U.S. Army Paratroopers Train in Hawaii with C‑17 Airdrops to Advance Pacific–Caribbean Readiness
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A new DVIDS photo from 12 January 2025 shows soldiers from the 11th Airborne Division jumping from a C-17 over Hawaii during JPMRC 25 01. The image underscores how the United States is sharpening rapid deployment skills for both Pacific deterrence and potential instability tied to Venezuela.
A recently released image of a C-17 Globemaster III dropping paratroopers over Hawaii quietly illustrated much more than a routine training serial, as announced by DVIDS on 1 December 2025. The photograph shows U.S. Army soldiers from the 11th Airborne Division exiting a U.S. Air Force C-17 over the Pohakuloa Training Area during Joint Pacific Multinational Readiness Center 25-01, a large-scale exercise held in the island’s rugged volcanic terrain. Behind this snapshot lies a broader story of how the United States trains to project land forces rapidly across oceans, reassure allies in the Indo-Pacific and, increasingly, manage an escalating confrontation with Venezuela. The event therefore, has significance that extends well beyond Hawaii, touching both Pacific deterrence and crisis planning in the Caribbean and northern South America.
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A newly released photo of 11th Airborne Division paratroopers jumping from a C-17 over Hawaii offers a rare look at how the United States is refining rapid deployment skills for Pacific missions and crisis planning tied to rising tensions with Venezuela (Picture Source: DVIDS)
During the Pohakuloa airdrop, the C-17 provided the core capability that underpins U.S. global power projection: the capacity to insert sizeable, combat-credible forces directly onto austere landing zones or drop zones after long over-water flights. The Globemaster III can carry more than 80 tonnes of cargo or over 100 paratroopers, combine tactical low-level flight profiles with strategic range, and operate from relatively short, semi-prepared runways when required. In the context of Joint Pacific Multinational Readiness Center rotations, these attributes are used to rehearse complex air-ground missions that link airlift, airborne troops, and ground maneuver brigades across dispersed islands. JPMRC is designed to replicate jungle, arctic and archipelagic conditions, matching the realities of the Indo-Pacific theater rather than the large contiguous training areas of continental North America. In such scenarios, aircraft like the C-17 are not just transport assets but the critical bridge that connects U.S. and allied units spread across thousands of kilometers of ocean into a coherent fighting force.
For the 11th Airborne Division, known as the “Arctic Angels,” this airdrop forms part of a broader demonstration of how light infantry, air‑mobile, and airborne units stationed in Alaska and Hawaii can rapidly project combat power across the Indo‑Pacific. The division is tasked with operating in some of the world’s most demanding environments, ranging from snow‑covered Arctic training areas to humid jungle valleys and volcanic plateaus, often in close coordination with regional partners. Through exercises associated with the Joint Pacific Multinational Readiness Center (JPMRC), the division has already executed multi‑ship airborne operations, rapid air‑land insertions, and complex live‑fire drills designed to validate its ability to deploy on short notice and engage immediately upon arrival. The recent drop over Pohakuloa thus serves both as a confirmation of core tactical competencies, parachute procedures, drop‑zone management, and air‑ground integration, and as a test of the broader “airbridge” that enables the movement of troops and equipment from mainland bases to forward positions across the archipelago.
Strategically, using Hawaii and Alaska as anchor points for JPMRC sends a signal that the U.S. Army and Air Force are embedding the Indo-Pacific theater’s geographic realities into their core training model. Instead of treating the region as an adjunct to continental operations, JPMRC builds scenarios around multi-island logistics, contested air and sea lines of communication and coordination with regional partners. This aligns with the current concept of Integrated Deterrence, which relies on seamlessly combining conventional forces, air and naval power, and allied contributions to complicate any adversary’s planning calculus. By demonstrating that large formations can be transported over long distances, inserted by parachute or air-landed in constrained terrain, and sustained in realistic combat conditions, the United States aims to reassure partners from Japan to the Philippines while deterring potential rivals that might seek to exploit archipelagic chokepoints or remote islands. Exercises of this type also allow commanders to test command-and-control architectures, joint targeting processes and logistics chains that could be adapted to other regions if required.
