Contemporary US airborne ops PODs

The US army's most recent airborne ops were in Iraq during Op IRAQI FREEDOM, with the 173rd Airborne Bde dropping into northern Iraq to support Kurdish PESHMERGA insurgents and Green Berets (March 2003), and in Afghanistan (Oct 2001) when some 100 Rangers of 1st Bn/75th Ranger Regt parachuted into action near Kandahar as part of the hunt for OBL and AQ during Op ENDURING FREEDOM. Could anybody design any other PODs for other alternate US Army parachute drops thruout the last decade or so, since the invasion of Panama in Op URGENT FURY (Dec 1989), and speculate on the likely outcomes ?

How about with the following possible scenarios ?
-Baghdad Jan/Feb 1991- 82nd Airborne drop on Baghdad
-Mogadishu Dec 1992- XVIII Airborne Corps lead Op RESTORE HOPE instead of 1st Marine Div, with mass parachute landings on vital installations
-Monrovia anytime between 1990 and 1992- US airborne landings as part of wider US military intervention to stop civil war
-Rwanda April 1994- very unlikely, but 82nd parachutes into Kigali to halt genocide
-North Korea anytime between 1994 and 1999- 501st Airborne Inf dispatched to 8th Army from Alaska with Rangers from 75th Regt, undertakes combat jump to capture and secure NK nuclear reactor until facility and all progress in NK NBC program totally destroyed
-Zaire Oct-Dec 1996- XVIII ABC elements parachute into southern Zaire as part of process of securing safety zone to facilitate safe delivery and distribution of humanitarian relief aid to thousands of Rwandan Hutu refugees
-Kosovo April-May 1999- XVIII ABC and other attached airborne units to EUCOM (such as 525th Para Inf (?), based in Vicenza- now 503rd/173rd) spearhead NATO ground ops against JNA
-East Timor Sept/Oct 1999- 501st parachute into Oecussi enclave alongside Australian paras of 3RAR during Op LAVARACK to secure territory against continued militia incursions

Melvin Loh said:

How about with the following possible scenarios ?
-Baghdad Jan/Feb 1991- 82nd Airborne drop on Baghdad

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Bridge too far. Massive casualties among paras and Baghadis.

Melvin Loh said:

-Mogadishu Dec 1992- XVIII Airborne Corps lead Op RESTORE HOPE instead of 1st Marine Div, with mass parachute landings on vital installations

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Unlikelly. Only 1 division is airborne trained, one is air assault (helicopters) and one is mountain. Also helcopter assaults are more likelly than air drops (easier to control, easier assembly of troops on ground, more surprise and no need for large bases to stage from).

Melvin Loh said:

-Monrovia anytime between 1990 and 1992- US airborne landings as part of wider US military intervention to stop civil war

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See Somalia. Where would they stage from anyway?

Melvin Loh said:

-Rwanda April 1994- very unlikely, but 82nd parachutes into Kigali to halt genocide

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More likelly. Depending on wha tis mission? Strenghten UN forces? Anything more would require more troops as we aren't talking about protecting and evacuating group of white workers but to protect one ethnic group from another.

Melvin Loh said:

-North Korea anytime between 1994 and 1999- 501st Airborne Inf dispatched to 8th Army from Alaska with Rangers from 75th Regt, undertakes combat jump to capture and secure NK nuclear reactor until facility and all progress in NK NBC program totally destroyed

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No. Once paras are on the ground and finish the job you have to pull them out and that would be dificult to say the least. More likelly air strikes or larger commando raid. Rangers land, destroy reactor and are evacuated.

Melvin Loh said:

-Zaire Oct-Dec 1996- XVIII ABC elements parachute into southern Zaire as part of process of securing safety zone to facilitate safe delivery and distribution of humanitarian relief aid to thousands of Rwandan Hutu refugees

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If they are there with permission of Zaire or local power then no need to drop, they can land. If they don't have permission it's invasion and bigest concern woun't be helping refugees but fending of hostile locals.

Melvin Loh said:

-Kosovo April-May 1999- XVIII ABC and other attached airborne units to EUCOM (such as 525th Para Inf (?), based in Vicenza- now 503rd/173rd) spearhead NATO ground ops against JNA

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Again, helicopter assault is more likely. This would require different plans for NATO from beginning.

Melvin Loh said:

-East Timor Sept/Oct 1999- 501st parachute into Oecussi enclave alongside Australian paras of 3RAR during Op LAVARACK to secure territory against continued militia incursions

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This is more likely but would IMO again be heliborne assault.

May 1989 - Operation ROLLING THUNDER

1st and 2nd Battalions of the 82nd Airborne Division are dropped just outside of Pretoria, South Africa. 1st Brigade seizes and destroys South African nuclear weapons while 2nd Brigade seizes and holds Wonderboom until such time as both Brigades coul be evacuated by C-141's, covered from the air by long range carrier fighters.

ROLLING THUNDER comes following hardline coup and use of a single nuclear weapon on a city in Angola, which the South Africans claimed was funneling terrorist aid into South-West Africa.

Haiti - 1994

But for the actions of James Earl Carter to convince Cedras to step down, 75th Ranger and the DRB of the 82nd drops into and neutralizes targets in Port-au-Prince and Cap Haitien. Meanwhile, elements of the 2nd MarDiv come ashore along with 10th Mountain coming in off of the Eisenhower.

Walter, did you get this idea off VORTEX, with Op BRAVE FORTUNE and the 2 Ranger bns parachuting to the Pelindaba nuclear complex in order to secure South Africa's nuclear cache ? And what about the name of the op- I doubt that this op would be also named after ROLLING THUNDER as per the VW graduated bombing campaign over the North.