Parachute trained units in RNZ Army

[PeterH]

Hi,

From 1992 to 1995 2/1 Battalion´s A Company was a Ranger/Point-of-Entry Company including parachute capability. The point of entry role was taken away in 1995 but 2/1 Battalion retained a role to provide a company group including specialists from other corps (Logistics, Signals, Engineers and Medical), for parachute insertion. Capable of deployment in support of civil defence or disaster relief tasks in New Zealand and the South Pacific. Info from ANZAC Elite by Cliff Lord and Julian Tennant.

Is this role still retained by 2/1 Battalion or is NZSAS Group the only unit that has parachute capability in the New Zealand Army today?

Cheers
Peter

 

[Rocco_NZ]

No, the SAS is the only group where parachute operations is a mainstream activity. The company group parachute capability was dropped around 1998 I think.

 

[mattyem]

The plan is to introduce a high rediness infantry company which would bring back mainstream jump trainning!! Im sure 2/1 would love to have this again

 

[riksavage]

How does the NZ Army justify keeping a parachute training wing going for such a small element. The PJI's must spend all their time doing PT! Or do they send the candidates to Australia?

Typically you would have two courses running, static-line and then freefall for those in the SAS. A static-line course will last anything between two and three weeks (weather permitting) with candidates jumping between 8 & 10 times (including at least one night jump). Free-fall courses can last up to six weeks depending on kit, HALO, HAHO requirements etc. Assuming you carry-out back to back courses, I still can't see how you can keep a parachute school running all year round.

 

[Cadredave]

The plan is to introduce a high rediness infantry company which would bring back mainstream jump trainning!! Im sure 2/1 would love to have this again

The high readiness Company does not include parachute insertions, this was made very clear to all Warrant Officers & SNCO when the CA (Cheif of Army) spoke to us, first there are no longer any T10 parachutes left in the inventory held by PTSU, second this is a normal rifle company trained to a higher level, it is niether Ranger or POE.

 

[dave_kiwi]

Rnzaf Ptsu

How does the NZ Army justify keeping a parachute training wing going for such a small element. The PJI's must spend all their time doing PT! Or do they send the candidates to Australia?

Actually the "Parachute Training and Support Unit (PTSU)" is a RNZAF unit - based at Whenuapai.

They actually have a team of instructors who quite regularly take part as a demonstration team at Airshows etc. (Have a look at the NZDEF site - one of the Airforce mags had a recent story about some advanced training in the USA).

Remember watching "grunts" bounce off the deck back in 1984 when I was a young mechanic based at 5 SQN - some of those guys didn't get back up on their feet in a hurray :-(

For those interested:

http://www.airforce.mil.nz/operations/airforce-news/94/ptsu-freefall.htm

A bit more about PTSU.

 

[mattyem]

How does the NZ Army justify keeping a parachute training wing going for such a small element. The PJI's must spend all their time doing PT! Or do they send the candidates to Australia?

Typically you would have two courses running, static-line and then freefall for those in the SAS. A static-line course will last anything between two and three weeks (weather permitting) with candidates jumping between 8 & 10 times (including at least one night jump). Free-fall courses can last up to six weeks depending on kit, HALO, HAHO requirements etc. Assuming you carry-out back to back courses, I still can't see how you can keep a parachute school running all year round.

weve done it before, no reason why we cant do it again. you say "typically" by know means does it mean it will be done "typically"
Im sure they would be studying it very carefully nobody wants to start somthing that is destined for failure

 

[riksavage]

Why not simply send candidates to Australia for training? After all it's not just the instructors, it's the parachute riggers (no way soldiers will be packing there own static line chutes), aircraft and training facilities (aircraft mock-ups to practice hooking-up and jumping from, roof mounted harnesses to practice canopy opening, failure drills and container deployments etc.). My memories of Brize Norton (late 80"s) was the training set-up took up quite a large hanger space, plus the ratio of PJI's to students was quite small. I just don't see the benefit of keeping it local over a centralised ANZAC parachute school based in Aus.

 

[mattyem]

thats a valid point, or maybe just increase the size of the jump school PSTU at whenuapai airbase in auckland. Increase on what we already have

 

[RegR]

I would rather see the high readiness company as more of a Ranger coy anyway and give them the para quals, also maybe base them in Pap as well to closely work with SAS and be near PTSU. this would give regular infantry something to aim for(if SAS not an option and CTTAG abit out of reach), provide more pers for PTSU to train and thus completely justify and also provide a pool for future SAS/CTTAG to eventually step from.
It would also do abit more for recruitment and retention.