All American Legacy | The History of the 82nd Airborne Division

Thirty four years ago the United States invaded the Caribbean island of Grenada, rescued some medical students, and rounded-up a gang of thugs and criminals, along with their Cuban communist backers. The 82nd Airborne Division, in a display of its rapid response capability, led the charge.  If you did not know or do not remember this, you're not alone.  In fact, more than a few people back then had a hard time pronouncing the name of the place or even locating it in the right hemisphere.

The conflict was wrapped up in a matter of weeks and America moved. But in the 82nd's 100-year history the invasion of Grenada turned out to be a very big deal.  This was a critical moment in the life of the Division, one that would shape the way we organize for combat and prepare to deploy today.  

This episode, featuring the voices of All American Paratroopers who fought in Grenada, is a postmortem of that operation and the role of America's Guard of Honor within it.  We piece together the insights our Nation's leaders learned from that operation, explain its relevance to today's warfare while also giving the "on the ground" experience lived by our Paratroopers during Operation Urgent Fury.

As always, the All American Legacy podcast is created by the 82nd Airborne Division.    We ask that you subscribe to the podcast on iTunes and tell others about the show.  Please leave us a rating and a review on iTunes as these help others find the program.

The 82nd Airborne Division must be able to drop thousands of Paratroopers into a contested area from the air.  For most of the Division's life, our Paratroopers relied on the T-10 Parachute for delivery from aircraft to ground.  Beginning in 2013, however, the All Americans began transitioning to a new system: the T-11 Advanced Tactical Parachute System.  The T-11 was intended to prevent Paratrooper injuries with a slower, less forceful opening and a slower rate of descent.  The change was not without its challenges and Airborne leaders from the past and present discuss those challenges in this episode.If you are or ever wanted to be an All American Paratrooper or an Army Jumpmaster, this is an important episode that describes how we train airborne operations, why we transitioned to the T-11, and why airborne proficiency training is so critical.The All American Legacy podcast is created by the 82nd Airborne Division.  We ask that you subscribe to the podcast on iTunes and tell others about the show.  Please leave us a rating and a review on iTunes as these help others find the program.

On episode 43 of the All American Legacy podcast, host Joe Buccino speaks with reporter Karl Zinsmeister.  Karl has written several books about the war in Iraq over the years, but this discussion focuses on his 2003 book "Boots on the Ground: A Month with the 82nd Airborne in the Battle for Iraq."  As the title implies, Karl was embedded with the 82nd Airborne Division during the early days of that war; in fact, this was the first book published by an embedded reporter after the invasion.The world has changed since 2003, the All Americans have deployed to Iraq many times since, and that invasion seems like lifetimes ago.  Karl and Joe discuss all this and place the push to Baghdad in its proper context in the lifespan of that conflict.  Karl explains how he experienced war as an embedded journalist and about the men he experienced it with.  He discusses the planned airborne assault into what was then known as Saddam International Airport and how the All Americans reacted to its cancellation.Then, just when the interview is going just fine, Joe challenges Karl on some of the assumptions from the book which makes for an interesting discussion with an intense, impassioned writer.The All American Legacy podcast is created by the 82nd Airborne Division.  This particular episode was edited and produced by our friend Josh Harrison.We ask that you subscribe to the podcast on iTunes and tell others about the show.  Please leave us a rating and a review on iTunes as these help others find the program.

Veterans Day, a national holiday observed every year on November 11th, honors the accomplishments of American Veterans from all of our nation’s wars. Veterans Day is a celebration of the men and women who keep us free. But, it wasn’t always so. Veterans Day began as a commemoration of the end of World War I and, due to that war’s brutality, was a somber reflection of the costs of combat. Our understanding of Veterans Day has changed as has our understanding of the nature of war.

After World War II, the holiday became appropriately festive and less silent. In 1950, World War Two was still fresh in America’s collective mind. America was moving toward a new prosperity and didn’t fully understand a new conflict in Korea. For the first time, Veterans Day was largely ignored. Vietnam veterans served in combat during a troubled time for our nation. Those Soldiers returned from war to a country divided. Veterans Day during the Vietnam War often featured argument and protest.

Today, thankfully, we recognize the heroic self-sacrifice of all veterans. As a nation, we now recognize that the circumstances in which they fought are not nearly as important as their selfless service to our Nation.

On this episode, released on Veterans Day 2017, Joe Buccino from the All American Legacy podcast joins with historian Dr. Joe Coohill and Penn State history professor Dr. Phil Nash, to discuss the evolution of Veterans Day. The All American Legacy podcast is produced by the 82nd Airborne Division. Please subscribe to the All American Legacy podcast on Apple podcasts and tell your friends about it. Leave a rating and a review as these help others find the program.

Along with Jim Gavin, Sergeant Alvin York looms as the largest figure in the 100-year history of the 82nd Airborne Division.  His evolution from drunken troublemaker to Christian pacifist to God of war to philanthropist is told all over the country and in many parts of France. In fact, we’ve already covered his personal journey in episodes 3 and 4 of this program.  Among historians, however, great controversy remains about York’s heroics during World War I.  For decades questions have lingered: How many Germans did York really capture? Has he been credited with the actions of other Soldiers from the 82nd?  How fierce was the fighting that day?

In this episode we bring in two of our favorite historians, Dr. Phil Nash and Dr. Joe Coohill, to discuss exactly what we know about what occurred in the Argonne Forest on October 8, 1918.  We explain the controversy that has followed this story, separate fact from myth, and leave you with a clear understanding of what we know and how we know it.

