lieutenant colonel jeffrey tarhoon the commander at ft. benning, georgia. he explains why less were used. >> there were few if any combat jumps that were made during the korean war with the terrain of korea. very mountainous. it would be very difficult to find a place suitable to conduct an airborne operation. if you look at the drop zones that we chose in world war ii, they were large open areas. >> the deployment of paratroopers may have slowed in the 1950s, but the parachute itself remained a vital tool. dropped stranded soldiers and marines at the reservoir in korea and a parachute used to help safely land the first u.s.-manned space capsule. during the vietnam era airborne operations were overshadowed by the helicopter. >> send an entire division of paratroopers into those lines would make it difficult. so helicopter became a much more important player. >> because of this the number of airborne divisions was cut back to just one, the 82nd. >> the 101st still wears the airborne patch as a part of its uniform, but their mission inside the army is air ass