PARATROOPERS of ISRAEL

Parachuting into conflict began with the Jewish volunteers who fought as part of the British Army and jumped into occupied German territory in World War II. Thereafter the first paratroop unit was formed during Israel's War of Independence. The unit was made up of Israel's veterans of the British army and members of "Palmach," shock troops, who were graduates of the jump group in Czechoslovakia, resistance veterans, ghetto survivors and a number of adventurers. After a shaky start with inadequate equipment and training, the unit was reorganized in 1949 when the first jumpmaster course was established. By the mid fifties, Israel's paratrooper brigade was deployed in several operations against Arab forces.

Later, in the Sinai Campaign of the 1050's, a paratroop battalion was dropped over the eastern approaches to the Mitla Pass. With the remainder of the brigade force battling through enemy territory to link up with the battalion. In another link-up action, paratroopers jumped on the shore of the Gulf of Suez and moving in a classic pincer manuever to the southern tip of the Sinai Pennisula. Equipped with helicopters, an airmobile capability was added to the paratrooper force in the 1967 Six Day War, and it was the Paratroopers who captured the Old City of Jerusalem and restored the Western Wall, the holiest of Judaism's shrines, to Jewish control after almost 2,000 years. Heliborne and combined paratrooper armor operations proved effective in the Yom Kippur War, the Lebanon War, and Israel's continuing actions against terrorist forces.

Paratrooper training goes far beyond jump school. It is not only physically demanding, but reflects the versatile forms of combat in which the paratrooper will find himself. Paras are trained to use a wide range of weapons and to work as part of a team with armor and artillery forces. They are schooled in conducting airmobile and amphibious operations as well. "Personal qualities required of an IDF Paratrooper are courage, professional knowledge, ability to decide, capacity to improvise solutions when faced with difficult or unexpected situations, and leadership ability. Officers must serve as personal examples to their men. Ties between officers and enlisted men are direct and long-lasting, with no artificial barrier separating them." Women are integrated into the paratrooper force in administrative, technical, and instructor roles. Women also function as parachute riggers. missiles, etc.), educators, administrative and technical personnel. At the Paratrooper Training Base, women likewise serve as parachute riggers and inspectors. They undergo a jump course to increase their identification with the paratroopers whose lives are literally in their hands. The Red Beret IDF Paratrooper Brigade is one of the four regular brigades of the Infantry and Paratroop Corps (which is headed by a brigadier general). The Brigade is composed of infantry battalions, as well as reconnaissance, engineering, signals and anti-tank companies.