So was she! She was this little (98 lbs) girl from NYC, doing her bit for the war effort, and not a big burly commando. :) I imagine if she had needed the parachute, she would have been blown away somewhere--unless the rifle weighed her down!
My mom was a nurse in the Army Air Corps during WWII, and she remembers flying over the Himalayas equipped with a rifle and a parachute, "neither of which," she'd add, "we knew how to use." Her army trunk never caught up with her and was finally returned to her after the war was over, with everything inside covered with mold.