RULE NO. 1
their squads, platoons and companies in a battalion-sized drop.
A SOLUTION WITH MAJOR PROBLEMS Earlier in the decade, some geniuses envi- sioned that highly trained paratroopers with steerable chutes could maneuver in the air as
they descended to earth
and move closer to previously desig- nated assembly areas, perhaps marked by Pathfinders or other early-arriving troop leaders. If you’re already imagining some things wrong with this tactical concept, try adding the fact that in actual com- bat (and usually in training as well), the preferred mode of airborne forced entry into enemy territory is during the hours of darkness, and from an altitude of only 500 feet.
Tis doesn’t give the trooper adequate visibility of the terrain, or the time to do much maneuvering before hitting the ground. Te Soldier is usually busy untwisting the parachute harness “risers” and lowering heavy equipment (rucksack and weapon containers) in the few sec- onds before conducting a controlled fall onto what the Soldier hopes is something other than trees, water or asphalt. Te Sol- dier is really lucky to be able just to face the chute into the wind, having to guess which way it is blowing, to avoid crashing into the ground at 8 knots—plus what- ever the wind speed is at ground level.
Well, we assembled in midair with this new parachute all right, but not the way the geniuses had planned. An additional and completely unintended aspect of the MC1-1 that came to light during initial employment was that the chute did some- thing strange as it was coming out of its deployment bag underneath the aircraft. When two troopers exited the airplane at the same time from the opposing rear doors, the chutes tended to come together
130
STICKING THE LANDING
The MC1-1, which featured a U-shaped hole intended to allow Soldiers to maneuver in midair, was hailed as the biggest milestone in decades for airborne operations. Excitement over the long-expected innovation pushed the program forward despite the problems shown in operational testing: The chutes tended to get tangled up, leaving one trooper dangling from a fellow trooper’s chute in one of the less disastrous outcomes. (U.S. Army photo)
and even rub against each other as they were opening. Sometimes
they would
intertwine and cause catastrophe—one or both jumpers would lose all lift and fall
free when the nylon chute began
melting from friction, or hang helplessly entangled below the upper jumper. It happened even when troopers, propelled by the built-in forward speed of the canopy, collided at lower altitudes. Te 82nd lost seven troopers to high- or low- altitude entanglements leading up to my arrival.
in the months
In the brigade headquarters, I remember occupying the office desk of a sergeant first class who had died from such an accident a week or so earlier. He was an experienced jumper, which gave me pause: What in the world were we doing with this new piece of gear? Soon we were
We were also having ground crews light big smoke pots on the drop zone so we could perhaps see (on a moonlit night, maybe) which way the wind was blow- ing. (We joked about who might perform this nice service for us in combat.) We intensified the training and pre-jump briefings on how to steer, avoid collisions with each other and land with the chute.
incorporating workarounds such as alter- nating the exits of individual jumpers out of each opposing aircraft door, using chemical light sticks inside the aircraft, pointed at the jumper, as a visual signal to go out the door. Tis slowed down the exits and required multiple passes over the drop zone to get all the paratroopers out safely—a real pain in peacetime, and definitely not feasible for actual combat operations.
Army AL&T Magazine
January-March 2017
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