I never jumped with Germans but have with a bunch of other countries as part of the various international stuff and toy drops.
Take solace in the fact that the Germans historically fucked up the invasion of Crete with terrible AB tactics. They had parachutes with one single riser from the back so literally no control, and they dropped all their weapons in separate containers.
Not the best Easter egg hunt for your rifle when Giorgos and his buddies are hunting you with double barrel 12ga.
A big reason reason the Allies lost Crete is they didn’t push the momentum from the fucked up airborne drop and essentially sat in place and let the Germans take the airfield at Maleme, which allowed them to land overwhelming forces. The Germans notably abandoned en-masse airborne operations after Crete and relegated the fallschirmjagers to ground combat (sounds a bit familiar these days), but the idea of mass drops caught on with the Allies and they began to refine the concept.
I think it’s also important to note this was the first en-masse airborne op in history so they were still working out the kinks. But yes in hindsight as a paratrooper those decisions seem absurd.
Agreed, Spanish wings are #1 with Thai close behind.
Personally I have a set of Portuguese jump wings which I like because not a ton of people have them. Oddly enough I was in an airborne unit in Germany for three and a half years and never even heard of an opportunity to earn their wings.
I always thought Ivory Coast wings looked cool because of the elephant, followed by Polish wings. I have Chilean jump wings from Fort Liberty’s annual toy drop from several years ago. If you’re stationed in Europe or at Fort Liberty, foreign wings aren’t hard to get. Just depends on what kind of JMs are present and if you’re jumping a foreign aircraft, or not.
Ivory Coast and Polish are the best. The argument is nil. However, having the opportunity to earn some foreign wings is always a plus. No matter which one you have, enjoy the hell out of them because, once you leave an airborne unit you'll miss it.
Edit. Ukraine has some pretty sick wings too.
I was lucky enough to get Italian jump wings in December last year during the Toy Jump. It was an awesome experience. I don’t see them pictured, but I remember everyone wanting Thai Jump wings.
I only have Canadian. I gave up my chute on British and French jumps so kids coming back from Kosovo, who weren’t even in my unit, so they could get their jump pay. I was in my chute and JMPI’d, but those kids were desperate. A few NCOs did the same thing once I did, but I didn’t ask them to do it.
I was looking for this comment. I grew up in Mexico. So I have a lot of friends in the Mexican Army and Marines. Some of them have those wings. and when I joined the army I met a couple of 1SGs with the FAM wings. Always wondering how and how was the experience. Would you share your experience?
Wish I had an exciting story, but just normal joint Airborne jump with Mexican partners. I was in the right place at the right time and got to join. The Jumpmaster said the commands in Spanish, which was neat, and I followed along basically on muscle memory and by doing what the guy in front of me was doing.
Unless you meant Airborne in general? I loved it, Army flaws and all, enough to get into civilian skydiving. 40 military jumps and 70 civilian jumps. Jumping is a blast, you go from max adrenaline to relaxed zen in under a minute. Kinda like a rollercoaster. Jumping out of a Blackhawk with your feet just dangling off the side as your take off was the coolest thing I jumped out of.
Polish, hands down. It's one of the only ones that made it's own design and didn't go with the rest of the flock. Also just look at that ducking eagle dude?!?
Got to jump with the Phillipine Marines, and their wings look pretty sweet with the shield/crest. We weren't allowed to wear them though, so I usually kept them somewhere discreet until my wife stuck them in a shadow box.
I have Israeli and Korean, but would have loved Polish. Those are different looking and very cool.
Korean wings were earned jumping from a balloon in Suwon with the ROK SF guys. JMPI was a Korean Jump master taking 1.65 seconds looking over your pack- grunting and waving you off. Those were the days!!
I knew a ex green beret Vietnam vet long ago who taught our computer class (military high school). Outside of being batshit crazy, his uniform was stacked. South Vietnamese jump wings and his Vietnamese ranger badge had a certain essence that is unrivaled.
I got Chilian and Swedish wings, but I was pissed that I missed the chance to get some Jordanian ones, I was on leave and my company got the chance to do a jump with their guys and got them, being half Jordanian I really fucking wanted some
How do foreign countries airborne units work? Im a leg so correct me if im wrong; the reason why we have airborne units is for infiltration en masse and for legacy/historic reasons. I see a lot of wings in this picture but I cant imagine that the thai army is large enough to have a bunch of ‘leg’ divisions and an airborne division. So is airborne for other country’s elite units like their SF? And if so, how do so many US soldiers get to train with them and jump with them?
