Talk:502nd Infantry Regiment (United States)

Page should be moved
This page should be moved to U.S. 502th Parachute Infantry Regiment to conform to other units in Wikipedia. WikiDon 02:45, 28 August 2005 (UTC)
 * Other units may not have unique names, "502nd PIR" is. Do we have to?  Beanbatch 21:25, 29 August 2005 (UTC)
 * 502nd PIR is today 502nd Infantry Regiment. There are no longer any units that are uniquely "Parachute" units. All Special Operations units use Parachute Insertion as just one more means of Vertical Envelopment.

CORNELIUSSEON 14:48, 24 January 2006 (UTC)


 * The Deuce and the 506th are the only two of the 5-series parachute infantry regiments of WWII that is on active duty but has no personnel on jump status. Those that are (the 501st up in Alaska, 503rd in Vincenza, 504th, 505th, and 508th at Bragg, 507th at the school, '09th at JRTC) use their original WWII title "Parachute Infantry Regiment." Might not be 100 percent correct, but no one from the Chief of Staff on down calls them out on it. Being a longtime member ('00-'09) of the 502nd, we don't use the PIR title. Well, except once around '07 when I was in S-3 and redid the stock letterhead on a memo that ended up all the way to Brigade and back without anyone noticing.WiseguyThreeOne (talk) 16:05, 21 November 2011 (UTC)

Colin Powell
Just to tell you, I am a soldier in the 502nd Infantry Regiment. I know our former commanders. Colin Powel was one of them. Please stop removing his name from the article. CMAN 10:43, 21 February 2006 (EST)


 * I've found two links that place Powell in command of the 2nd Brigade, U.S. 101st Airborne Division: Lucid Cafe and Thomson-Gale's black history pages(puts it in 1976, which makes sense with his date of rank). I own a copy of his autobiography, so will try to remember to look up what he says himself. Perhaps both Cman and SSgt Seon could weigh in on whether commanding the brigade is the same as commanding the regiment (with the Combat Arms Regimental System, I am at a loss). --Habap 17:48, 21 February 2006 (UTC)


 * Yes, a brigade and a regiment are size-wise about the same thing. The main difference is that cavalry units refer to their brigades as regiments. &rArr;    SWAT Jester   [[Image:Flag_of_Iceland.svg|18px|]]  Ready    Aim    Fire!  21:16, 21 February 2006 (UTC)


 * I briefly checked his book and he stated that he took command of the Brigade. I didn't read it exhaustively, so I am uncertain if he was also commanding the regiment. I don't know if the regiment had a separate command element or if the Brigade commander was also considered the 502d's Regimental commander. So, I am still very uncertain whether he was actually the CO of the 502d. --Habap 15:07, 7 March 2006 (UTC)

You would be correct. He was the brigade commander. There is no regimental commander. &rArr;   SWAT Jester     Ready    Aim    Fire!  15:39, 7 March 2006 (UTC)


 * That's what I thought. I have revised the entry in a way I felt appropriate.... --Habap 22:06, 7 March 2006 (UTC)

The way it works is this: the Headquarters company for the brigade is HHC 502nd Infantry Regiment. Even though it is called 2nd Brigade, it is actually 502nd Inf Regiment at heart. User:cman\cman 10;01, 9 March (EST)


 * Is that why the sign outside says "HHC 2 BCT"? mcornelius (talk) 18:32, 29 August 2009 (UTC)


 * The battalions in the infantry brigades in the 101st are all the same regiment, i.e. 1/502d, 2/502d, and 3/502d. It's one of the few places in the army still like that. Most brigades will have battalions all with different parent regiments. Whether the brigade commander is the symbolic regimental commander I don't know, but his title is brigade commander.--Nobunaga24 09:36, 10 August 2006 (UTC)

Brigade/Regiment/Group are usually defined as units consisting multiple battalions with a force size between 1500 and 3200 personnel. Brigades = Infantry and support entities such as the Signal Brigade, etc., Regiments = Armor/Cavalry, Group = Special Forces and Rangers. Brigade/Regiment Commander are the same position in the infantry brigades in the 101st. I have no evidence, but theorize that the three brigades in the 101st Airborne Division, 187th, 327th and 502nd, are referred to as regiments because of their Air Assault missions.


 * Well, 2nd Brigade of the 101st has 1-502 IN, 2-502 IN, and 1-75 CAV. They're regiments for purposes of unit honors.  There is typically no such thing as a regimental commander, or when there it is, it is an honorary position, nothing more. mcornelius (talk) 18:41, 29 August 2009 (UTC)

Colin Powell's picture used to hang on the wall at the Brigade HQ building (1996) with all past Brigade Commanders. It's pretty much standard to do that, so I suspect it is still there. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Bostondolf (talk • contribs) 18:36, 6 November 2008 (UTC)

I confirm that Colin Powell's photo is still up in the 2 BDE HQ building as of 12 JUL 09. He commanded 2 BDE (502nd Infantry Regiment) from March 1976 - July 1977. Dieterichg (talk) 07:08, 12 July 2009 (UTC)


 * I remember looking at all those damn pictures of former commanders when on CQ or SD. Some things I miss. Some things I don't.mcornelius (talk) 18:41, 29 August 2009 (UTC)

