154th Infantry

The 154th Infantry was an infantry regiment of the British Indian Army. It was formed in Mesopotamia in May 1918, saw service in the First World War and the Third Anglo-Afghan War, and was disbanded in May 1921.

History

Background

Heavy losses suffered by the British Expeditionary Force on the Western Front following the German Spring Offensive in March 1918 resulted in a major reorganization of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force:

82nd Airborne Division

The 82nd Airborne Division is an active duty airborne infantry division of the United States Army, specializing in parachute assault operations into denied areas. Based at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, the 82nd Airborne Division is part of the XVIII Airborne Corps.

The division was constituted, originally as the 82nd Division, in the National Army on 5 August 1917, shortly after the American entry into World War I, and was organized on 25 August 1917, at Camp Gordon, Georgia and later served with distinction on the Western Front in the final months of World War I. Since its initial members came from all 48 states, the unit acquired the nickname All-American, which is the basis for its famed "AA" shoulder patch. The division later served in World War II where, in August 1942, it was reconstituted as the first airborne division of the U.S. Army and fought in numerous campaigns during the war, gaining an excellent reputation.

Famous soldiers of the division include Sergeant Alvin C. York, General James M. Gavin, Senator Strom Thurmond (325th Glider Infantry Regiment in World War II), Senator Jack Reed, R&B singer Lou Rawls, actor William Windom, country music singer Craig Morgan, former Syracuse University football coach Ben Schwartzwalder, fashion critic/choreographer Bruce Darnell, Congressman Patrick Murphy (the first Iraq War veteran elected to Congress), Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards, and General "Henry" Hugh Shelton (Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 1997 to 2001).

Airborne forces

Airborne

Military parachuting or gliding form of inserting personnel or supplies.

Purpose

Delivering personnel, equipment, or supplies.

Origins

Attributed to Italian troops on November 1927.

Airborne forces are military units, usually light infantry, set up to be moved by aircraft and "dropped" into battle, typically by parachute. Thus, they can be placed behind enemy lines, and have the capability to deploy almost anywhere with little warning. The formations are limited only by the number and size of their aircraft, so given enough capacity a huge force can appear "out of nowhere" in minutes, an action referred to as vertical envelopment.

Conversely, airborne forces typically lack the supplies and equipment for prolonged combat operations, and are therefore more suited for airhead operations than for long-term occupation; furthermore, parachute operations are particularly sensitive to adverse weather conditions. Advances in helicopter technology since World War II have brought increased flexibility to the scope of airborne operations, and air assaults have largely replaced large-scale parachute operations, and (almost) completely replaced combat glider operations.

82nd Division

In military terms, 82nd Division or 82nd Infantry Division (United States) may refer to:

See also

Infantry

The infantry is the branch of a military force that fights on foot. As the troops who are intended to engage, fight, and defeat the enemy in face-to-face combat, they bear the brunt of warfare and typically suffer the greatest number of casualties. Historically, as the oldest branch of the combat arms, the infantry are the tip of the spear of a modern army, and continually undergo training that is more physically stressful and psychologically demanding than that of any other branch of the combat arms.

Infantry can enter and maneuver in terrain that is inaccessible to military vehicles and employ crew-served infantry weapons that provide greater and more sustained firepower. The transport and delivery techniques of modern infantrymen to engage in battle include marching, mechanised transport, airborne by parachute or by air assault from helicopter and amphibious landing from the sea.

History and etymology

In English, the 16th-century term Infantry (ca. 1570s) describes soldiers who walk to the battlefield, and there engage, fight, and defeat the enemy in direct combat, usually to take and occupy the terrain. As describing the branch of the combat arms, the term Infantry derives from the French Infanterie, which, in turn, is derived from the Italian Fanteria and ultimately from the Latin Infantera; the individual-soldier term Infantryman (1837) was not coined until the 19th century. Historically, before the invention and the introduction of firearms to warfare, the foot soldiers of previous eras—armed with blunt and edged weapons, and a shield—also are considered and identified as infantrymen.