Soldier killed in parachute jump ahead of wedding

[sungod]

5 hours ago, sammieuk1 said:

Is there a more dangerous job than a Thai parachute jumper????RIP 

Chinese coal miner

 

 

And RIP to the young soldier

[TPI]

8 hours ago, DoctorG said:

We were told the very same thing at the OZ jump school. Not sure it was true, but was reassuring at the time.

Even off a static line he should have had an emergency shute and training on how to deploy it??

[Mel52]

Even off a static line he should have had an emergency shute and training on how to deploy it??

Yes he most definitely would have had a reserve parachute and yes on a static line jump as well. His reserve parachute would have been on the front of his body not on his back like it would be on a free fall jump. They didn’t explain how the accident happened so for some reason he just simply didn’t or couldn’t deploy his reserve parachute and we don’t know why it could be for literally hundreds of reasons because they didn’t say what happened up their.

These type of accidents on Airborne Operations are very rare but occasionally they do happen. When I was in the military on Fort Bragg when I used to jump they normally had at least a few fatalities from static line jumping a year. Luckily in all the years I jumped that’s one thing I never had to see.

But yes I assure you that he most certainly had a reserve parachute I know because I used to jump both static line and free fall in the military and you NEVER jump without a reserve parachute. And yes he would have had plenty of training on how to deploy the reserve parachute and lots of other Airborne training. This is one thing I am an expert on because it used to be part of my job for over 20 years.

[Mel52]

Interesting. There is no difference in how a static line deployed chute and a drogue deployed chute are packed, beyond the final closing, so that surprises me. The ability to pack a main parachute should be a part of passing any para qualification.... mind you, jumping those round buggers is crazy.
 
anyway, whilst the quality of the picture is poor, and doesn’t enlarge particularly well, it appears as though the parachute is still in its bag, indicating that the static line was not properly attached to its anchor point, within the plane (which is where the static line and bag should be, vs on the ground by the body)
 
RIP and blue skies forever.

Actually it is similar the way static line parachutes and free fall parachutes are packed but that’s just how we did things in SF. When it comes to free fall a High Altitude Low Opening (HALO) jump is a lot different. It requires oxygen for one thing so you don’t black out at altitude and go into hypoxia. And the training for free fall is A LOT different.

[bangrak]

My experience of jumps is very limited, just what was part of getting that covetted commando badge, and a few other 'real ones', later, in ops, but our confidence in the riggers was of major importance to me and my pals of the time (class '73...) when taking a dive.

It makes me wonder what can go on in the mind of those Thai troopers, with all the deadly 'accidents' we hear about...? Comforted by Karma, or what else?

I wonder how many disabling-non-lethal and 'undescribed' lethal ones there can be in the land of mai-pen-rai under an obliterating military dictatorship, ...also considering the immense value that chute- on-a-pair-of-wings on a, any, uniform has here... (I have no idea what jumps and the number of Thais need to do, really I mean, to get the badge).

P.S.: my admiration here for the 'riggers', a life, litteraly, depending on their eyes and hands, eve-ry-time they fold one 'chute, one of the most ignored function, while maybe the function themost immediately linked to life-or-death!

[bangrak]

8 hours ago, jany123 said:

Interesting. There is no difference in how a static line deployed chute and a drogue deployed chute are packed, beyond the final closing, so that surprises me. The ability to pack a main parachute should be a part of passing any para qualification.... mind you, jumping those round buggers is crazy.

 

anyway, whilst the quality of the picture is poor, and doesn’t enlarge particularly well, it appears as though the parachute is still in its bag, indicating that the static line was not properly attached to its anchor point, within the plane (which is where the static line and bag should be, vs on the ground by the body)

 

RIP and blue skies forever.

What a disgusting picture!!! Didn't have enough fabric to cover all of the deceased's body (and his helmet), was it? And WHO authorised such a picture to be taken and distributed in the first place? What a despicable bunch that is! Even no respect at all for their own! DISGUSTING!

[jany123]

51 minutes ago, Mel52 said:

Actually it is similar the way static line parachutes and free fall parachutes are packed but that’s just how we did things in SF. When it comes to free fall a High Altitude Low Opening (HALO) jump is a lot different. It requires oxygen for one thing so you don’t black out at altitude and go into hypoxia. And the training for free fall is A LOT different.

With senior instructor ratings in static line, freefall and tandem, I’m aware, having done and instructed on all forms of jumping.

mind you... with only a handful of those on the roundies, my hat goes off to you.... your a hardier soul than I.

[Mel52]

With senior instructor ratings in static line, freefall and tandem, I’m aware, having done and instructed on all forms of jumping.
mind you... with only a handful of those on the roundies, my hat goes off to you.... your a hardier soul than I.

What branch of service were you in? With what country? I’m assuming you were military.

