FORT POLK, La. -- Moments after landing in the blackness of a warm night and securing his parachute, Col. Joseph A. Ryan huddled on the drop zone with several of his officers. Radio messages crackled in his earpiece. Red flashlights illuminated a folded map. Above him, a thousand paratroopers were plummeting out of the sky, and the armored trucks that came down with them were already expanding their defensive lines. The sporadic thunk-thunk-thunk of .50-caliber machinegun fire and the crackle of rifle shots marked contact with the enemy. Ryan, a boyish 45-year-old West Pointer, commands the 2nd Brigade Combat Team of the 82nd Airborne Division. He had jumped in with this first wave of...
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