Jesse

Yes, we jump the C-5 on a pretty regular basis, actually. It really is a huge aircraft, you load cargo and jumpers through the nose of the aircraft. The nose raises up on a hinge and ends up above the flight deck. You can put hundreds of jumpers on one aircraft, although you have to do multiple passes because no DZs exist that have enough time to put them all out, and you end up maxing out the anchor line cables anyway. Another interesting thing is that the aircraft actually has to approach jump run and climb in order to stay in they air, so that it doesn't stall, at the jump speed because it's so big. So as you exit, you're walking down-hill towards the jump doors, because the nose is raised. The jump feels virtually the same as a C-141 or C-130, with just a little more prop blast. It's an awesome site to see that thing come over the DZ at low level - seems impossible that it flies, like a skyscraper with wings. It's big enough to play a regulation game of basketball inside. JP

Hey, like I said, man, I'm just a grunt and probably have it all mixed up. That's so true about Army guys calling airman around us "hey air force guy, ETAC, STS, CCT, PJ, romad, or whatever - just get over here and get me some CAS!" I'm just as guilty as all the rest - thanks for setting it straight - sorry about the weather guy thing; in our unit they work in the same office as the TACP so we never really know who's who.

Lots of folks wore unofficial berets in the 70s, and Air Force does have some outlandish ones, I've seen TACP weather guys with grey berets I think, and lots of other combinations, like STS (AF CCT guys) and PJs I think still wear a red beret that is a different shade than the Army airborne maroon beret. It all gets very labyrinthine. Of course, we (Army Rangers) now wear the tan beret, since the Army changed to all black berets. The guys you're talking about sound like TACP (tactical control party) AF operators involved with terminal guidance of aircraft-delivered ordnance. Used to be, you had to had to have a guy on the ground with a laser designator to paint a target with an IR laser to get a laser splash for a bomb to travel down it and connect with the tgt. Now, with the GPS smart bombs, the pilot can paint and guide it for himself from the cockpit. He just has to keep the designator on the target. Although you still need terminal guidance on the ground, the roles have changed with the technology. Although, I'm just a grunt and may have this stuff all mixed up. ALSO, the wind deflector on the C-141 hasn't changed - it's still a bitch to see around when jumpmastering, but the good news is that all the C-141s are being systematically replaced with the C-17, which has an awesome built-in wind deflector and jump platform, you can literally stand outside the a/c on the platform and do your outside air safety checks without more than a little breeze blowing on you - awesome.