[Mel52]

You know I only commented on this topic because I spent most of my 21 year military career on Airborne status so obviously it’s interesting to me. But then I started to think more about this young man’s fiancée and family who will never get to see him ever again. And it started to bring back these sudden memories to me of whenever I had to deal with the families of the men I knew who were killed in Afghanistan. I never lost anyone in Iraq that I knew but every time we deployed to Afghanistan in 3rd Special Forces Group we would always lose at least two guys every tour. But I never saw anyone die in training that I knew only in combat.

 

So I started remembering dealing with their families at the funerals and I just suddenly started remembering how I felt watching a mother, father, wife, a sister, or brother crying over a coffin at the memorial services and the funerals and talking to some of them, one guys’s mother in particular who still keeps in contact with me to this day ever since her son was killed in Afghanistan back in 2002.

 

I just suddenly started remembering that and I just got a little emotional about it just a little while ago. I haven’t felt emotional about all that in years it just sort of popped into my head just thinking about this topic and remembering my own experiences with death.

 

A lot of people think that those of us who were in the military and especially in Special Forces as I was never talk about anything which is not always true but sometimes it is true for some people and some things. For me this subject I just wrote about a little dealing with the families of my friends who died over there THAT is the kind of thing I almost NEVER talk about because it’s just too painful for me. I’ve never gotten emotional about it in years until a little while ago when I just sort of remembered it after reading this topic about this poor kid. So I think it’s probably a good idea for me to not read this topic for a while so I can get back into a good mood again. I was just thinking about this article and some people’s comments and the memories of when I dealt with the families of the guys I knew who died in Afghanistan just suddenly popped into my head and I’ve never thought about that in a long time and I never got emotional about it in a long time so I think I should maybe stay out of this conversation at least for now anyway.

 

Maybe I’ll feel like chatting about it again some more later but for now I’m just remembering some painful memories that I usually really don’t talk about not even to my own family. It’s just difficult to explain why.

 

 

 

 

[Mel52]

It’s just weird sometimes how reading something like this can just trigger memories of things that I can relate to. I’ll chat some more about this again later maybe but for now I think I need to log off and focus on something else or rather someone else.

 

 

 

 

[Mel52]

You know I only commented on this topic because I spent most of my 21 year military career on Airborne status so obviously it’s interesting to me. But then I started to think more about this young man’s fiancée and family who will never get to see him ever again. And it started to bring back these sudden memories to me of whenever I had to deal with the families of the men I knew who were killed in Afghanistan. I never lost anyone in Iraq that I knew but every time we deployed to Afghanistan in 3rd Special Forces Group we would always lose at least two guys every tour. But I never saw anyone die in training that I knew only in combat.

 

So I started remembering dealing with their families at the funerals and I just suddenly started remembering how I felt watching a mother, father, wife, a sister, or brother crying over a coffin at the memorial services and the funerals and talking to some of them, one guys’s mother in particular who still keeps in contact with me to this day ever since her son was killed in Afghanistan back in 2002.

 

I just suddenly started remembering that and I just got a little emotional about it just a little while ago. I haven’t felt emotional about all that in years it just sort of popped into my head just thinking about this topic and remembering my own experiences with death.

 

A lot of people think that those of us who were in the military and especially in Special Forces as I was never talk about anything which is not always true but sometimes it is true for some people and some things. For me this subject I just wrote about a little dealing with the families of my friends who died over there THAT is the kind of thing I almost NEVER talk about because it’s just too painful for me. I’ve never gotten emotional about it in years until a little while ago when I just sort of remembered it after reading this topic about this poor kid. So I think it’s probably a good idea for me to not read this topic for a while so I can get back into a good mood again. I was just thinking about this article and some people’s comments and the memories of when I dealt with the families of the guys I knew who died in Afghanistan just suddenly popped into my head and I’ve never thought about that in a long time and I never got emotional about it in a long time so I think I should maybe stay out of this conversation at least for now anyway.

 

Maybe I’ll feel like chatting about it again some more later but for now I’m just remembering some painful memories that I usually really don’t talk about not even to my own family. It’s just difficult to explain why.

 

 

 

 

One more quick comment about this at the memorial services and funerals of guys we worked with and even saw killed in combat we literally had orders to NEVER get emotional in front of their families. But that did not always work in my experience. We are people to regardless of the training and trying not to let it get personal or too much in our heads sometimes getting emotional in front of the family can’t be helped. But I understand why because it was about their families not about us. That’s all I can say about those issues without letting it bother me emotionally right now.

[Mel52]

We grieve just like anyone else we are not like what some more unrealistic movies make us look like.

 

 

 

 

[PhilAtUbon]

18 hours ago, missoura said:

I never was involved with Cobra Gold, but I was an earth dart for Uncle Sam for several years. Back then our parachutes were packed by the riggers and the army had an effective and yet simple quality assurance program. This is how it worked. Riggers were randomly selected and they had to jump with the parachute they had just packed.  

 

We used to go one better than that.

We packed our own ????