I could see someone who served in the 82nd as thinking they were a member of an elite outfit. They are, aren’t they?
For some reason, my Father who was a combat veteran of WWII, hated the 82nd. On the other hand he just about worshiped Rangers.
One day I asked him about it and he just said they were trained to fight their own people. I knew that wasn’t really true but did not feel like pushing it.
This is just another liberal taking a very liberal view of service - his unit ran four miles or more every day in garrison, so we always ran to and from Reilly Rd to Longstreet on Ardennes Street - SF was located on both sides of Reilly Road and Smoke Bomb Hill area. He absolutely knows better.
Oh and on the Rangers from D-Day. My assistant Scout Master in Dayton, Ohio prepared everyone of Boy Scouts to become soldiers without us knowing it - rope bridges, back packing trips two weeks long, repelling - only after I joined the 82d did I find out he was one of the few Rangers at Point du Hoc to come thru unscratched, and he continued his service on into Korea and Viet Nam....
When you’re father served parachute pay was a significant increase in soldier pay, talk to some of the old timers about it. The school was also very, very rigorous; they had not eliminated standards to accommodate the gals.