Armor: April 15, 2003

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The Truckborne Infantry. Despite the dramatic drop of a thousand paratroopers from the 173rd Airborne Brigade in northern Iraq, such drops are the exception, not the rule. The 82nd Airborne division had a brigade fighting in the 1991 and 2003 Gulf Wars, and in both cases the men of the 82nd moved around by truck, bus and hummer. Even the 101st Airborne division, which has helicopters instead of parachutes, only had enough helicopters to move two of it's three brigades around by air. The other brigade traveled like 82nd Airborne. This actually made the airborne troops less useful in some cases. Without armored vehicles, the airborne guys in their trucks were more vulnerable to sniping and ambush. Once on their feet, however, the airborne troops provided more effective for street fighting.

 

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