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2e REP elements dropped between Libya and Niger

Don Pedro

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It reminds me of the stories the Veterans of the Kolwezi jump, told me, they had to make do with parachutes not adapted to the French equipment, using wires, strings and rubberbands, i heard. Maybe Mark can enlighten us on this.
 
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Martin Scott

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Knew this was going to come! Feck off in a nice way Don Pedro! And let us reptiles bask in the sun!

Bask in the sun, bloody hell that why you lot have your own island. Be interested in your thought on the equipment though bro.
 

Rapace

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It reminds me of the stories the Veterans of the Kolwezi jump, told me, they had to make do with parachutes not adapted to the French equipment, using wires, strings and rubberbands, i heard. Maybe Mark can enlighten us on this.
Correct, but this is because for the Kolwezi drop they had to use parachutes from the (then) Zaire army (US T10 chutes). This is not the case here and the system to fix their equipment to the harness doesn't look like a makeshift stuff either. In my time we were using the EL32 gaine (can't find an equivalent term in English, sorry) and the EL33 for the FAMAS that was attached to the EL32, or other types for the marksmen equipped with the FR-F1 precision rifle or those having the LRAC 89mm (anti-tank rocket launcher). Below is a picture of a para equipped with what we used “in my timeâ€￾ :

View attachment 5136

May be some young (former) repmen could detail what looks like a new equipment seen on the video. I know that introduction of new parachutes and all associated equipment, called EPC (Ensemble Parachutable du Combattant), started a few years ago. Maybe what we see is part of it.
 

mark wake

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It reminds me of the stories the Veterans of the Kolwezi jump, told me, they had to make do with parachutes not adapted to the French equipment, using wires, strings and rubberbands, i heard. Maybe Mark can enlighten us on this.
It was a bloody nightmare mate. We had to use tape, string, elastic, whatever we could get our hands on! It didn't help that the bloody Zairen paras had no clue either! Thanks God there were some bérets rouges officers there to help out! Felt especially bad for the machine gunners. They had to strap those bloody things across their chest instead of a valise beneath their legs. I still have a piece of the American parachute I jumped with. The only good thing about the T-10 chute was the quick release clasp on the front. That came in real handy when we hit the DZ. I think the REP still holds the record on the longest airborne op. 8hrs on DC-8s from Corsica to Kinshasa and 4hrs from Kinshasa to Kolwezi. We were crammed in like sardines: eighty paras to a plane. Some lads were sitting on the floor as there was just no space with all our kit! I've never been so glad to get out of a plane than when that green light came on!

The T-10 chute did not impress me, although I did like the quick release system on the front. I was équipe choc so I had the MAT-49 SMG that was out and ready to fire when we came down. Good thing too. We were able to cover the lads with the heavy equipment who were having a struggle getting out of their chutes with everything being tied and taped up! Thanks God the DZ we hit had elephant grass that gave us a bit cover as we regrouped. The lads were scattered all over the place! But as we say in the Legion “démerdez-vous!â€￾
 

Stoeng

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Bon... Bon... It is difficult for an old ‘REC man’ like me to admit, but REP is doing fine these days ;).
 

Rapace

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Cheers for clearing that one up Rapace. The word you are looking for (gaine) would be in English, the word ‘cover’.
Yes, could be Pedro or I've also found the word ‘sheath’ in the dictionary but this is probably not the right term used by the Anglo-Saxons. I remember reading the term leg-bag for the WW2 paratroops, don't know if it's still in use. If any former Brit or US para can enlighten us on, that would be nice.

Funny thing when reviewing the video is to hear one guy groaning in the background, at the beginning of the footage, “Oh p*tain, 3h sur le tarmacâ€￾ (oh f*ck, 3h on the tarmac).I see some things never change. How many hours have I waited, sometimes fully equipped, before boarding the plane? Good ol' ‘hurry up and wait’...
 

mark wake

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(...) Funny thing when reviewing the footage is to hear one guy groaning in the background “Oh p*tain, 3h sur le tarmacâ€￾ (oh f*ck, 3h on the tarmac).I see some things never change. How many hours have I waited, sometimes fully equipped, before boarding the plane? Good ol' ‘hurry up and wait’...
Part of being a para! My friend.

Bon... Bon... It is difficult for an old ‘REC man’ like me to admit, but REP is doing fine these days ;).
The 1er REC is a fine regiment bro! There have been a few times when the REP were damn glad you lads were there to back us up!
 

Don Pedro

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Yes, could be Pedro or I've also found the word ‘sheath’ in the dictionary but this is probably not the right term used by the Anglo-Saxons. I remember reading the term leg-bag for the WW2 paratroops, don't know if it's still in use. If any former Brit or US para can enlighten us on, that would be nice. (...)
Well, to me, gaine = housse, which is a temporary protection, which in English still is refered to as 'cover,' but i agree with you, that a former Para, would be the one to know the exact word. (Phantom Paras that has combat jumped 8000 time on a video game, aren't Welcome.)

I found this picture roaming about on internet, maybe it can help us?

View attachment 5139
 

Rapace

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Well, to me, gaine = housse, which is a temporary protection, which in English still is refered to as 'cover,' but I agree with you, that a former Para, would be the one to know the exact word. (...)
On your picture they say “Weapons caseâ€￾ for what is called in French “gaine d'armeâ€￾, so maybe ‘case’ is the right word in English. I'm sure there are a number of ex Brit or US paras on the site that could give us the exact word... but we can live without it :D.
 

Don Pedro

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Indeed Rapace, I will not lose any sleep over it, I promise you, like looking for the Holy Graal... Why aye man! ;) Could aswell call it a Condom, keeps the shite out and from getting hurt. :D
 

twitch

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That's weird, he shouldn't be in the article or video my bad. It was just yet another 30 or so Christians decapitated in Libya. Happens so often now days that a lot of us maybe are becoming numb to it, but anyway props to the Legion for taking real action with real human soldiers. I will see if I can fix or remove the link.
 

Don Pedro

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No, it goes automatical to the French AOHell, which is dogs bollox. I once used their services, fecking thieves, i got banned for telling a prick how I felt about his shite comments, they sent me a letter saying i owed them 400 Euros, like feck I owe them anything! :cool:
You surely didn't read about the Christian Africans being thrown overboard by the Muslim ‘refugees’ trying to sneak in to our continent?
 

twitch

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AOL has always been sketchy like that lol. If you swear at anyone there's like this snitch button they can hit and it locks you off your account until you call some call center in India and an Indian named Danny or Ricky (or any of those ethnic Indian names) will read back to you what you said that was bad and tell you to not say it anymore then he unfreezes it!

I did hear about those Christians being thrown overboard, but wasn't sure where about it was. It just baffles me that they can believe butchery and murder would please any god. Will any of the muslims at sea face justice or is it too early to tell?
 
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Martin Scott

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Well, to me, gaine = housse, which is a temporary protection, which in English still is refered to as 'cover,' but i agree with you, that a former Para, would be the one to know the exact word. (Phantom Paras that has combat jumped 8000 time on a video game, aren't Welcome.)

I found this picture roaming about on internet, maybe it can help us?

View attachment 5139
Now looking at this I know I made the right career choice and thank feck I drove a AFV for a living and played music for the last two years. All power to the reptiles.
 

loustic

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I'll try to upload a recent picture i received from friend who is presently a REPMAN. The fact that he his presently in service explains the black rectangles !

View attachment 5144
 
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