their seperate ways. They then undertake a 20 day course which is even more intense then those 3 days, (during those 3 days you only get to sleep for about 3 hours). Our Special Forces Training program is so good even the US Military has adopted it, and no...thats not a load of shit, thats fact.