Parachutist Recode Aims to Refocus Army on Combat Readiness

In a sweeping overhaul of its airborne forces, the U.S. Army will reclassify nearly 20,000 parachutist positions, shifting them out of jump status while keeping them designated airborne billets. Senior Army leaders say the change aims to sharpen combat readiness and optimize training resources.

The restructuring, first reported by Army Times, follows a five-month review led by Lt. Gen. Gregory Anderson, commander of the 18th Airborne Corps. Since 2006, the Army has maintained over 56,000 paid parachutist positions — a figure that Anderson said far exceeds operational needs and has drained resources from elite combat-ready units.

“For context, only about 13,000 paratroopers jumped into Normandy during World War II,” Anderson said. “This is not about saving money; it’s about getting readiness to where we need it.”

Under current standards, soldiers on jump status must perform four parachute jumps annually and are eligible for additional pay. But limited access to aircraft like the C-17 and C-130 has made sustaining that jump frequency increasingly difficult, causing a “decline in collective airborne proficiency,” Anderson said.

The Army plans to focus jump resources on forces that need rapid-deployment capabilities rather than maintaining jump status for support roles unlikely to parachute into combat.

Preliminary figures show that the most significant number of recorded positions will come from the Army Special Operations Command, with an estimated 9,000 roles affected. Other projected changes include:

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• 3,600 from the Army National Guard
  
  
• 3,500 from Army Forces Command
  
  
• 1,900 from the Army Reserve
  
  
• 1,000 from U.S. Army Pacific
  
  
• 850 from U.S. Army Europe and Africa
  
  

Anderson said, "This is about being ready." "We're ensuring that the most important forces are trained, equipped, and ready to go by matching our airborne capabilities with real operational demand."

The Army hasn't said when the change will be finished, but they have said that it will start happening in the next few months.

Due to the categorization, staff will no longer have to leap annually or obtain incentive pay.

“This is about readiness,” Anderson added. “We’re aligning our airborne capabilities with real operational demand to train, equip, and deploy the most critical forces.”

Although the Army has not set a deadline for the shift, implementation will begin in the following months.

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