Museum: Airborne & Special Operations Museum, Fayetteville NC
Visited: Nov11.2oo8
Fayetteville being the city surrounded Fort Bragg: Home of the Airborne and Special Operations Forces, there's a lot of military interest.
The Airborne and Special Operations Museum in downtown Fay was one of the places Husband and I were saving to go together.
Outside the Museum are blocks blazoned with Unit emblems and sayings. My husband's current unit, the 321st, was immortalized this way as well. (1a) The path leading into the museum had blocks paid for by donations to the museum. Each celebrated a person or unit attached to the Airborne or SF.
Just inside the building were two Paratrooper dummies: one showing an older 60s looking uniform and the well-known teardrop parachute, and one farther back wearing a paraglider type chute. Hubby said that a few of his unit buddied were getting to test the latter chute.
One wall was covered in those Airborne/SF who had received the Medal of Honor, and the opposite wall wore all the emblems and units of Active and Reserve.
After absorbing these we wandered around a display of old Bonds posters. I got a kick out of an old Tank Corps poster (1b).
The actual museum started at the conception of the Airborne Training group, and worked its way forward in time. We saw how the Airborne/SF were used in all the wars, and how their uniforms and training changed. There were various artifacts (weapons, monies), and vehicle replicas. We saw maps dictating progress of wars after the Airborne were deployed into battle. The entire museum was, almost overwhelming when I thought of how it all applied to my Husband.
Some of it made me very proud of him, and some made me frightened for him. Overwhelming is a good word.
The last display I saw (and photographed) was of an almost-modern SF Medic (2?). He sat with his Aide Bag open and a bandage in his hand. "That supposed to be you" I asked idly. "I guess" hubby said. Overall it took us around two hours to see everything. The museum concluded around 2oo4 or so. I tried to decide if my Boot Camp expulsion was a good or bad thing, but holding my husband and feeling how the museum made me worry for him, I feel its probably a good thing.
- From WeyrCat's Treo...
Comments
Post a Comment