Paratroops (ca 1944)

[Music] American parachutists are fighting today from Port morrisby to North Africa they're trained to battle in any part of the world in any climate on any terrain desert or snow the training is tough so is the job here's how a fighting paratrooper is made our man Begins by learning to jump to Tumble to fall here's a machine that builds [Music] bodies the training gets tougher up in a harness for a quick slide to the ground to give him the feeling of movement in the [Music] air a wind machine is used to fill the practice Sho so he can learn to handle his parachute on the ground next he drops from a 200t tower in a parachute chair he gets an idea of height and view and the sensation of coming down quickly now he is closer to the real thing he is hoisted by cable and he learns how it feels when a parachute opens he knows his parachute he learns to pack it fold by fold each in its own place for compactness and Order to check it every cord coiled accurately and in position he gives it scrupulous care for on his parachute hangs his life using a dummy plane he learns to time his [Music] jumps back to the tower again jumping with a parachute already inflated [Music] he's ready now and equipped with a helmet to guard his face from snapping rope lines and high boots to break the landing shot he's up for final inspection the plane is ready and so are the men [Music] down below are the objectiv must locate carefully plotted on aerial maps stand up is the order from the jump Master hook static lines the men help each other with a last minute checkup wait to the door jump 18 men in 10 seconds their first [Music] jump they drift to their objectives working shroud lines to guide them ready for action with rifle and demolition kit but a paratrooper must be master of many Arts he fights not only in Europe not only in the deserts and jungles of Africa but in the Snows of the [Music] Arctic so one company goes back to school again for special ski training to learn to fight when the thermometer drops to 20 below new techniques new equipment new skills he learns how to wax his skis [Music] first is the business of learning how to walk clumsy at [Music] first a new way of falling he thought he knew them [Music] all how to break at high speeds the snow plow with knees bent tips of the skis brought together pressure on the Inside Edge of the [Music] [Applause] [Music] runners how to swing arms and shoulders from the hips so that he can do Christies and Tempo turns downhill but skiing is uphill work too he learns the side step and the Herring bone he learns to make a right about face on skis in deep [Music] snow and this is how a column Works its way up a mountain [Music] now he's at home on skis [Applause] [Music] [Applause] and the white suit issued for camouflage makes him part of the landscape in combat he will white in his face his pack his rifle too he learns how to live in the snow how to trap down the snow into hard camping [Music] ground he learns to cook with snow he learns to sleep in the snow gondan skis within easy reach back to camp and back to parachutes this time into the aial packs go skis as well as guns the next jump will combine the old and new training he's in the air now and he's ready to combine his three skills The Fighter the jumper and the skier product of a new training for a new kind of War light colored shoots carrying men dark or brightly colored ones carrying arms and ammunition it's an odd graduation this into the strangest field of ultramodern War but these men are ready for it handpick volunteers parachute Specialists soldiers trained to fight around the world the