OK - my thoughts on all above, for what it's worth: 1. I served with 3rd Ranger Battalion from 94-97 and new John Stebbins pretty well; I was a platoon leader and company XO in the company next door to the one he was in. He was a real low-key unassuming guy and never went anywhere without coffee. The guy who plays him in the movie nails his personality and mannerisms, although Stebby is short and kinda pudgy and this guy looks tall and thin. Most of us who knew him where floored when we heard about what happened after he left the unit. You just never would have expected it of the guy. Anyway, he deserves to be punished for what he did, and he's certainly going to get his share at Leavenworth. But that doesn't change what he did on 3 OCT - at least 5 former Rangers who are out of the Army and now teachers, policemen, whatever, absolutely owe their life to him, and they should thank him every day, because although he was a short, dumpy, pudgy desk jockey who ended up raping a kid, the truth is he was also one hellaciously ferocious, heroic sonofabitch under direct fire. The paradox of war and combat - sometimes, and more often than not from what I've seen, the worst are the best. I knew a guy who watched Stebby stand in the middle of an alley, with no cover, watching some 13-year old kid with an AK trying to re-load, knowing he's high on khat and getting ready to blow him away, and Stebby starts throwing rocks at him, just to piss him off and keep him distracted so he couldn't reload because he's too busy dodging the rocks, and Stebby was holding a M-4 with a full mag, locked and loaded, in the middle of a free-fire zone. Stebby did it just to piss the kid off. He was that cool under fire, inside hand grenade range; he was playing games with these dudes while folks were getting there heads blown off. It was like some mean little kid teasing a house cat - same mentality. Weird guy. 2. The discussion about Rwanda, Algeria, etc. "Why didn't we help them? Why are we meddling in Somalia but not other places where people are dying?" Hey, it's complex, and it's personality driven. Clauswitz said that "War is an extension of politics by other means" and it's true. Soldiers go where they are ordered to go and fight and politicians make policy. Policy is devised by people with their own personal set of experiences, biases, and agendas. One of the main reasons we didn't act in Rwanda is because of the way the Clinton Administration reacted to Somalia. They withdrew the entire Task Force and basically declared defeat and cased the colors. Yes 18 Americans died, but the tactical mission was accomplished and they killed hundreds of the enemy. However, the strategic mission, the most important battle - the Public Relations War - was a total loss. The way the administration recated signalled defeat and was a clear message to the leaders of the US military - "Above all else - take no casualties!" The repercussions were felt for years, Bosnia, Kosovo, etc. The mission for the regular troops became force protection. This tended to instill a defensive mindset - and conflicts are not won by playing defense. We're still dealing with the effects of the way the politicians reacted to the events of 3 OCT 93 in the mindset and lessons that have been inculcated into many of our soldiers. 3 OCT was a reminder that in war, people die, brutally, violently, inexplicably, and in large numbers. We humans are just way too efficient at organized murder (combat) to expect anything else. It seems like this country forgets that lesson about every decade, and then has to re-learn it again.

Andrea, I would be interested in what COL McKnight is doing now. I arrived at 3rd Ranger Battalion (the unit depicted in the movie) about 12 months after the events in Mogadishu and COL McKnight had already changed command. I know General Garrison sort of took the fall for the results of the mission - testifying before Congress, etc., he was not promoted. I heard that COL McKnight was promoted to O-6 (full Colonel) but was not selected for Brigade Command and was sent by the Army to serve as the Inspector General for the Virginia State National Guard. Do you know if that's true or if he is still living in Virginia, retired, or still on active duty?

In regards to above, I have been on active duty in the Army infantry serving with line units for 9 years, since I graduated from college and was commissioned, and plan on remaining on through retirement. I have heard many of those who leave the service for various reasons, my friends included, lament the political correctness, bureacracy, and misguided decisions of the leadership, and I agree in some cases. In other cases, it comes across as rationalization for other reasons for leaving the service that are more readily apparent (family conflicts/issues - by far the biggest, health issues, burned out, fed up, unmotivated, can't handle moving the family every 3 years anymore, or whatever). In many of the cases where folks who leave the service say "I was fed up with the bureacracy, PC bullsh*t, etc." I often wish they would just say something like, "I was proud to serve my country and lead America's sons and daughters and now it's time for me to do something else." rather than trying to rationalize the reason they left by critcizing the service for it's institutional shortcomings. Yes, as a government agency there's bureacracy and bureacrats, as there was in the Roman Legions and Washington's Continentals - soldiers throught human history have had to be fed, clothed, transported, and housed - and this all requires paperwork, email, etc. Yes - political correctness abounds. We recognize Asian-Pacific Islander month every year, and talk to our soldiers about supporting charities during a charity drive every year, and we don't let them sing lewd cadences while running in formation anymore. Slowly, and irrevocably we are becoming more and more professional - many people who have been around to witness these changes over the past 20 years are not happy. They say the military's been emasculated and turned into a bunch of choir boys. However, we are more lethal than we've ever been. We remain focused on combat and fighting every day and continue to train our soldiers for a faster and deadly changing battlefield. From my perspective, we've just become more professional. I've always thought that one big part of our job is to send these young men and women back to their moms and dads as better Americans than when they arrived on our doorstep. To some this is a painful transformation. Any American who has served even one day in the armed defense of this country has contributed to our nation's safe keeping and should be proud of their service. Those who have had the privilege to serve, whether they know it or not, will always be our unofficial spokespeople to the American people and their observations and reflections on their service will be how our armed forces are known and thought about by the American people. As for me, I stay on because of the 18-year old privates. There is a new generation that graduates from high school and must be trained and led every year. These young men and women will bear the brunt in combat - they will do the fighting and the dying. And they must have the best that we can give them - leadership, equipment, weapons, training. That is our duty as professionals, that is what their parents expect and demand - and that's enough for one lifetime, mine anyway.