The All American Legacy podcast is dedicated to telling the 100-year-history of the 82nd Airborne Division.  We are focused on the known and seek to defeat myths surrounding our legacy.  In so doing, we hope to provide listeners with a deeper, more abiding sense of the history of America’s greatest Division.

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It was the spring of 1965: the height of the Cold War.  In a post-World War II economy, the United States was soaring, the clearly-identified head of the free world.  With the Soviet Union its greatest adversary, the spread of communism was considered the biggest threat to national security.  When communist-inspired groups initiated a civil war in the Dominican Republic, President Lyndon Johnson was concerned about communism spreading from the Caribean nation throughout the Western Hemisphere. 

The United States launched Operation Power Pack, an invasion of the Dominican Republic, spearheaded by the 82nd Airborne Division, to restore order in the Dominican Republic. This is the story of the men on that deployment, in their own words.

The All American Legacy podcast is produced by the 82nd Airborne Division. Please susbscribe on iTunes (tiny.cc/AALPiTunes) and tell others about the program. Please leave us a rating and a review as these help others find the program.

Before the shale oil boom in the United States, Americans were reliant on the flow of oil through the Persian Gulf.  The tiny Emirate of Kuwait was a reliable partner for us and a major oil producer in the region.  When the country of Iraq invaded Kuwait in the summer of 1990, U.S. President George H.W. Bush launched the 82nd Airborne Division as the initial American ground force in the Persian Gulf under Operation Desert Shield.  President Bush explained that he was "drawing a line in the sand" by inserting the All Americans with their light M551 Sheridans, TOW missiles, and AH-64A Apache helicopters.

The United States quickly assembled an allied coalition of forces around the 82nd Airborne Division and committed to the largest military deployment since Vietnam. Air strikes against Iraq began on January 16th and the ground phase of the war, Operation Desert Storm, began on February 24th.

The 82nd Airborne conducted airmobile and mounted operations, penetrating deep into Iraq. Vehicle mounted All American Paratroopers allowed fast-moving armor and mechanized units to move deep inside Iraq. In the short 100-hour ground war, the Division captured thousands of Iraqi soldiers and tons of equipment, weapons and ammunition. With its mission complete, the 82nd Airborne began to deploy home on 7 March 1991. By April 1991, the entire Division was back at Fort Bragg.

In episode 39 of the All American Legacy podcast, we tell the story of the 82nd Airborne Division's role in the Persian Gulf War.

The All American Legacy podcast is produced by the 82nd Airborne Division with new epsiodes every Tuesday.  Please subsribe on iTunes and tell others about the program.

In January 2010, a catastrophic magnitude 7 earthquake hit Haiti, with the largest impacts just outside the capital of Port-au-Prince. The damage was unthinkable: tens of thousands of buildings destroyed or severely damaged and hundreds of thousands of people killed in the already impoverished country. Many who survived were trapped in rubble or in need of first aid or food and water.

Within 48 hours of the initial earthquake the 82nd Airborne Division’s Falcon Brigade, Second Brigade Combat Team, then the Nation’s Global Response Force, was on the ground in Haiti providing security, disaster relief and humanitarian assistance to the local government and aid organizations.

Under Operation Unified Response, our Falcon Paratroopers worked with joint forces and international organizations providing medical aid in the blazing tropical sun and distributing food and water in the dust of crumbled buildings. Our Paratroopers saved lives; the disaster in Haiti would have been much worse were it not for the actions of the 82nd Airborne Division.

Episode 38 of the All American Legacy Podcast is told with no narration: just the voices of our Paratroopers who deployed to Haiti in 2010 telling their own stories.

The All American Legacy podcast is produced by the 82nd Airborne Division public affairs office and features a new story from the 100-year legacy of the Division every Tuesday on iTunes. Reach out to us at [email protected].

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Less than one month ago, President Trump announced that America will “fight to win” in Afghanistan with a revised approach that includes a larger military presence and an emphasis on counterterrorism over nation building.  Central to this new strategy is the 82nd Airborne Division.

Over this past week, the remainder of our 1st Brigade – the legendary “Devils in Baggy Pants” of World War II – departed Fort Bragg to join their fellow Paratroopers already engaged in combat in Afghanistan.  On episode 35 of the All American Legacy Podcast, we allow the Paratroopers in Afghanistan and there t to tell their stories.

Our Devil Brigade Paratroopers are adding to the legacy of America’s Guard of Honor and this episode documents this critical moment in America’s longest war.

In this episode you will also hear the story of two of our Fallen, Specialist Christopher Harris and Sergeant Jonathon Hunter, killed in a suicide bombing on August 2nd, from a Paratrooper who survived the attack.

The All American Legacy podcast is the story of the 82nd Airborne Division, America’s Guard of Honor.  Please subscribe to the podcast on iTunes and leave a rating and a review, as these help others find the program.

In the aftermath of 9/11 President George W. Bush declared a Global War on Terror.  Following the invasion of Afghanistan in October, 2001, U.S. forces invaded Iraq, believing president Saddam Hussein sponsored terrorist groups and possessed weapons of mass destruction.  As it was in Saint Mihiel, Normandy, the Dominican Republic, and Kuwait, America's Guard of Honor was at the forefront of the initial assault in 2003.

Episode 35 of the All American Legacy podcast, "War on Terror: Baghdad, 2003," is the story of the Paratroopers who participated in the initial moments of Operation Iraqi Freedom in their own words.  

The All American Legacy podcast is produced by the 82nd Airborne Division public affairs office and tells the most compelling and important stories from the 100-year history of America's Division. 

Please subscribe to the podcast on iTunes and leave a rating and review, as these help others find the podcast.