Hi Norfolk, sorry for the late reply but I actually agree with you about the Airborne and along the same lines as you were thinking (reference German Airborne forces). This concept was kicked around when they first came into being. They were going to be part of the Army Air Corps. Very similar to how the USMC used to be to the Navy.

Strongly disagree about Warden's rings. The main reason the Civillian population is listed in ring 4 is to either be on a No Strike list or to be a psy op or I/O target. If you can ever get a copy of the country X study by the Air Force it explains that in some detail.