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| US Airborne Catastrophe In Hohenfelz - 47 Injured |
| 2011-10-07 |
| Dozens of U.S. Army paratroopers have been hurt during a massive airborne drop in Germany. Sixteen of the 47 injured men are still in hospital, two of them in intensive care after the jump involving 1,000 soldiers went terribly wrong. They suffered head, spine and pelvic injuries. The exercise pitted soldiers from the Vicenza, Italy-based 173rd Airborne Brigade in a mock-battle scenario with Slovakian soldiers and American troops from the 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team over the Hohenfels training area in Bavaria, southern Germany. The American army said the drop was part of a scheme to switch the military focus back to fighting conventional forces as operations in Iraq and Afghanistan wind down. It is unclear what precisley happened to cause the numerous injuries. Officers at the clinic where the soldiers were treated said some of the injuries appeared related to parachutes drifting into nearby trees. Most of the injuries occurred during the first wave of the morning drop, which involved about 650 soldiers. Officers at the clinic where the soldiers were treated said some of the injuries appeared related to parachutes drifting into nearby trees. Polish troops also took part in the exercise but none of them were hurt. The victims suffered a variety of broken bones and spinal injuries and every one of them required hospital treatment. They were ferried to a local hospital in a fleet of ambulances. A German civilian who witnessed the drop told Radio Bavaria: 'I’ve never seen so many parachutes in the sky. It was incredible sight, but I had no inkling that anything was wrong. I didn’t see any chutes tangled or men appearing to drop too fast.' But the military said that they would not be staging an inquiry into what happened because the injury rate was “acceptable”. Civilian spokeswoman for the Joint multinational Training Command, which is under U.S. Army command, Denver Makle, said as the numbers injured 'was within expected margins' an investigation was not necessary. Speaking to The Local, a German website, she added: 'Airborne operations are always dangerous. There is very little margin for error.' She explained an injury rate of up to 3 per cent is normal in this type of exercise. The units involved will continue their training, which is one part of an exercise involving thousands of soldiers from 10 countries. |
| Posted by:Anonymoose |
| #9 Weather in Bavaria on Wednesday was sunny, warm, but with gusty winds |
| Posted by: European Conservative 2011-10-07 22:43 |
| #8 Looking through an old issue of the Smithsonian Air and Space Magazine (Sep 2007, p. 78) there is an art re: chute upgrades (T-11)to support a weight of 400# vs 250 for the (T-10). According to this, 10,000 of the T-11's were to be in place by 2010. Whatever the cause, pray for speedy and full recoveries for our troops. |
| Posted by: USN, Ret. 2011-10-07 21:37 |
| #7 This sort of incident happens - and will continue to happen - unless and until the military gets so risk adverse that they eliminate all risky training. Paratroopers get extra "hazardous duty pay" every month, and each trooper is at least a double volunteer - once for the Army, and once for the Airborne. A good friend of mine died in a similar event in 1982: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,922840,00.html My own "worst jump" was in February 17979, while serving with the 2/235th Inf (Abn) - jumping onto Arrowhead Drop Zone at Ft. Chaffee, Arkansas. We jumped one company from three CH-47 Chinook helicopters. It was about 20 degrees F on the ground, and we should have been jumping while wearing gloves. But - this meant that ripcord grips on the reserve parachutes had to be "reversed" so that there was enough space for a gloved hand to get a grip on the handle. Some genius had failed to order the reserve parachutes to come in "winterized" configuration - so we were ordered to jump without gloves. And - we did. When you exit the aircraft that is going at about 100 miles an hour into cold air - and even though it was tailgate jump - it takes only about 30 seconds for you hands to chill to the point of almost losing feeling. And - it becomes almost impossible to exert force while "pinching" with your thumb and index finger. But - jumping with the T-10 or MC1-1 chutes we had then - the only way to EASILY collapse your chute once you were on the ground was to "pop" a capewell - which is a spring-loaded protective cover that holds the parachute shroud lies from one side of the chute together, and fastens them to the parachute harness. To "pop" a capewell, you have to pinch together two spring loaded clips. By the time we reached the ground, no one could exert the necessary pinching force. So - about 90 paratroopers started being dragged across the drop zone by their still inflated chutes - driven by a wind of maybe 10-12 mph. This was over frozen ground with large rocks sticking out of it - it was formerly a glacier field of the Ozark mountains. I got dragged maybe 100 yards, and then manage to pop one capewell by using both hands - pushing together using my knuckles. Other troopers got dragged 350 yards, until they got pulled into the treeline that formed one edge of the drop zone. There was debris all over the drop zone - because we had jumped "combat equipment" - which meant rucksacks full of food, water ammunition, and personal gear - which we lowered on bungee cords below us, while descending - so that this weight would hit the ground first, and reduce our impact momentum. But - while being dragged on the ground, your rucksack dragged behind you, and many of the outer pockets eventually got ripped open - so that the path that you dragged along the ground was traced by all the stuff that "leaked" from your rucksack. It was a long morning. I was a platoon leader - I think I jumped 26 men plus myself - I think only about 18 of us limped off the dropzone and were able to continue with the mission. But - no one was killed - and I think there were only about ten broken bones in the company - plus a handful of concussions. It was just another day in paradise for all of us. Somebody probably got in trouble for the logistics error. At troop level, everyone just grumbled and drove on. Not that big a deal - that's why we got extra jump pay. |
| Posted by: Lone Ranger 2011-10-07 21:15 |
| #6 Training injuries and deaths have gone down in the last 10 years as this type of training was put aside to train for Iraq and Afghanistan. One of my greatest worries while in the Artillery was being squashed by a Tracked or wheeled vehicle while sleeping near the TOC. This was in the days well before night vision goggles. |
| Posted by: tipover 2011-10-07 21:05 |
| #5 Sounds like a chalk got blown into the trees or a boulder field. It happens. Gusts come up and play hell with the drop. 47 isn't too bad, actually. In airborne school, we had an entire stick get blown into the trees and sent several guys to the hospital with broken legs and hips. Unexpected wind gust. |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2011-10-07 20:56 |
| #4 You're right, USN Ret. She should have stated that in terms of mean, standard deviation and confidence levels. Although, that would tend to have us talking in terms of fractional persons/injuries. But it would be mathematically correct. |
| Posted by: lotp 2011-10-07 20:50 |
| #3 She explained an injury rate of up to 3 per cent is normal in this type of exercise OK, so 1000-47=953, 953/1000= 95.3%. 100%-95.3%= 4.7%, which, last time i looked was greater than 3%. So i think that should call for an investigation. Starting with Denver's math skills. |
| Posted by: USN, Ret. 2011-10-07 20:18 |
| #2 Oh, maybe something like this [check at 5:00]. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2011-10-07 20:01 |
| #1 The American army said the drop was part of a scheme to switch the military focus back to fighting conventional forces as operations in Iraq and Afghanistan wind down. It is unclear what precisley happened to cause the numerous injuries. I suspect it has to do with the previously neglected conventional training. |
| Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain 2011-10-07 19:47 |