History Analysis / ItsRainingMen

By the end of UsefulNotes/WorldWarTwo, it was questioned just how useful airborne operations really were in most cases. German paratroopers convinced everyone else it was a good idea with their success at the Battle of Crete, but they took such casualties that they swore they would never do it again. The landings at Normandy were probably worth it as a means to disrupt German responses to the landings, but those in Market Garden as shown in Film/ABridgeTooFar were not. The bottom line with airborne units is that they are far too easily left unsupported behind enemy lines without enough heavy weapons or ammunition to win. They are best used in relatively small scale operations in which they will be quickly relieved.

'''HALO''' aka ''High Altitude Low Opening'' is a technique in which the paratrooper freefalls for an extended time and opens the chute when he hits terminal velocity. This is the standard way to skydive as [[HollywoodSkydiving depicted in movies and TV]] as well as what [[UsefulNotes/{{Skydiving}} the typical civilian skydiver does]]. Most parachute demonstration teams such as the US Army Golden Knights also use this technique for demonstrations to civilians. However, HALO jumps have the disadvantage of inaccuracy - it is much more difficult to steer while freefalling - and noise due to terminal velocity being quite high. They are therefore not actually ideal for inserting covertly. Therefore a large HALO jump involving over a hundred men may require a very large drop zone, and is extremely dangerous to pull off at night. You might see a lot of instances of ParachuteInATree if so used. This kind of jump is therefore for the most part AwesomeButImpractical in an actual military sense. There is a useful variation originated by US Navy SEALs as a way to drop with their boats into the ocean, also used by other special operations units over land as a way to drop with vehicles. By dropping with vehicles often over the horizon they then travel on the surface and are less easily detected.

There are actually two different ways to rain down men into an area - the HALO and HAHO. Both have their distinct advantages and disadvantages.

'''HALO''' aka ''High Altitude Low Opening'' is a technique in which the paratrooper freefalls for an extended time and opens the chute when he hits terminal velocity. This is the standard way to skydive as [[HollywoodSkydiving depicted in movies and TV]] as well as what [[UsefulNotes/{{Skydiving}} the typical civilian skydiver does]]. Most airborne divisions and parachute demonstration teams such as the US Army Golden Knights also use this technique for demonstrations to civilians. However, HALO jumps have the disadvantage of inaccuracy - it is much more difficult to steer while freefalling - and noise due to terminal velocity being quite high. They are therefore not ideal for inserting covertly. Therefore a large HALO jump involving over a hundred men may require a very large drop zone, and is extremely dangerous to pull off at night. You might see a lot of instances of ParachuteInATree if so used. That said, HALO jumps are an effective way to airdrop ''materiel and equipment'' such as jeeps, light tanks, supplies and light artillery, as a paratrooper can free fall with these items and deploy their chutes when they all reach terminal velocity. Unfortunately this also means that HALO jumpers are highly vulnerable to radar detection. This kind of jump is therefore for the most part AwesomeButImpractical in an actual military sense. Even it’s advantage in airdropping equipment has largely been lost due to reasons explored below.

'''HAHO''' or ''High Altitude High Opening'', also known as ''Military Free-fall'' is a more recent technique, that is the BoringButPractical brother of the HALO jump. This method involves jumping at an altitude of more than ten thousand feet and deploying your chute ''immediately''. You then slowly glide down to your target. The ram-air chute also allows you to steer with higher accuracy due to the high altitude, compared to HALO jumps where you fall fast but fall where the wind takes you. Also, since you never hit terminal velocity, and slowly glide down to your drop zone, your insertion is a lot quieter compared to a HALO jump. And your radar profile is also significantly reduced, making the HAHO the preferred method for a covert precise insertion. It does have disadvantages though. The high altitude and long glide time means you will need oxygen and cold weather gear - it gets bone chilling cold at high altitudes. You will also experience air pressure changes as you glide down. Therefore, you are at a higher risk of hypoxia due to oxygen tank malfunctions, and decompression sickness from the pressure differential. Therefore, a high level of training is a must for this. Typically only [[UsefulNotes/TheModernDayRambo spec-ops personnel]] receive such training.