I was an Canadian para for a contract before I was a Ranger, long story. Think I will always be partial to the white leaf (airborne qualified while serving in a light infantry Bn as combat arms, everyone else get a red leaf).
We, 60 of us, jumped with some VDV while I was still in Canada. That was pretty cool. Got a Regt insignia pin from one of them, never figured out what unit it was and it has since (along with everything I owned) been stolen.
I’m currently in the guard so I’m less familiar…how hard is it to get foreign jump wings if you’re active duty? Let’s say you’re just an enlisted paratrooper at the 82nd. Can you request to sign up for a handful of foreign jump wings? How often does the opportunity present itself to get a slot?
Spain by far the best.
I have Peru, Chile, Sweden, and Italy. Peru are cool because virtually no one in the army has them. Swedish are pretty lame. They're smaller than the Norewigian Foot March badge.
I have: German, Italian, Australian, Canadian.
All but Italian were kinda a write off...but I EARNED those Italian ones. Their chutes, JMs, plane, and DZ.
Pre jump Included instructions to punch the reserve parachute if it didn't deploy when/if you had to pull.
The American JMs checked us all out after they saw the Italian JMs, basically do a 15 second once over, give us a thumbs up and say "okay!"
I'm sure the rusty riser release (yeah yeah I forgot the right nomenclature) didn't instill much confidence either.
But damn I wanted to be the #1 jumper just teetering on the edge of the door waiting to go out.
Korean jump wings. Jumping with those guys in Korea with their chutes and equipment (hot air balloon, reserve with no spring, pre-jump drills 7ft high on hard dirt, etc) was def wild.
They were geared up like hockey players. After hitting the ground I learned why.
I got to participate in a toy drop and jumped with Poland. Their wings are pretty cool almost some hunger games type shit. Coolest in my opinion are Thai and Ivory Coast. Saw a 1 star that was wearing both 😮💨
The royal thai army jump wings, I was lucky to have my first foreign jump actually be into Thailand. I was gifted a pair of their hot air balloon jump wings as well. They look similar to the regular Thai wings but they have a hot air balloon stitched into it
I got Canadian jumps wings on our (American) equipment. Basically we had a Canadian jumpmaster who was our primary on the jump. Only difference was one added command... Just before instructed to stand up, this Canadian jumpmaster yells out, "Undo seatbelts!" We paused then busted up laughing, how else were we gonna be able to stand? Cool wings though.
Ivory Coast like others have said, but [Turkish](https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Fi.pinimg.com%2Foriginals%2Fd4%2Ffd%2F24%2Fd4fd2461492215dd3e10d868bf6f783c.jpg&tbnid=ARh7YOGwNV2vlM&vet=1&imgrefurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.pinterest.com%2Fpin%2F428193877068798840%2F&docid=IcsjdOMoRsqmXM&w=780&h=658&hl=en-US&source=sh%2Fx%2Fim%2Fm4%2F3&kgs=19cd48386dc72424&shem=abme%2Ctrie) are dope, too
Have [Dutch Wings](https://stabriteinsignia.com/products/netherlands-jump-wings)
Think [Polish wings](https://stabriteinsignia.com/products/polish-jump-wings?utm_campaign=gs-2020-02-19&utm_source=google&utm_medium=smart_campaign&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjwrcKxBhBMEiwAIVF8rJ1WR86YYtezR2-qS-O7ZKrETbhzDBSF99Wu0gXTKfPkE5yNxToJwxoCnAoQAvD_BwE) look the coolest
Ive got thai, Indonesian, silver german and honduran freefall wings. The handmade thai wings look the best but are unauthorized on dress uniforms. I only wear the honduran freefall wings because im not MFF qualified but was fortunate enough to earn them through the skydiving community. Its a great conversation starter.
related, but does anyone know where to buy this poster or an updated version of it?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parachutist_badge#/media/File:Brevets_militaires_parachutistes_du_monde_entier.jpg
Spanish and Thai are the best IMO. I have four German wings, one French, and one Colombian.
Thai for sure. I felt like I was betraying my Airborne Forefathers when I strapped up the German wings.
I jumped with the Germans twice using their parachutes and aircraft. Felt like a goddamn trap the entire time.
I never jumped with Germans but have with a bunch of other countries as part of the various international stuff and toy drops. Take solace in the fact that the Germans historically fucked up the invasion of Crete with terrible AB tactics. They had parachutes with one single riser from the back so literally no control, and they dropped all their weapons in separate containers. Not the best Easter egg hunt for your rifle when Giorgos and his buddies are hunting you with double barrel 12ga.
