Army Times - 2nd Assignment
 

 
 2nd assignment: A Troop (Airborne), 3rd Recon - 1959
We Were the first airborne troops in Germany since WWII.   We received in country training at Gablingen Kaserne, Augsburg, Germany 1959.  There was our Recon Troop, an Infantry Company, an Artillery Company and I think a Combat Engineer Company.   When moving on the ground we were regular Recon Cavalry.  When in the air we could be joined by the other three companies to form an Airborne battalion to secure bridge heads etc., until ground forces arrived.  
However, most of our training was company level since we specilized in behind the lines disruptions.   When Airborne I was half of a 30 Cal light MG crew.   I ran across my gun team partner again in Vietnam - a nice surprise.
As I remember sometime after we established, the 504th and 505th Airborne came over.   Many units were coming in what was called "operation GYRO" - where entire units were brought in to fill gaps or relieve other units returning to the states.   That concept was soon either abandoned or completed.  When I left Germany the latter part of 1962 there were no more units coming our way, as far as I know.
 
Baumholder Germany, Near the town there is a training area for NATO troops that was not rebuilt after the war, so there are a number of blown bunkers and houses still there.  We spent about 30 days a year there doing tank maneuvers and infantry assaults exercises.

During the time I was a paratrooper, Baumholder was the testing grounds for the latest Experimental Vehicle infantry Individual Assault  (XVIIA).  Here I am coming in over the roof tops while testing the latest model.  It was not adopted because they could never power it well enough to carry sufficient ammo for the MG.    :-)
   

B L O O D     O N     T H E     R I S E R S
To the tune of ?Glory, Glory, Hallelujah?)

"Is everyone happy"?, cried the sergeant, looking up,
Our Hero feebly answered "Yes", and then they stood him up,
He leaped right out into the blast, his static line unhooked,
HE AIN'T GONNA JUMP NO MORE!
(CHORUS)

He counted long, he counted loud, he waited for the shock,
He felt the wind, he felt the clouds, he felt the awful drop,
He jerked his cord, the silk spilled out and wrapped around his legs,
HE AIN'T GONNA JUMP NO MORE!
(CHORUS)

The risers wrapped around his neck, connectors cracked his dome,
The lines were snarled and tied in knots, around his skinny bones,
The canopy became his shroud, he hurtled to the ground,
HE AIN'T GONNA JUMP NO MORE!
(CHORUS)

The days he's lived and loved and laughed kept running through his mind,
He thought about the girl back home, the one he'd left behind,
He thought about the medics and wondered what they'd find,
HE AIN'T GONNA JUMP NO MORE!
(CHORUS)

The ambulance was on the spot, the jeeps were running wild,
The medics jumped and screamed with glee, they rolled their sleeves and smiled,
For it had been a week or more since last a 'Chute had failed.
HE AIN'T GONNA JUMP NO MORE!
(CHORUS)

He hit the ground, the sound was "SPLAT", his blood went spurting high,
His comrades then were heard to say, "what a helluva way to die".
He lay there rolling round in the welter of his gore.
HE AIN'T GONNA JUMP NO MORE!
(CHORUS)

There was blood upon the risers, there were brains upon the Chute, Intestines were a dangling from his Paratrooper boots,
They picked him up, still in his Chute and poured him from his boots.
HE AIN'T GONNA JUMP NO MORE!
(CHORUS)

CHOURS
GORY, GORY, WHAT A HELLUVA WAY TO DIE
GORY, GORY, WHAT A HELLUVA WAY TO DIE
GORY, GORY, WHAT A HELLUVA WAY TO DIE
HE AIN'T GONNA JUMP NO MORE!
 
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