Page 112 - JSOM Fall 2019

An Ongoing Series

United States Military Parachute Injuries

Part 1: Early Airborne History and Secular Trends in Injury Incidence

Joseph J. Knapik, ScD

ABSTRACT

This article traces the early history of military airborne op- Keywords: injury incidence; parachute; history; risk factors
erations and examines studies that have provided overall in-
cidences of parachute-related injuries over time. The first US
combat parachute assault was proposed during World War I, Introduction
but the war ended before the operation could be conducted.
Experimental jumps were conducted near San Antonio, Texas, In the United States, organized military airborne training has
in 1928 and 1929, but it was not until 1939, spurred by the been conducted since 1940. From this time to the present, ar-
developments in Germany, that the US Army Chief of Infantry ticles have been published in the medical literature describ-
proposed the development of an “air infantry.” An Airborne ing injuries and fatalities occurring during training and more
Test Platoon was instituted with 48 men at Fort Benning, Geor- recently during combat operations. Medical personnel have
gia, and mass training of paratroopers began in 1940. The US worked with leaders, trainers, and safety personnel to reduce
entered World War II in December 1941 with the attack on the risks in airborne operations by examining the hazards in-
Pearl Harbor and declaration of war by Germany. In Janu- volved and developing interventions to reduce these hazards
ary 1942, US War Department directed that four parachute through modifications in equipment and techniques.
regiments be formed. The 509th Parachute Infantry Battalion
made the first US Army combat jumps into Morocco and Al- This article is part 1 of a two-part series. Part 1 will briefly
geria in November 1942. At the US Army Airborne School in review the early history of airborne operation (prior to and
the 1940–1941 period, the parachute-related injury incidence during World War II) and then describe historical trends in in-
was 27 injuries/1000 jumps; by 1993 it was 10 injuries/1000 jury incidence from the inception of US airborne training and
jumps and in 2005–2006, 6 injuries/1000 jumps. Analysis of operations to the present. Part 2 will discuss interventions that
time-loss injuries in operational units showed a decline in inju- were associated with the decline in parachute-related injury
ries from 6 injuries/1000 jumps to 3 injuries/1000 jumps to 1 rates over time.
injury/1000 jumps in the periods 1946–1949, 1956–1962, and
1962–1963, respectively. When all injuries (not just time-loss) Early History of Military Airborne Operations
experienced in operational units are considered, the overall
injury incidence was about 8 injuries/1000 jumps in the 1993– Benjamin Franklin is often credited to have been the first to
2013 period. In jump operations involving a larger number of propose the use of parachutes for military operations. Inspired
risk factors (e.g., high winds, combat loads, rough drop zones) by Etienne Montgolfier’s hot air balloon flight he wrote in
injury incidences was considerably higher. The few studies that 1784: “Where is the prince who can afford so to cover his
have reported on parachute-related injuries in combat oper- country with troops for its defense, so that ten thousand men
ations suggest injury incidence ranged from 19 to 401 inju- descending from the clouds might not, in many places, do an
ries/1000 jumps, likely because of the number of known injury infinite amount of mischief before a force could be brought
risk factors present during these jumps. Despite the limitations to repel them?” Napoleon Bonaparte conceived a plan to in-
of this analysis stemming from different injury definitions and vade England using balloon troops. However, it was not until
variable risk factors, the data strongly suggest that military World War I that the technology existed to make this a more
parachute injuries have sharply declined over time. Part 2 of realistic possibility. Colonel Billy Mitchell, commander of US
this series will discuss techniques and equipment that have aviation units in France, proposed an airborne parachute as-
likely improved the safety of parachute operations. sault in October 1918 to break the stalemate that had been
Correspondence to joseph.knapik@JSOMonline.org
MAJ (Ret) Knapik served in the US military as a wheel vehicle mechanic, medic, Medical Service Corps officer, and Department of Defense civil-
ian. He is currently a senior epidemiologist/research physiologist with the Henry M. Jackson Foundation and an adjunct professor at Uniformed
Services University (Bethesda, MD) and Bond University (Robina, Australia).

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