any former Airborne / Paratroopers? is this device used for hooking up before a jump?

Very Low-Level Military Parachutes

The WW2 Paratrooper: First-Hand Accounts of the D-Day Invasion

Airmen make it rain Soldiers in Predictable Iron > 446th Airlift

Mass tactical hi-res stock photography and images - Alamy

Airborne School: What It's Really Like Learning to Jump > U.S.

Paratroopers carry reserve chutesand sometimes flotation

Us army airborne paratroopers jump hi-res stock photography and

military - Why don't militaries use ram-air parachutes? - Aviation

Paratroopers carry reserve chutesand sometimes flotation

How new network tools can help find paratroopers faster and

82nd Airborne Division Celebrates 100 Years : NPR