The advanced operational capabilities demonstrated over Hawaii are becoming increasingly relevant to a growing crisis to the east, where escalating tensions between Washington and Caracas have turned the Caribbean into an area of intensified military activity. The United States has entered what officials describe as a formal armed conflict against drug cartels allegedly supported by elements of the Venezuelan state. This campaign combines maritime interdiction, airstrikes on suspected smuggling vessels, and forward deployments throughout the region. Reports of U.S. strikes on vessels linked to Venezuela, the installation of a sophisticated radar network in Trinidad and Tobago, and new basing agreements for U.S. aircraft in countries such as the Dominican Republic highlight the expanding operational footprint.
In this context, the airborne capabilities refined in Hawaii have taken on renewed importance. The same C-17 aircraft used to deliver troops onto volcanic plateaus can, with different routing and staging, deploy specialized forces to airfields or drop zones along the Caribbean coast. Although there is no public evidence that the Joint Pacific Multinational Readiness Center (JPMRC) is rehearsing a specific Venezuelan scenario, both Washington and Caracas are likely aware that large-scale airdrops, rapid airbridge operations, and integrated logistics rehearsed in the Pacific could be applied to a range of contingencies, from non-combatant evacuations and precision raids to, in the extreme, broader intervention. This connection between distant theaters underscores how U.S. global mobility exercises in one region inevitably influence perceptions and strategic calculations in another.
The personnel airdrop at Pohakuloa thus illustrates a convergence of operational readiness and geopolitical signaling. For U.S. commanders, it is a necessary step in preparing aircrews and paratroopers to operate across demanding environments in the Indo-Pacific. For partners and competitors, it is a visible demonstration that the United States retains the ability to assemble, move and insert substantial land forces over great distances on short notice. And for observers watching the unfolding confrontation with Venezuela, it is a reminder that the same global mobility network that feeds Pacific exercises can, if ordered, be redirected toward the Caribbean basin. In a world where crises in one region increasingly reverberate in another, a single C-17 dropping soldiers over Hawaii becomes more than a training vignette; it is a snapshot of how the United States is shaping a posture meant to respond to simultaneous challenges, from contested archipelagos in the Pacific to volatile coastlines on the northern edge of South America.
Written by Teoman S. Nicanci – Defense Analyst, Army Recognition Group
Teoman S. Nicanci holds degrees in Political Science, Comparative and International Politics, and International Relations and Diplomacy from leading Belgian universities, with research focused on Russian strategic behavior, defense technology, and modern warfare. He is a defense analyst at Army Recognition, specializing in the global defense industry, military armament, and emerging defense technologies.
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A new DVIDS photo from 12 January 2025 shows soldiers from the 11th Airborne Division jumping from a C-17 over Hawaii during JPMRC 25 01. The image underscores how the United States is sharpening rapid deployment skills for both Pacific deterrence and potential instability tied to Venezuela.
A recently released image of a C-17 Globemaster III dropping paratroopers over Hawaii quietly illustrated much more than a routine training serial, as announced by DVIDS on 1 December 2025. The photograph shows U.S. Army soldiers from the 11th Airborne Division exiting a U.S. Air Force C-17 over the Pohakuloa Training Area during Joint Pacific Multinational Readiness Center 25-01, a large-scale exercise held in the island’s rugged volcanic terrain. Behind this snapshot lies a broader story of how the United States trains to project land forces rapidly across oceans, reassure allies in the Indo-Pacific and, increasingly, manage an escalating confrontation with Venezuela. The event therefore, has significance that extends well beyond Hawaii, touching both Pacific deterrence and crisis planning in the Caribbean and northern South America.
A newly released photo of 11th Airborne Division paratroopers jumping from a C-17 over Hawaii offers a rare look at how the United States is refining rapid deployment skills for Pacific missions and crisis planning tied to rising tensions with Venezuela (Picture Source: DVIDS)
During the Pohakuloa airdrop, the C-17 provided the core capability that underpins U.S. global power projection: the capacity to insert sizeable, combat-credible forces directly onto austere landing zones or drop zones after long over-water flights. The Globemaster III can carry more than 80 tonnes of cargo or over 100 paratroopers, combine tactical low-level flight profiles with strategic range, and operate from relatively short, semi-prepared runways when required. In the context of Joint Pacific Multinational Readiness Center rotations, these attributes are used to rehearse complex air-ground missions that link airlift, airborne troops, and ground maneuver brigades across dispersed islands. JPMRC is designed to replicate jungle, arctic and archipelagic conditions, matching the realities of the Indo-Pacific theater rather than the large contiguous training areas of continental North America. In such scenarios, aircraft like the C-17 are not just transport assets but the critical bridge that connects U.S. and allied units spread across thousands of kilometers of ocean into a coherent fighting force.
