Talk:Special Troops Battalion, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (United States)

Rakkasan
Origin and meaning of this word? The Japanese word for parachute is 落下傘 (rakkasan), so I presume that may be the origin but I have no source.

The Torii and Rakkansan information are mentioned in http://www.gertzfile.com/gertzfile/ring052402.html

The (problem) text in question is "The Japanese began calling the regiment the "Rakkasan," which roughly translates to "falling umbrella" as a  description of 187th soldiers practicing parachute drops." That is misleading. "rakkansan" translates to "parachute". You can say that the word "rakkansan" was originally derived from the similarity of parachutes in use to falling umbrellas. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.29.250.107 (talk) 18:01, 26 February 2008 (UTC)

Torii
Torii is said to be a symbol of this division, is that so?

Not of the division but of the brigade. It was adopted in WWII during fighting with the Japanese. The Rakkasans were given the name which roughtly translated means "Falling UMbrella Men." At that time they took the Torii as their symbol and it has been that ever since. For the rakkasans the Torii is the Gateway To Honor —Preceding unsigned comment added by 214.13.141.100 (talk) 17:07, 26 March 2008 (UTC)


 * There is no 'man' in 'rakkansan' (although the sound 'san' is approximately equivalnet to Mr. that is a different kanji with a different meaning). I have as yet been unable to determine when the word rakkansan came into general use, on the face of it it seems likely that the word (meaning parachute) was there before the brigade was.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.177.23.132 (talk) 10:11, 30 April 2008 (UTC)


 * OK, it looks like it was in a dictionary (So called 'Green Goddess 1') published in 1930 so it was the Japanese word for parachute before it was applied to the brigade. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.177.23.132 (talk) 11:15, 30 April 2008 (UTC)

Article Title
The title should be reduced to 3rd Special Troops Battalion (United States). The higher formations (3rd BCT, 187 Inf., 101st Abn. Div.) should be referenced in the article but should be cut out of the title to preserve space. User:Hotspur23 —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.147.155.7 (talk) 22:18, 17 October 2008 (UTC)