Editing Paratrooper (section)

{{Short description|Military parachutists functioning as part of an airborne }}
{{Citations needed|date=May 2024}}
{{Distinguish|Paramilitary|Paratroopa}}
{{other uses|Paratrooper (disambiguation)}}
[[File:U.S. Army, British and Italian paratroopers Pordenone, Italy 191203-A-JM436-0590C.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|Paratroopers of the armies of [[British Army|Britain]], [[Italian Army|Italy]], [[Turkish Army|Turkey]] and the [[United States Army|United States]] during an exercise in [[Pordenone, Italy]], 2019.]]

A '''paratrooper''' or '''military parachutist''' is a [[soldier]] trained to conduct [[military operation]]s by [[parachuting]] directly into an [[area of operations]], usually as part of a large [[airborne forces]] unit. Traditionally paratroopers fight only as [[light infantry]] armed with [[small arms and light weapons]], although some paratroopers can also function as [[artillerymen]] or [[mechanized infantry]] by utilizing [[field gun]]s, [[infantry fighting vehicle]]s and [[light tank]]s that are often used in [[surprise attack]]s to seize strategic positions behind enemy lines such as [[airfield]]s, [[bridge]]s and major [[road]]s.<ref>{{cite book |title=A Dictionary of Aviation |first=David W. |last=Wragg |isbn=9780850451634 |edition=first |publisher=Osprey |year=1973 |page=209}}</ref>