In 1954, just after the UsefulNotes/TheKoreanWar, Lieutenant General James Gavin, the former commanding general of the 82nd Airborne in UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, wrote a book called “''Cavalry! And I Don’t Mean Horses''” in which he outlined the idea of using helicopters to create a new '''airmobile cavalry'''. His idea took the idea of an airborne force being a rapid deployment force but expounded on the concept that while paratroopers could be rapidly deployed, they couldn’t then be rapidly redeployed. Paratroopers have to seize an “air-head” staging area, then seize an airfield or airstrip on which airplanes can land. Only then could paratroopers be airlifted to their next drop. This, according to General Gavin meant that airborne troops could [[CripplingOverspecialization only be used for very specific offensive operations]]. With helicopters, Gavin argued, you got a lot more flexibility. Since they are VTOL aircraft, helicopters were as useful in air insertions if troops as parachute drops. But then, helicopters, due to their hovering ability could insert troops in more places than a parachute drop could. Furthermore, those helicopters could easily be used to then redeploy that landed force as needed, as they didn’t require an airstrip like fixed wing craft did. Even the one task that HALO jumps are tactically viable for - the airdropping of materiel and equipment - can be done better by helicopters, with helos like the CH-53 Super Stallion even being capable of airlifting Marine [=LAVs=]. Even covert HAHO insertions are becoming increasingly rare, with stealthy helicopters like the Pave Low or MH-60 Blackhawk being able to fulfill not only the covert insertion role but covert extractions too - as demonstrated in the raid that killed Osama bin Laden.

Gavin initially faced opposition from Army traditionalists, who saw helicopters only as medevac busses, and not as offensive weapons. The [[SemperFi marines]] however, saw its advantages in amphibious and expeditionary warfare, and adopted helicopters early. Eventually, the Army came around, and even converted the 101st Airborne into the 101st Airmobile just when UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar broke out. That conflict drove the final nail in the coffin for large scale air drops by proving just how useful heliborne troops can be, particularly in an asymmetric conflict. In fact, ever since Vietnam, with the sole exception of UsefulNotes/TheFalklandsWar, paratroopers have never been airdropped anywhere. This was proven by the 82nd Airborne in Iraq mostly riding around in Humvees to their destinations instead of parachute drops.

Gavin initially faced opposition from Army traditionalists, who saw helicopters only as medevac busses, and not as offensive weapons. The [[SemperFi marines]] however, saw its advantages in amphibious and expeditionary warfare, and adopted helicopters early. Eventually, the Army came around, and even converted the 101st Airborne into the 101st Airmobile just when UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar broke out. That conflict drove the final nail in the coffin for large scale air drops by proving just how useful heliborne troops can be, particularly in an asymmetric conflict. In fact, ever since Vietnam, with the sole exception of UsefulNotes/TheFalklandsWar, paratroopers have never been airdropped anywhere. This was proven by the 82nd Airborne mostly riding around in Humvees to their destinations instead of parachute drops.

In 1954, just after the UsefulNotes/TheKoreanWar, Lieutenant General James Gavin, the former commanding general of the 101st Airborne in {{WW2}}, wrote a book called “''Cavalry! And I Don’t Mean Horses''” in which he outlined the idea of using helicopters to create a new '''airmobile cavalry'''. His idea took the idea of an airborne force being a rapid deployment force but expounded on the concept that while paratroopers could be rapidly deployed, they couldn’t then be rapidly redeployed. Paratroopers have to seize an “air-head” staging area, then seize an airfield or airstrip on which airplanes can land. Only then could paratroopers be airlifted to their next drop. This, according to General Gavin meant that airborne troops could [[CripplingOverspecialization only be used for very specific offensive operations]]. With helicopters, Gavin argued, you got a lot more flexibility. Since they are VTOL aircraft, helicopters were as useful in air insertions if troops as parachute drops. But then, helicopters, due to their hovering ability could insert troops in more places than a parachute drop could. Furthermore, those helicopters could easily be used to then redeploy that landed force as needed, as they didn’t require an airstrip like fixed wing craft did. Even the one task that HALO jumps are tactically viable for - the airdropping of materiel and equipment - can be done better by helicopters, with helos like the CH-53 Super Stallion even being capable of airlifting M-2 Bradleys. Even covert HAHO insertions are becoming increasingly rare, with stealthy helicopters like the Pave Low or MH-60 Blackhawk being able to fulfill not only the covert insertion role but covert extractions too - as demonstrated in the raid that killed Osama bin Laden.

'''HAHO''' or ''High Altitude High Opening'', also known as ''Military Free-fall'' is a more recent technique, that is the BoringButPractical brother of the HALO jump. This method involves jumping at an altitude of more than ten thousand feet and deploying your chute ''immediately''. You then slowly glide down to your target. The ram-air chute also allows you to steer with higher accuracy due to the high altitude, compared to HAHO jumps where you fall fast but fall where the wind takes you. Also, since you never hit terminal velocity, and slowly glide down to your drop zone, your insertion is a lot quieter compared to a HALO jump. And your radar profile is also significantly reduced, making the HAHO the preferred method for a covert precise insertion. It does have disadvantages though. The high altitude and long glide time means you will need oxygen and cold weather gear - it gets bone chilling cold at high altitudes. You will also experience air pressure changes as you glide down. Therefore, you are at a higher risk of hypoxia due to oxygen tank malfunctions, and decompression sickness from the pressure differential. Therefore, a high level of training is a must for this. Typically only [[UsefulNotes/TheModernDayRambo spec-ops personnel]] receive such training.

