What are Paras' job?

[RatSniper]

What exactly are the Paras? I have read about them, but what I read was mainly, "British Paras jumped in the battlezone by parachute and killed the enemy". Are they similiar to the US Airborne soldiers? The US Army Rangers? Thanks in advance.

[ZeroG]

They basically get drunk on guinness and get into bar fights.
just kidding

[baboon]

Well I can tell you the recently discharged 1 Para guys who have been coming into the pub I frequent lately insist they are lovers not fighters but they do drink large amounts of Guinness, Jack Daniels ( "dooble JD'n cook" )and various other types of alcohol. There is a lot of info on the Paras in the UK section of this site. They are not considered spec ops forces in the UK but a tough selection course ( "P Company" ) is required to get in, so they can be considered equivalent to the Rangers in some ways. Some jobs the Rangers do (like Grenada or Panama )would be done by the Paras, others (like Somalia ) would probably be done by 22SAS. They haven't actually done a combat drop since Suez in 1956, these days they are mainly used as helo-borne infantry (as in Kosovo ) or assault infantry, as in the Falklands, where 2 and 3 Para were part of 3 Commando Brigade Royal Marines. The Paras and RM Commandos alternate the role of providing the UK's Spearhead Battalion, ready to deploy anywhere in the world at short notice. Like all Brit units ( except for Gurkhas) they do tours on internal security duties in Northern Ireland. You must remember it is hard to directly compare units, most countries can't afford all the different units the US has and therefore one unit might have to do several different jobs.

[Weekend Warrior]

The Paras are an "airborne light infantry" regiment. This means that they have to be ready to jump/helo/fly into a combat zone and deploy an infantry force. The fact that they are "light" means that everything they need they carry with them as they have a limited logistics and transport capability. They will be used as an aggressive spearhead force to secure an "airhead" and the surrounding area whilst conventional infantry forces, with their supply facilities, join up with them. Along with 3 Commando Brigade, Royal Marines, they form the Joint Rapid Deployment Force.
Essentially, they are a well trained, fit, aggressive unit;parachuting is how they get to work, but once on the ground their missions and tactics are the same as any other infantry unit.
The Royal Marine Commandos are possibly closer in role to the US Army Rangers, albeit they are amphibious troops rather than airborne. (Are all the Rangers airborne troops?)

[Daredevil]

Airborne Rangers are all Airborne troops. They do cross train for amphibious operations. In Wartime the specific mission of the Rangers is Airfield siezure. Dropping onto a hostile airfield, quickly taking control and allowing friendly planes to land there. The Ranger mission has been diversifying more to include other forms of Direct Action assaults.

Actually a more accurate Blackhawk Down comparison would be with the SAS and a Commando group. Delta Force actually did the main assault and capture with the Rangers providing perimeter security.

I've always been under the impression that the British Paras were the equvalent of the US 82nd Airborne, the Commandos were the equivalent of the Rangers, SBS equivalent of SEALs, and the SAS was kind of a Special Forces/Delta Force all in one. Others will most likely disagree but I think in terms of similarity of missions it's the closest although I admittedly know very little about the Commando groups.

[Enfield]

I always looked at it as
SAS= Delta/SF
SBS= SEALs
Paras= Rangers
Marine Commandos= USMC, maybe more like Recon

But i've never heard of the Paras getting as much training as the Rangers is supporting a special operations raid. The other thing is that the Brits use their units differently. For example, when the SAS rescued civilians in Albania, it was normal infantry that supported them. And the troops sent to train the new army in Sierra Leone are from a regular infantry regiment.
Guess this goes back to what baboon said about most countries not being able to afford specialized units like the US.

Enfield

[baboon]

Besides the cost factor the British experience of having numerous special operations units in World War 2, with overlapping capabilities and sometimes narrow specialisations has probably led to the few units in existence today. Field Marshal Slim once sarcastically asked if a Royal Corps of Tree Climbers had to be formed.

Re: Royal Marines Commandos; they are basically light infantry ( though a bit heavier than the Paras ) specialising in amphibious assaults and raiding.They also do a lot of training in arctic and bush/jungle warfare. Like the Paras they recruit directly from civilian life, likewise a tough selection/training course has to be passed to gain acceptance. The Canadian Infantry Journal has a good article, which someone posted on this forum a while back, about Para and Commando selection. 40, 42 and 45 Commandos (each equivalent to an infantry battalion ), together with Army supporting units eg. artillery and engineers (all of whom have also passed commando course ) form 3 Commando Brigade. They also have dedicated ship and helicopter support from the Royal Navy, plus their own landing craft. What all this means is a force which can carry out company/battalion-sized raids as well as brigade-level amphibious ops and normal infantry duties. The closest equivalent to Force Recon is the Brigade Recce Troop/Patrol Group, who are all parachutists and snipers, besides having gone through other specialised training.

[This message has been edited by baboon (edited 08-07-2000).]

[Weekend Warrior]

Yep, Daredevil, you're pretty much right.