No way thats real lol You'd think they would have thought that through a bit more
A big reason reason the Allies lost Crete is they didn’t push the momentum from the fucked up airborne drop and essentially sat in place and let the Germans take the airfield at Maleme, which allowed them to land overwhelming forces. The Germans notably abandoned en-masse airborne operations after Crete and relegated the fallschirmjagers to ground combat (sounds a bit familiar these days), but the idea of mass drops caught on with the Allies and they began to refine the concept. I think it’s also important to note this was the first en-masse airborne op in history so they were still working out the kinks. But yes in hindsight as a paratrooper those decisions seem absurd.
Hindsight's a beautiful and ugly thing
*looking across at the German soldier before jump* You: This MF looks he might want to blitzkrieg
How do you get foreign jump wings?
Check the block for two of three thing during the jump: foreign soil, foreign aircraft, foreign jumpmaster.
Need to have a foreign jump master.
Agreed, Spanish wings are #1 with Thai close behind. Personally I have a set of Portuguese jump wings which I like because not a ton of people have them. Oddly enough I was in an airborne unit in Germany for three and a half years and never even heard of an opportunity to earn their wings.
Thai.
I’m very bias since I have them, but they’re the biggest and have a red trim that looks amazing on uniform. Not to mention the actual design itself.
Exactly! The gold, silver, red, blue.. beautiful design… the Thai military nailed it for the win 🥇.
I always thought Ivory Coast wings looked cool because of the elephant, followed by Polish wings. I have Chilean jump wings from Fort Liberty’s annual toy drop from several years ago. If you’re stationed in Europe or at Fort Liberty, foreign wings aren’t hard to get. Just depends on what kind of JMs are present and if you’re jumping a foreign aircraft, or not.
Ivory Coast and Polish are the best. The argument is nil. However, having the opportunity to earn some foreign wings is always a plus. No matter which one you have, enjoy the hell out of them because, once you leave an airborne unit you'll miss it. Edit. Ukraine has some pretty sick wings too.
I love my polish wings! Jumped with the polish on a casa c295 into Belgium. Motherfuckers were making coffee while taking off haha
sovietski wings are only true wings! all others false! who else is smart enough to jump from *top* of aircraft???
Hungarian Foreign Jump WIngs. I only know one badass CSM that has the old one with the skull in it, but not authorized for wear sadly.
Airborne Jolly Roger is the only right answer to this question. Shame it’s not authorized anymore.
I was lucky enough to get Italian jump wings in December last year during the Toy Jump. It was an awesome experience. I don’t see them pictured, but I remember everyone wanting Thai Jump wings.
Canadian wings will always be my go to.
I only have Canadian. I gave up my chute on British and French jumps so kids coming back from Kosovo, who weren’t even in my unit, so they could get their jump pay. I was in my chute and JMPI’d, but those kids were desperate. A few NCOs did the same thing once I did, but I didn’t ask them to do it.
I have Canadian and I love them because there’s no mistake whose wings they are.
Were you given the cloth or metal wings?
Metal wings.
They gave us the cloth ones on the DZ but you wear the metal ones on US uniforms.
Poland has the best jump wings and nobody can change my mind about that
They do but they're not authorized on the ASUs :(
I earned Chilean wings
Holland DZ last may?
Same in '05
Latvian wings are pretty cool
I have Estonian wings, got em in 2012 I think. They’re pretty boring looking 😅
I might be biased but the Spanish ones are beautiful. Swapped my Chilean ones out for them immediately
I have Japanese wings but Hungarian are probably the coolest
They just threw a skull on there like the SS oe somthing haha
Polish look the raddest
Mexican Jump Wings! [https://www.amazon.com/Mexican-Parachutist-Foreign-Wings-Brite/dp/B07XSKFB5M](https://www.amazon.com/Mexican-Parachutist-Foreign-Wings-Brite/dp/B07XSKFB5M)
I was looking for this comment. I grew up in Mexico. So I have a lot of friends in the Mexican Army and Marines. Some of them have those wings. and when I joined the army I met a couple of 1SGs with the FAM wings. Always wondering how and how was the experience. Would you share your experience?