The problem is when then-COL Powell had the Brigade, the 2nd Brigade lineup was 1/501, 1/502, and 1/506. 2/502 was still in 1st Brigade as it had been since before Vietnam, and 3/502 didn't reactivate until '84 using the assets and personnel of 1/506 when the "Curahee's" colors went to Korea to give 2ID one of its two air assault battalions. Colonel Jones, while he was the Honorary Colonel of the Regiment, only considered the "Colonels of the Regiment" to be those officers who commanded the 502nd PIR in WWII then the post-'84 regimentally organized 2nd Brigade. So while COL Powell commanded the 2nd Brigade, he didn't command the 502nd Regiment.WiseguyThreeOne (talk) 01:13, 20 March 2012 (UTC)

2nd Battalion in Operation Iraqi Freedom
I removed this entire section. Not only was it overlong and poorly written for WP, it hadn't had a single citation added to it since it was "written" in Aug 2007. If something in Op: Iraqi Freedom happened that was notable, verifiable and related to the 502IR, please add it. 71.234.215.133 (talk) 07:40, 30 January 2011 (UTC)


 * Between On Point by the Army's Center for Military History and Along the Tigris written by then-SPC Tom Day of the Division public affairs section and published by Schiffer Historical after he left the Army, what we did can be pretty accurately tracked and footnoted. Once I finish un f***ing the WWII section, I'll get to it. Besides, I was there at the time.WiseguyThreeOne (talk) 08:04, 10 December 2013 (UTC)

Other Battles and Who did more...
Is it really necessary to chest bump with other Brigades on Wikipedia? Maybe a line reading something to the effect of, while Col. Tom Hill's 1st Brigade was the lead Brigade, only 2nd Brigade took part in all three actions. This rather than the rampant fanyboyism talking about one upping other Brigades. The section referred to is- "Even though the 1st Brigade (327th Infantry Regiment) was the "lead" at Cobra, the 502nd was 25% of that historical movement. We have 1st Brigade "one upped" because we were involved in all three major movements of the division. Hafar al-Batin Cobra Viper The 502nd is the "ONLY" brigade that can lay claim to all three. Col. Tom Hill's 1st Brigade was not involved at Hafar al-Batin or Viper."

I'd like to think we can be a little more professional than that on something that a lot of people are reading and judging the Army by. 24.156.84.222 (talk) 07:11, 25 March 2011 (UTC)

Clean up
I am going to do my best to clean this up and work on inline citations. Right now it is a bunch of copy paste from unit web pages. EricSerge (talk) 00:11, 31 January 2013 (UTC)


 * I concur. I tried to build on your work but more needs to be done.Ocalafla (talk) 20:27, 30 May 2013 (UTC)


 * I'm adding inline cites to the Regimental history I wrote and turned in to COL Hickman for Week of the Eagles 2007. Not to inflate my ego, but it's better than what's up there now for the WWII portion. I'll get that up and patched together first, then work on the rest of it. Since I finished my master's and started getting divorced, I need a hobby to cut down on my porn habit anyway.WiseguyThreeOne (talk) 07:53, 10 December 2013 (UTC)

Separate Battalion Sections
To be honest, the more I look at this page I think it's stupid, it doesn't need them, and the activities of the various battalions can be dealt with in the chronological sections.

I could see a separate section for the activities of the 502nd-flagged days of the Berlin Brigade, but that will mainly involve linking to that article. Anyone have any thoughts?WiseguyThreeOne (talk) 22:48, 11 December 2013 (UTC)


 * Silence equals consent.WiseguyThreeOne (talk) 07:10, 13 December 2013 (UTC)

Arrow Air Flight 1285
How can this disaster, the blooodiest day for this regiment, not be mentioned? Paul, in Saudi (talk) 09:05, 30 March 2014 (UTC)

Look under the Regimental Realignment heading. I haven't blown it out to a full section of its own yet because I'm busy packing the ex's stuff with the divorce. 72.171.0.144 (talk) 01:28, 8 April 2014 (UTC)

War crimes
The history of the regiment is not complete without a reference to war crimes in Iraq.Royalcourtier (talk) 00:38, 14 June 2014 (UTC)

I agree, it seems like WiseGuyThreeOne is a former member of the 502nd and wishes to whitewash the unit's history. The only reference to the incident is in the notable members section — Preceding unsigned comment added by 60.241.18.30 (talk) 09:52, 28 January 2015 (UTC)

Whitewash the history, my ass. I was in Iraq with the regiment when that shit happened, and I thought Steven Green should have ended up in front of a fucking firing squad. While I admit I have fallen off my original intent of writing a definitive encyclopedic history of the unit, I plan on going into the Yusifiyah murder case in some detail using Jim Fredrick's excellent "Black Hearts" as a reference. WiseguyThreeOne (talk) 03:24, 27 August 2015 (UTC)
 * I added links to the main article about it.--Savonneux (talk) 17:23, 7 August 2016 (UTC)

Translation
What does this mean "in order to move home in a more convenient fashion, the 101st largely drew down in Vietnam, and it was a skeletal unit that came back"? I don't know what the first part even means. "Move home in a more convenience fashion...drew down...skeletal unit". All are unclear and/or colloquial expressions that could be better converted to standard English.Royalcourtier (talk) 00:41, 14 June 2014 (UTC)

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