In regard to berets, we switched to the tan beret from the black this last July during the Regimental Change of Command ceremony at Ft. Benning. This was due to GEN Shinseki's decision to make the black beret the standard headgear for all soldiers in the US Army. Our Regimental CDR wanted to ensure that we maintained a distinctive, unique appearance - so changed us to tan. Lot's of emotions by many in the Regiment, don't want to discuss here, bottom line is we're professional soldiers, we received an order, and we obeyed, as was our duty - that's the most important issue - maintaining the good order and discipline of the unit. As everyone who has served knows, "You don't have to like it - you just have to do it." End of story.

Yeah - I've been there, too. Especially if you're working a mass tac with a fairly short DZ (20-30 seconds) - you just have to get everybody out. On one of those I found myself directly above another Ranger's canopy, stole his air, dropped like a stone, and found myself competely engulfed in the center of his canopy trying to swim my way out, managed to pull a hand-over-hand over-hand one-riser slip and get out about 5 seconds before slamming into the tarmac of the runway at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida. Very scary, especially with no moon and zero illum.

True - "entanglements and collisions" as they are referred to are pretty common. Usually you just bounce off. We teach the boys not to slip (turn) during a mass tac if at all possible, unless they are deep trouble. That way everybody just flows in the same direction with the wind and we minimize problems. When the young Rangers start pulling radical slips because they're not happy with landing on the tarmac and try to make it to the infield, that's when the problems develop. I have seen some and been in some entanglements. Usually no big deal. My wife (not in the Rangers - another airborne unit, no women allowed in the Rangers or infantry) was involved in a scary collision about 50 feet up that resulted a collapsed canopy and a severe hard landing - she blacked out for a minute. But was ok after a few minutes, thankfully.

parachute and equipment recovery on the DZ from a mass tactical drop

static line mass tactical jump

This is my first time attempting to attach pics to a post, so bear with me. If it doesn't work I'll try again. I am the air officer (S-3 Air) at the US Army's 1st Ranger Battalion at Hunter Army Airfield in Savannah, GA. Here are a few photos from recent training missions we've conducted. Three pics show standard static line ops with Rangers equipped with T-10C rounds and front-mounted reserves and 1000-ft AGL exits from C-17 or C-130 aircraft. This is our standard configuration for mass tactical drops (100-500 Rangers). There's also a pic of Rangers exiting a C-130 at 14,000-ft AGL during a HALO military freefall (MFF) jump. Lastly, there's a pic of Rangers conducting a fastrope insertion from a MH-47 variant Chinook helicopter. The fastrope is a thick braided nylon rope that we kick out from the aircraft when it flares and slide down like a fire pole. Great for quick infils, easy to do, you wear thick leather work gloves so you don't burn your hands. You can see in all these pics that the Rangers are fully rigged and have all of their weapons and combat equipment - anywhere from 90-150 lbs of gear for a rifleman or machine gunner, complete with ammo. Makes for more work than fun, typically. Jesse Pearson Captain, US Army Savannah, GA B-24356

I recently heard that the FAA has declined to address the issue of extending the reserve repack cycle from 120 to 180 days. What are thoughts on this?

Absolutely amazing

I saw that segment yesterday, too - absolutely disgusting, letting that little bitch slap him like that. terrible, terrible...