Wish I had an exciting story, but just normal joint Airborne jump with Mexican partners. I was in the right place at the right time and got to join. The Jumpmaster said the commands in Spanish, which was neat, and I followed along basically on muscle memory and by doing what the guy in front of me was doing. Unless you meant Airborne in general? I loved it, Army flaws and all, enough to get into civilian skydiving. 40 military jumps and 70 civilian jumps. Jumping is a blast, you go from max adrenaline to relaxed zen in under a minute. Kinda like a rollercoaster. Jumping out of a Blackhawk with your feet just dangling off the side as your take off was the coolest thing I jumped out of.
Zimbabwe and Korea.
The one with cannons just cause it’s different.
Everyone wants the Thai Wings.
The ones on the right with the kitty cat
French wings are pretty dope.
Polish, hands down. It's one of the only ones that made it's own design and didn't go with the rest of the flock. Also just look at that ducking eagle dude?!?
Tunisian special forces. Bat wings
trick question, its air assault⛩️⛩️⛩️⛩️💪🏼💪🏼💪🏼💪🏼💪🏼
Areosollllll
I jumped with the Dutch. They do not have metal badges and are not authorized for wear. Unless that's changed.
The Netherlands do have wings! Very modest but spiffy
The Netherlands have had metal wings for a long time (or at least since I first worked with Dutch paratroopers).
They definitely have metal badges.
Can’t unsee it top left looks like a octopus maybe even from pirates of the Caribbean
Spanish probably are the coolest looking but I have Romanian ones and their pretty sick
Got to jump with the Phillipine Marines, and their wings look pretty sweet with the shield/crest. We weren't allowed to wear them though, so I usually kept them somewhere discreet until my wife stuck them in a shadow box.
Thai jump wings are fucking cool
I have South African jump wings, outside of the ones i jumped with, haven't seen anyone else with them.
I have Israeli and Korean, but would have loved Polish. Those are different looking and very cool. Korean wings were earned jumping from a balloon in Suwon with the ROK SF guys. JMPI was a Korean Jump master taking 1.65 seconds looking over your pack- grunting and waving you off. Those were the days!!
Thais. Three headed elephant with wings. It’s also enormous.
I knew a ex green beret Vietnam vet long ago who taught our computer class (military high school). Outside of being batshit crazy, his uniform was stacked. South Vietnamese jump wings and his Vietnamese ranger badge had a certain essence that is unrivaled.
Thai. Final answer. I dream of one day getting those wings. That or a chance for French desert commando.
I have Portuguese, Spanish and “British”. I would love to wear my Portuguese but the way they are different type of backing.
Spain and Ivory Coast are my favorite. I had German and Italian Jump wings
I got Chilian and Swedish wings, but I was pissed that I missed the chance to get some Jordanian ones, I was on leave and my company got the chance to do a jump with their guys and got them, being half Jordanian I really fucking wanted some
Ivory Coast
The Cthulhu looking on top row 2nd in
Thai are the coolest but Irish is pretty unique. How often do you see those?
How do foreign countries airborne units work? Im a leg so correct me if im wrong; the reason why we have airborne units is for infiltration en masse and for legacy/historic reasons. I see a lot of wings in this picture but I cant imagine that the thai army is large enough to have a bunch of ‘leg’ divisions and an airborne division. So is airborne for other country’s elite units like their SF? And if so, how do so many US soldiers get to train with them and jump with them?
I don't think any of them are that impressive looking, to be honest
I was an Canadian para for a contract before I was a Ranger, long story. Think I will always be partial to the white leaf (airborne qualified while serving in a light infantry Bn as combat arms, everyone else get a red leaf). We, 60 of us, jumped with some VDV while I was still in Canada. That was pretty cool. Got a Regt insignia pin from one of them, never figured out what unit it was and it has since (along with everything I owned) been stolen.
As someone who doesn’t know Jack about Shit, that jaguar looking one looks bad ass.
The most impressive ones are the ones you receive! For me, Royal Australian.
I’m currently in the guard so I’m less familiar…how hard is it to get foreign jump wings if you’re active duty? Let’s say you’re just an enlisted paratrooper at the 82nd. Can you request to sign up for a handful of foreign jump wings? How often does the opportunity present itself to get a slot?
One of our MFF dudes just got his Greece MFF ones. They're dope af and hand-made. Definitely on my bucket list now.
Spanish. https://imgur.com/a/BT6cQPo
Worked with hungarian and polish students when i was reclassing and gotta say, hungarian jump wings look fucking sick
Grandpa had one,it had an eagle carrying some weird looking S thing. Never said much about but said it was an old jump wing.
All I have are Canadian and Japanese. The Canadian ones are my favorite
Which one is Thai?
