Paratrooper

Paratroopers are military parachutists — military personnel trained in parachuting into an operation and usually functioning as part of an airborne force. Military parachutists (troops) and parachutes were first used on a large scale during World War II for troop distribution and transportation. Paratroopers are often used of seize strategic objectives such as airfields or bridges.

Overview

They are used for tactical advantage as they can be inserted into the battlefield from the air, thereby allowing them to be positioned in areas not accessible by land. They jump out of airplanes using their parachutes to land safely on the ground. It is one of the three types of "forced entry" strategic techniques for entering a theater of war; the other two are by land and sea. The ability of air assault to enter the battlefield from any location allows paratroopers to evade emplaced fortifications that exist to prevent an attack from a specific direction, and the possible use of paratroopers, forces an army to spread their defenses to protect other areas which would otherwise be safe by geographical virtue. Another common use for paratroopers is to establish an airhead for landing other units.

Paratrooper (video game)

Paratrooper is a 1982 computer game, written by Greg Kuperberg and published by Orion Software. It is based on a 1981 Apple II game called Sabotage developed by Mark Allen.

Description

The player controls a gun turret at the bottom of the screen. The turret can swivel to cover a large area of the screen, but cannot move from its base. Helicopters fly across the screen at varying heights, dropping paratroopers. The gun may fire multiple shots at once, and the shots may destroy helicopters or shoot paratroopers. Paratroopers may be disintegrated by a direct hit, or their parachutes may be shot, in which case they will plummet to earth (splattering and dying, killing any paratrooper onto whom they fall). Periodically, jets may fly by and drop bombs; the jets and bombs may be shot as well.

The player earns points by shooting helicopters, paratroopers, jets, and bombs. Firing a shell costs the player one point, so if one is playing for score, there is an incentive to conserve ammo.

The Red Beret

The Red Beret (aka The Red Devils, The Big Jump and retitled Paratrooper for the US release) is a 1953 Technicolor British war film directed by Terence Young and starring Alan Ladd, Leo Genn and Susan Stephen.

The Red Beret is the fictional story about an American who enlists in the British Parachute Regiment in 1940, claiming to be a Canadian. It is notable as the first film made by Irving Allen and Albert R. Broccoli's Warwick Films, with many of the crew later working on various films for Warwick Films and Broccoli's Eon Productions. It is partly based on the 1950 non-fiction book with the same title written by Hilary Saint George Saunders, about the Parachute Regiment and its first operation, Operation Biting, in February 1942.

Plot

Steve MacKendrick (Alan Ladd), nicknamed "Canada" because he claims he is from there, volunteers in 1940 for the British Army's paratroop school. He obviously has a good deal more experience and leadership skills than he lets on. Canada tries to become better acquainted with a pretty parachute rigger named Penny Gardner (Susan Stephen). She is initially put off by his attitude, but they eventually start dating. Both Penny and his new commander, Major Snow (Leo Genn), see potential (and a mystery that does not add up) in him, despite his strong efforts to avoid assuming any responsibility. Canada turns down Snow's offer to send him to officer school.