Joint Base Charleston, S.C. -- Reservists with the 701st and 300th Airlift Squadrons at Joint Base Charleston will be providing airdrop support at the 75th anniversary of the American paratrooper at Fort Benning, Georgia Aug. 15.
Using Charleston C-17 Globemaster IIIs, the Reserve aircrews will drop paratroopers over Lawson Army Airfield, the training grounds used by the first American paratroopers back in august 1940.
Besides jumping from C-17s, the paratroopers will jump from a 908th Airlift Wing Reserve C-130H from Maxwell Air Force Base, Miss. and two Army UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters from the Pathfinder School at Fort Benning. A Douglas C-47 Skytrain will also drop a group of civilian parachutists – the Liberty Jump Team – a group of 18 civilian World War II airborne reenactors, into the same airfield.
Since 1940, Airborne troopers in all services have served throughout the world during World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Grenada, Panama, Persian Gulf, Somalia, Afghanistan, Iraq and countless other contingency operations around the globe.
The 315th Airlift Wing traces its roots back to the 315th Troop Transport Group who flew C-47s to drop paratroopers during World War II.