Air troop or "The ice cream boys" have a lot of nerves. I'm not putting down any of the other troops, but Air troop has too jump out of an airplane with a heavy bergen on, and their flight kit. Then when they land they have to fight. They might get cocky sometimes, but who doesn't.
It takes a lot of courage to be in Air troop. For those people who are scared of heights, don't join air troop unless you want to have a heart attack. There is a lot of training in Air troop. All the equipment has to be checked, re-checked, then re-checked again. Air troop is basicly a paratrooper troop. But with better training. As soon as they get on the ground, it's hard-core infantry time. I think Air troop is the best troop. You get to do all the infantry stuff, plus get a great view while you're jumping (If you've got time for that!) The troopers carry an excess of 200 pounds when they jump. They do HAHO jumps (High Altitude High Opening) or the better known HALO (High Altitude Low Opening) On HAHO jumps, they have to carry even more equipment, because on a HAHO jump, you're up there for a long time, so you have to take oxygen tanks and a respirator. The SAS uses a number of planes for dropping, but the main one is the C-130 Hercules, which was designed here in Canada. |