For the 11th Airborne Division, known as the “Arctic Angels,” this airdrop forms part of a broader demonstration of how light infantry, air‑mobile, and airborne units stationed in Alaska and Hawaii can rapidly project combat power across the Indo‑Pacific. The division is tasked with operating in some of the world’s most demanding environments, ranging from snow‑covered Arctic training areas to humid jungle valleys and volcanic plateaus, often in close coordination with regional partners. Through exercises associated with the Joint Pacific Multinational Readiness Center (JPMRC), the division has already executed multi‑ship airborne operations, rapid air‑land insertions, and complex live‑fire drills designed to validate its ability to deploy on short notice and engage immediately upon arrival. The recent drop over Pohakuloa thus serves both as a confirmation of core tactical competencies, parachute procedures, drop‑zone management, and air‑ground integration, and as a test of the broader “airbridge” that enables the movement of troops and equipment from mainland bases to forward positions across the archipelago.
Strategically, using Hawaii and Alaska as anchor points for JPMRC sends a signal that the U.S. Army and Air Force are embedding the Indo-Pacific theater’s geographic realities into their core training model. Instead of treating the region as an adjunct to continental operations, JPMRC builds scenarios around multi-island logistics, contested air and sea lines of communication and coordination with regional partners. This aligns with the current concept of Integrated Deterrence, which relies on seamlessly combining conventional forces, air and naval power, and allied contributions to complicate any adversary’s planning calculus. By demonstrating that large formations can be transported over long distances, inserted by parachute or air-landed in constrained terrain, and sustained in realistic combat conditions, the United States aims to reassure partners from Japan to the Philippines while deterring potential rivals that might seek to exploit archipelagic chokepoints or remote islands. Exercises of this type also allow commanders to test command-and-control architectures, joint targeting processes and logistics chains that could be adapted to other regions if required.
The advanced operational capabilities demonstrated over Hawaii are becoming increasingly relevant to a growing crisis to the east, where escalating tensions between Washington and Caracas have turned the Caribbean into an area of intensified military activity. The United States has entered what officials describe as a formal armed conflict against drug cartels allegedly supported by elements of the Venezuelan state. This campaign combines maritime interdiction, airstrikes on suspected smuggling vessels, and forward deployments throughout the region. Reports of U.S. strikes on vessels linked to Venezuela, the installation of a sophisticated radar network in Trinidad and Tobago, and new basing agreements for U.S. aircraft in countries such as the Dominican Republic highlight the expanding operational footprint.
In this context, the airborne capabilities refined in Hawaii have taken on renewed importance. The same C-17 aircraft used to deliver troops onto volcanic plateaus can, with different routing and staging, deploy specialized forces to airfields or drop zones along the Caribbean coast. Although there is no public evidence that the Joint Pacific Multinational Readiness Center (JPMRC) is rehearsing a specific Venezuelan scenario, both Washington and Caracas are likely aware that large-scale airdrops, rapid airbridge operations, and integrated logistics rehearsed in the Pacific could be applied to a range of contingencies, from non-combatant evacuations and precision raids to, in the extreme, broader intervention. This connection between distant theaters underscores how U.S. global mobility exercises in one region inevitably influence perceptions and strategic calculations in another.
The personnel airdrop at Pohakuloa thus illustrates a convergence of operational readiness and geopolitical signaling. For U.S. commanders, it is a necessary step in preparing aircrews and paratroopers to operate across demanding environments in the Indo-Pacific. For partners and competitors, it is a visible demonstration that the United States retains the ability to assemble, move and insert substantial land forces over great distances on short notice. And for observers watching the unfolding confrontation with Venezuela, it is a reminder that the same global mobility network that feeds Pacific exercises can, if ordered, be redirected toward the Caribbean basin. In a world where crises in one region increasingly reverberate in another, a single C-17 dropping soldiers over Hawaii becomes more than a training vignette; it is a snapshot of how the United States is shaping a posture meant to respond to simultaneous challenges, from contested archipelagos in the Pacific to volatile coastlines on the northern edge of South America.
Written by Teoman S. Nicanci – Defense Analyst, Army Recognition Group
Teoman S. Nicanci holds degrees in Political Science, Comparative and International Politics, and International Relations and Diplomacy from leading Belgian universities, with research focused on Russian strategic behavior, defense technology, and modern warfare. He is a defense analyst at Army Recognition, specializing in the global defense industry, military armament, and emerging defense technologies.