In 1954, just after the UsefulNotes/TheKoreanWar, Lieutenant General James Gavin, the former commanding general of the 101st Airborne in {{WW2}}, wrote a book called “''Cavalry! And I Don’t Mean Horses''” in which he outlined the idea of using helicopters to create a new '''airmobile cavalry'''. His idea took the idea of an airborne force being a rapid deployment force but expounded on the concept that while paratroopers could be rapidly deployed, they couldn’t then be rapidly redeployed. Paratroopers have to seize an “air-head” staging area, then seize an airfield or airstrip on which airplanes can land. Only then could paratroopers be airlifted to their next drop. This, according to General Gavin meant that airborne troops could [[CripplingOverspecialization only be used for very specific offensive operations]]. With helicopters, Gavin argued, you got a lot more flexibility. Since they are VTOL aircraft, helicopters were as useful in air insertions if troops as parachute drops. But then, helicopters, due to their hovering ability could insert troops in more places than a parachute drop could. Furthermore, those helicopters could easily be used to then redeploy that landed force as needed, as they didn’t require an airstrip like fixed wing craft did.

In 1954, just after the UsefulNotes/TheKoreanWar, Lieutenant General James Gavin, the former commanding general of the 101st Airborne in {{WW2}}, wrote a book called “''Cavalry! And I Don’t Mean Horses''” in which he outlined the idea of using helicopters to create a new '''airmobile cavalry'''.

!Obsolescence of Airborne operations

'''HALO''' aka ''High Altitude Low Opening'' is a technique in which the paratrooper freefalls for an extended time and opens the chute when he hits terminal velocity. This is the standard way to skydive as [[HollywoodSkydiving depicted in movies and TV]] as well as what [[UsefulNotes/{{Skydiving}} the typical civilian skydiver does]]. Most airborne divisions and parachute demonstration teams such as the US Army Golden Knights also use this technique for demonstrations to civilians. However, HALO jumps have the disadvantage of inaccuracy - it is much more difficult to steer while freefalling - and noise due to terminal velocity being quite high. They are therefore not ideal for inserting covertly. Therefore a large HALO jump involving over a hundred men may require a very large drop zone, and is extremely dangerous to pull off at night. You might see a lot of instances of ParachuteInTree if so used. That said, HALO jumps are an effective way to airdrop ''materiel and equipment'' such as jeeps, light tanks, supplies and light artillery, as a paratrooper can free fall with these items and deploy their chutes when they all reach terminal velocity. Unfortunately this also means that HALO jumpers are highly vulnerable to radar detection. This kind of jump is therefore for the most part AwesomeButImpractical in an actual military sense. Even it’s advantage in airdropping equipment has largely been lost due to reasons explored below.

'''HAHO''' or ''High Altitude High Opening'', also known as ''Military Free-fall'' is a more recent technique, that is the BoringButPractical brother of the HALO jump. This method involves jumping at an altitude of more than ten thousand feet and deploying your chute ''immediately''. You then slowly glide down to your target. The ram-air chute also allows you to steer with higher accuracy due to the high altitude, compared to HAHO jumps where you fall fast but fall where the wind takes you. Also, since you never hit terminal velocity, and slowly glide down to your drop zone, your insertion is a lot quieter compared to a HALO jump. And your radar profile is also significantly reduced, making the HAHO the preferred method for a covert precise insertion. It does have disadvantages though. The high altitude and long glide time means you will need oxygen and cold weather gear - it gets bone chilling cold at high altitudes. You will also experience air pressure changes as you glide down. Therefore, you are at a higher risk of hypoxia due to oxygen tank malfunctions, and decompression sickness from the pressure differential. Therefore, a high level of training is a must for this. Typically only [[UsefulNotes/TheModernDayRambo spec-ops personnel]] receive such training.

'''HALO''' aka ''High Altitude Low Opening'' is a technique in which the paratrooper freefalls for an extended time and opens the chute when he hits terminal velocity. This is the standard way to skydive as [[HollywoodSkydiving depicted in movies and TV]] as well as what [[UsefulNotes/{{Skydiving}} the typical civilian skydiver does]]. Most airborne divisions and parachute demonstration teams such as the US Army Golden Knights also use this technique for demonstrations to civilians.

'''HALO''' aka ''High Altitude Low Opening'' is a technique in which the paratrooper freefalls for an extended time and opens the chute when he hits terminal velocity. This is the standard way to skydive as [[HollywoodSkydiving depicted in movies and TV]] as well as what [[UsefulNotes/Skydiving the typical civilian skydiver does]].