Fort Bragg paratroopers are making their final preparations to jump for the 82nd Airborne Division’s second annual Presents from Paratroopers holiday toy drive.

Presents from Paratroopers is a combination training and charity event where Fort Bragg paratroopers — soldiers assigned to an airborne unit and on active jump status, including qualified North Carolina National Guard and Army Reserve personnel — can enter a raffle to earn coveted foreign jump wings on Dec. 2 and Dec. 3.

Each paratrooper can obtain one raffle ticket by donating a toy. The division is partnering with the Travis Mills Foundation to distribute the toys to local charitable organizations across the state of North Carolina for distribution to needy families this holiday season, according to Maj. Tim Crawley, the division’s deputy chaplain.

This year’s iteration of the charity event will feature 1,000 parachutes, of which 600 will be distributed as part of the lottery, said Crawley. The toy donation and lottery will occur on Dec. 1. Crawley expects “anywhere between 1,500 and 2,000 toys” this year.

Of the more than 2,000 donors who entered last year’s inaugural raffle, 1,003 — or around half — were selected to make jumps from CH-47 Chinook and UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters. Most airborne training events are static-line jumps from cargo aircraft like the C-130 Hercules or C-17 Globemaster, making helicopter jumps a coveted opportunity for rank and file paratroopers.

This year, Crawley explained, will feature one day of helicopter jumps and one day of cargo plane jumps into Fort Bragg’s Sicily and Holland drop zones. The aircraft will operate at reduced capacity and all personnel will wear masks in order to mitigate the risk of coronavirus infection.

For the 2019 edition of the drive, around 300 of those selected in the lottery earned German jump wings for parachuting under the direction of a German jumpmaster, and 359 others earned Chilean parachutist insignia. Per Army regulations, soldiers are permitted to wear one authorized foreign badge on their dress uniforms, including jump wings.

It’s not clear yet which foreign nations will have jumpmasters available to award foreign jump wings, said Crawley, but “there will be foreign jumps” available.

The event is a way to embody the division’s legacy and support the division’s troops in addition to the local community, said Crawley.

“One of the ways that we take care of people is by taking care of people,” he said. “Giving people the opportunity to serve their neighbor is a way of helping the person who’s volunteering…it’s yet another way in which [the division] can take care of folks.”

Davis Winkie covers the Army for Military Times. He studied history at Vanderbilt and UNC-Chapel Hill, and served five years in the Army Guard. His investigations earned the Society of Professional Journalists' 2023 Sunshine Award and consecutive Military Reporters and Editors honors, among others. Davis was also a 2022 Livingston Awards finalist.

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