Bayonet Design - US Army Parachute Rigger Embroidered Patch - 5" Wax backed with merrowed edge - 82nd Airborne - Army Ranger -Special Forces - Jump School
A parachute rigger is a person who is trained or licensed to pack, maintain or repair parachutes. A rigger is required to understand fabrics, hardware, webbing, regulations, sewing, packing, and other aspects related to the building, packing, repair, and maintenance of parachutes.
U.S. Army
When the U.S. Army formed its first paratrooper unit in 1940, a parachute test platoon, the paratroopers themselves prepared and took care of their own parachutes. The test platoon had only 3 men, two enlisted soldiers and one warrant officer, from the Army Air Corps serving as the precursors of the U.S. Army's parachute riggers.
When the U.S. Army created five Airborne divisions for World War II, the U.S. Army stopped training paratroopers on how to pack their own chutes and started support organizations for parachute packing and rigging. The first riggers received their training at Fort Benning, Georgia.
After 1950, the U.S. Army assigned the Quartermaster Corps with the mission of aerial delivery, including parachute rigging. A parachute rigger course was established at the U.S. Army Quartermaster School at Fort Lee, Virginia in 1951, and has continued since then.
Airborne Orientation Course. For students completing basic training at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, preparation for Airborne and rigger training begins before even departing for Fort Lee with attendance at the post's Airborne Orientation Course. According to an Army News Service story, "while most of the course involves physical training, soldiers are also familiarized with such Airborne operations as parachute landing falls, rigging equipment and actions in the aircraft." The AOC has raised the success rate for soldiers subsequently attending Airborne training from 60 percent to 89 percent.
From AOC, rigger recruits go to Airborne School at Fort Benning, Georgia. If a rigger recruit does not pass Airborne School, that soldier is reclassified.
The U.S. Army MOS (Military Occupational Specialty) designation for parachute riggers is graded in 5 skill levels, from 92R1P to 92R5P. Prior to fiscal year 2003, it was 43E2P. Recruits are designated 92R0P.
After Airborne School, 92R0P recruits head to Fort Lee to attend the 13-week Parachute Rigger Course. The course provides training on inspecting, packing, rigging, recovering, storing, and maintaining air item equipment. It is divided into three phases. Air Drop Phase - Includes instruction in cargo parachute packing, rigging supplies and equipment for airdrop, types and limitations of aircraft. Students become proficient in the use of the various technical manuals for rigging airdrop loads. At the conclusion of the instruction, the students participate in an airdrop exercise. They pack the cargo parachutes, rig the loads to be dropped and place the loads in the aircraft. After the airdrop, the students recover the loads and equipment. Aerial Equipment Repair Phase - Trains fundamentals and procedures of inspection, classification, and repair of maintenance of personnel, cargo, extraction parachutes and airdrop equipment to include the service of High Altitude Low Opening (HALO) Automatic Ripcord Release (ARR). Parachute Pack Phase - Is designed to equip students with the working knowledge of inspection and packing procedures relative to personnel, light cargo and extraction parachutes. The student receives concentrated instruction on the troop back parachute. The student is required to jump the parachute he/she packed during the examination. Throughout the course, the student is constantly reminded of the fact that all parachutes must be packed with meticulous care to insure proper functioning. Any malfunction could result in death or in equipment loss.
All U.S. Army parachute riggers are required to be Airborne qualified, and by tradition are required to be prepared to jump any parachute packed by any U.S. Army parachute rigger, without checking the log book for the name of the rigger who last prepared it. The official motto of the U.S. Army parachute rigger is: "I will be sure always."
Service members from other branches of the U.S. Armed Forces also attend parachute rigger courses at Fort Lee.
The Parachute Rigger Badge is a military qualification badge of the United States Army and the United States Air Force which was first created in 1948 and officially approved in June 1986. The award is intended as a badge for enlisted, warrant officer and officer personnel who have successfully completed parachute rigger courses specified by the U.S. Army Quartermaster Center and School.
HistoryThe first parachute rigger badge was designed in 1948 by Major Thomas R. Cross and drawn by Sergeant First Class Ewing of the 11th Parachute Maintenance Company, 11th Airborne Division at Camp Schimmelpfennig, Sendai, Japan, and was first used operationally during Exercise Swarmer in 1950.
Prior to the official adoption of the badge, it had been worn under Major Command commander’s authority to authorize the wear of locally designed badges on the utility uniform.
Official adoption of the badge had been sought for many years by a variety of Quartermaster officials. The adoption was based on a formal request submitted by Mr. James S. Emery, Military Analyst, Airborne Department, Quartermaster School in 1983. Emery, formerly COL Emery, had at one time been the officer in charge of the Rigger School. Under his command, the school installed the first female Rigger Instructors in 1977: Deborah Petrie, Maintenance; Joann Jackson, Pack; and Stacy Kates, Air Drop. Emery's request received unprecedented support from the field, unfortunately it was disapproved at the time. In 1986, General Richard H. Thompson, commander of the U.S. Army Materiel Command and the senior Quartermaster officer in the Army wrote the Chief of Staff of the Army asking him to reconsider the 1983 decision. After requesting some field comments, General Wickham approved the parachute riggers badge on 9 June 1986
Badge eligibilityIn order to be eligible to attend any Parachute Rigger courses and subsequently be awarded the Parachute Rigger Badge, an individual must first have graduated from the Basic Airborne Course at Ft. Benning, Georgia.
The badge is awarded upon graduation from a parachute rigger course as specified by the U.S. Army Quartermaster Center and School. In 1999, the Army authorized the retroactive award of the Parachute Rigger Badge to individuals who performed duty as riggers before May 1951, but did not attend or graduate for a Parachute Rigger course at the U.S. Army Quartermaster Center and School, located at Ft. Lee, Virginia.
The first Military Occupational Specialty for the Parachute Rigger was 43E. Later, those earning the Parachute Rigger Badge receive either the Enlisted Military Occupational Specialty Code 92R or the Warrant Officer designation 921A. The Parachute Rigger Badge may also be awarded to officers, upon completion of the Aerial Delivery Management Officer Course (ADMOC) who earn the Additional Skill Identifier of 92AR9.  or other courses specified by AR 600-8-22.
The Parachute Rigger badge can be revoked when the Parachutist Badge is revoked, when an individual refuses an order to make a parachute jump with a parachute the individual packed, or when the individual initiates an action which results in withdrawal of the individual's MOS before the individual completes 36 months in a parachute position.
Air Force authorizationIn mid-2009, the Air Force's 98th Virtual Uniform Board announced "Airmen earning and awarded the Parachute Riggers Badge are authorized permanent wear on all uniform combinations. For the airman battle uniform and the battle dress uniform, the badge will be blue. On the desert combat uniform the approved color is brown." In January 2014, the Air Force expanded that decision to allow the permanent wear of any special skill badge that has been awarded by another service.
Previous guidance had limited the wear of the badge to airmen attached to Army rigger units. Air Force parachute riggers are typically found in the aerial port squadron of an airlift wing or group, where they pack loads for training airdrops. Others, trained in the maintenance of aircrew emergency parachutes and other aircrew equipment, are assigned to flying unit life support sections.[1