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Astronomy · 07-29-2017, 13:10

Likewise. I heard that tale from my Team Daddy back in the early 80's.

Extractee was brought over the ramp successfully, unhooked, and then let go of by recovery personnel. What they failed to realize was that the rider had been spinning in the slipstream the whole time he was being reeled in and had lost all ability to maintain balance while standing. Inner ear function shot, just like a little kid spinning around until falling over on a playground. When the load masters/recovery crew took their hands "off", he careened/stumbled off of the ramp edge.

That story relayed to our 1-10 ODA by Team Sergeant (MSG Don Williams) the night before Strickland's fatality. We were in the FLINTLOCK JSOA immediately south of Strickland's team and had originally been tasked with that extraction mission.

IIRC, Don had been part of the SOF exercise where the guy went over the ramp. Think it was a 7th Group event in Caribbean, early 1970s. Possibly 1st Group in PACOM. He had prior time in both Groups. He was not a fan of the system and filled us in on several anecdotal problems with it.

We got cancelled for that particular mission via flash radio traffic and it was instead assigned to Strickland's team. Supposedly due to better geographical access for VIP viewing of the event. We junior NCOs (drawing straws in our MSS for the honor) were pissed, until we got word of the fatality. Don hadn't been exaggerating.

07-29-2017, 13:10	#3
Astronomy Quiet Professional Join Date: Feb 2012 Posts: 492	Likewise. I heard that tale from my Team Daddy back in the early 80's. Extractee was brought over the ramp successfully, unhooked, and then let go of by recovery personnel. What they failed to realize was that the rider had been spinning in the slipstream the whole time he was being reeled in and had lost all ability to maintain balance while standing. Inner ear function shot, just like a little kid spinning around until falling over on a playground. When the load masters/recovery crew took their hands "off", he careened/stumbled off of the ramp edge. That story relayed to our 1-10 ODA by Team Sergeant (MSG Don Williams) the night before Strickland's fatality. We were in the FLINTLOCK JSOA immediately south of Strickland's team and had originally been tasked with that extraction mission. IIRC, Don had been part of the SOF exercise where the guy went over the ramp. Think it was a 7th Group event in Caribbean, early 1970s. Possibly 1st Group in PACOM. He had prior time in both Groups. He was not a fan of the system and filled us in on several anecdotal problems with it. We got cancelled for that particular mission via flash radio traffic and it was instead assigned to Strickland's team. Supposedly due to better geographical access for VIP viewing of the event. We junior NCOs (drawing straws in our MSS for the honor) were pissed, until we got word of the fatality. Don hadn't been exaggerating. Last edited by Astronomy; 07-29-2017 at 14:12.
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