FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE #05-06
PUBLIC AFFAIRS OFFICE
82nd AIRBORNE DIVISION
Fort Bragg, NC 28310-5000
Phone (910) 432-0661/0662 Fax (910) 432-5205
Website Address http://www.bragg.army.mil/www-82dv
 

June 12, 2003
Story by SPC Heather Boyne
82nd Public Affairs Office

82nd PARATROOPERS: FATHER AND SON JUMP TOGETHER

FORT BRAGG, N.C-- "I brag about my dad all the time," said Spc. Clifton J. Groce Jr. "It's not everyday that you're in the Army at the same time as your father, as well as the same division."

On June 12, 20-year-old Groce, ammunition specialist, 82nd Airborne Division Aviation Support Brigade, and his father, 43 year-old Sgt. 1st Class Clifton J. Gross, S-4 Noncommissioned Officer, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82nd Abn. Div., weren’t only stationed in the 82nd at the same time, but they parachuted out of the same C-130 Hercules aircraft together.

"It's a once-in-a-lifetime experience to jump out of a plane with your son," said elder Groce. "How often does that happen?" Both son and father, natives of Russellville, Ala., said they decided to be paratroopers because they wanted to experience the thrill of parachuting out an aircraft. Younger Groce went to the Fort Benning Airborne School in 2001, and his father went in 1984.

"I always wanted to jump out of planes," said elder Groce, who has over approximately 100 parachute jumps. "So did my son. So when he came to me and said he wanted to go airborne, I told him to go for it."

As a child, younger Groce, the oldest sibling of seven, watched his father parachute during airborne operations. The fact that his father was a paratrooper in the military was one of the reasons that he decided to join the Army.

"I wanted to follow in my father's footsteps," said younger Groce. It has been a joy to watch his son mature in the army and in the 82nd Abn. Div., said elder Groce, who has spent lots of time with his son traveling, fishing, playing cards, and now, parachuting out of planes.

I'm so proud of him," elder Groce said. "He is growing into a man. After being in the military, especially the 82nd, he will shine as a soldier and know how to do the right thing."