Spartan Brigade Jump

6/23/2013 Strategy Page

Paratroopers jump from a C-17 Globemaster III over Malamute Drop Zone, Tuesday, June 4, 2013, at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson during the 4th Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division's Operation Spartan Reach, a mass tactical airborne training event across Alaska from Monday through Wednesday. This is the largest airborne training mission in the history of the Spartan Brigade, dropping more than 1,400 paratroopers, in addition to heavy equipment including two 105 mm howitzers at the Donnelly Drop Zone near Fort Greely, and JBER's Malamute Drop Zone using five C-17 Globemaster III aircraft, and one C-130 Hercules aircraft. Operation Spartan Reach is designed to simulate a brigade-level airborne seizure of key terrain to enable the follow-on movement of forces into hostile territory. U.S. Air Force photo/Justin Connaher