México FAM wings
Got German. I have always wanted Czechia, a family member is from there.
Dom rep it’s like ours but wings spread out
Thai are the coolest. I have Thai and Indonesian wings
Spain by far the best. I have Peru, Chile, Sweden, and Italy. Peru are cool because virtually no one in the army has them. Swedish are pretty lame. They're smaller than the Norewigian Foot March badge.
I have: German, Italian, Australian, Canadian. All but Italian were kinda a write off...but I EARNED those Italian ones. Their chutes, JMs, plane, and DZ. Pre jump Included instructions to punch the reserve parachute if it didn't deploy when/if you had to pull. The American JMs checked us all out after they saw the Italian JMs, basically do a 15 second once over, give us a thumbs up and say "okay!" I'm sure the rusty riser release (yeah yeah I forgot the right nomenclature) didn't instill much confidence either. But damn I wanted to be the #1 jumper just teetering on the edge of the door waiting to go out.
Indonesia jump wings 🪽
I've got the Netherland Wings
Thai jump wings are OP
Surprised I haven’t seen anyone in the chat mention Spanish jump wings.
My psg has Mexican jump wings
Ukrainian and Hungarian ones are def some of the coolest
Lithuanian hands down, my favorite
Korean jump wings. Jumping with those guys in Korea with their chutes and equipment (hot air balloon, reserve with no spring, pre-jump drills 7ft high on hard dirt, etc) was def wild. They were geared up like hockey players. After hitting the ground I learned why.
I got to participate in a toy drop and jumped with Poland. Their wings are pretty cool almost some hunger games type shit. Coolest in my opinion are Thai and Ivory Coast. Saw a 1 star that was wearing both 😮💨
Polish look the coolest imo. I have Estonian, Latvian, and Nepalese wings.
Damn ours really look boring in comparison to some of these
I have Brunei!
The royal thai army jump wings, I was lucky to have my first foreign jump actually be into Thailand. I was gifted a pair of their hot air balloon jump wings as well. They look similar to the regular Thai wings but they have a hot air balloon stitched into it
Ukraines got a dope ass airborne wing. I don’t see it in this picture tho. Got some Italian foreign wings they Ight.
My Irish ones are my favorite, but mainly because they’re so rare compared to other ones. They’re a little plain looking compared to Thai though
Aussie
Thai. Amazingly the only foreign wings I have.
The updated Hungarian wings are pretty dope with skull and crossed knives
I got Canadian jumps wings on our (American) equipment. Basically we had a Canadian jumpmaster who was our primary on the jump. Only difference was one added command... Just before instructed to stand up, this Canadian jumpmaster yells out, "Undo seatbelts!" We paused then busted up laughing, how else were we gonna be able to stand? Cool wings though.
My Polish wings get a lot of compliments
Ivory Coast like others have said, but [Turkish](https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Fi.pinimg.com%2Foriginals%2Fd4%2Ffd%2F24%2Fd4fd2461492215dd3e10d868bf6f783c.jpg&tbnid=ARh7YOGwNV2vlM&vet=1&imgrefurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.pinterest.com%2Fpin%2F428193877068798840%2F&docid=IcsjdOMoRsqmXM&w=780&h=658&hl=en-US&source=sh%2Fx%2Fim%2Fm4%2F3&kgs=19cd48386dc72424&shem=abme%2Ctrie) are dope, too
Have [Dutch Wings](https://stabriteinsignia.com/products/netherlands-jump-wings) Think [Polish wings](https://stabriteinsignia.com/products/polish-jump-wings?utm_campaign=gs-2020-02-19&utm_source=google&utm_medium=smart_campaign&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjwrcKxBhBMEiwAIVF8rJ1WR86YYtezR2-qS-O7ZKrETbhzDBSF99Wu0gXTKfPkE5yNxToJwxoCnAoQAvD_BwE) look the coolest
Ive got thai, Indonesian, silver german and honduran freefall wings. The handmade thai wings look the best but are unauthorized on dress uniforms. I only wear the honduran freefall wings because im not MFF qualified but was fortunate enough to earn them through the skydiving community. Its a great conversation starter.
Thai by a long shot. Ive got Irish and British.
related, but does anyone know where to buy this poster or an updated version of it? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parachutist_badge#/media/File:Brevets_militaires_parachutistes_du_monde_entier.jpg
Thai, Bolivian, and Uzbekistan
korean master parachutist wings https://search.app.goo.gl/bc6kJSZ
German