HALO parachutist identified
When Sgt. 1st Class Carlo Meth set his mind to something, he’d achieve it, his family said Saturday.
“If you told him he couldn’t jump three feet, he’d go until he’d get it,” said his brother Shawn Meth.
Meth’s mother, Linda, said her son was determined to master high-altitude, low-opening — HALO — parachuting. He called his mother Sunday before his last jump, so when the Army called her Wednesday she knew something had happened.
Meth, 35, died Wednesday from injuries sustained during a HALO accident at Laurinburg-Maxton Airport.
He was assigned to Company C, 2nd Battalion, 7th Special Forces Group and has deployed to the Horn of Africa, Bosnia, and Egypt. In August 2003, he deployed to Afghanistan.
Meth also is survived by his daughter, Nikole, who lives with his parents in Oklahoma.
“He was very proud of her,” Linda Meth said.
Meth had planned to visit Oklahoma in March to spend time with her since he’d been deployed over Christmas. Meth’s mother said he’d returned about 10 days before the accident.
“We weren’t having to worry so much,” she said.
The details of the accident are under investigation, special operations officials said Saturday, and wouldn’t confirm a report that Meth and another jumper became entangled during a training jump.
In a typical HALO exercise, the parachutist will jump from the aircraft at about 12,000 feet and open his parachute around 3,500 feet. A HALO jump is used to secretly slip soldiers into enemy territory.
Meth was born in Colombia but grew up on a farm in North Dakota, his brother Shawn said Saturday. He was one of eight children — including five adopted brothers and sisters, his mother said in a phone interview from her Kingfisher, Okla., home.
Shawn Meth remembers his parents holding a meeting to decide if they were going to adopt Meth.
“We had to make a list of pros and cons, and my father said we wouldn’t do it without a unanimous decision,” Shawn Meth said.
Meth was five years old when he moved to the Meth farm in Carrington, N.D.
Shawn Meth said that during his first meal with his new family, Meth threw up twice because he ate too fast. “He didn’t think he’d get fed again,” Shawn said.
Meth’s first English word was “offsides” because the family played a lot of football on the farm, his brother said.
His mother remembers taking him to Best Buy to get a boombox. Meth spent most of the day making sure the model he got was the best, and when he got it home, Meth covered it with plastic to make sure it didn’t get dusty and forbade his brothers from touching it.
“He was very disciplined,” his mother said. “When he got something he loved, he’d take care of it”
Even on vacation, Meth worked out. He told his mother once that he did so in case he ever had to carry a wounded soldier out of danger.
When Meth graduated from high school, he didn’t see any fields he wanted to go into, and he wanted to earn some money for college. He enlisted in the Army on Oct. 2, 1990, as an infantryman. His brother said he served with the Rangers before he earned his Special Forces tab in 2005.
Staff writer Kevin Maurer can be reached at
maurerk@fayobserver.com or 486-3587.
Sgt. 1 st Class Carlo J. Meth, 35, died from injuries sustained during a parachute
accident during high altitudelow opening (HALO) training at LaurinburgMaxton Airport while serving as a member of Company C, 2 nd Battalion, 7 th Special Forces Group (Airborne).
He has had previous deployments to the Horn of Africa, Bosnia, and Egypt. In
August 2003 he deployed to Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring
Freedom and the Global War on Terrorism.
Meth was born in Columbia, South America. His military records list his home of record as Carrington, N.D. He enlisted in the Army on Oct. 2, 1990 as an Infantryman and earned the coveted “Green Beret” in 2005.
Meth’s military education includes; the Free Fall Parachutist Course, the Survival, Evasion, Resistance and
Escape Course; Special Forces Heavy Weapons Course, Total Army Instructor Training Course, Basic
Military Mountaineering Training Course, Basic Noncommissioned Officer’s Course, Warrior Leaders
Course, Ranger Course, Air Assault Course, Basic Airborne Course, Combat Lifesavers Course, and Special
Forces Qualification Course.
His awards and decorations include six Army Commendation Medals, six Army Achievement Medals, five
Army Good Conduct Medals, two National Defense Service Medals, two Armed Forces Expeditionary
Medals, Kosovo Campaign Medal with Bronze Service Star, Afghanistan Campaign Medal, Global on War
on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, Humanitarian Service Medal,
Armed Forces Service Medal, two Noncommissioned Officer Professional Development Ribbons, Army
Service Ribbon, Overseas Service Ribbon, United Nations Medal, Multinational Force and Observers Medal,
NATO Medal, Combat Infantryman Badge, Expert Infantryman Badge, Parachutist Badge, Air Assault
Badge, Ranger Tab, and Special Forces Tab.
Meth is survived by his daughter, Nikole, of Ontario, Canada; and parents, Curtis and Linda, of Guthrie,
Okla.
DE OPPRESSO LIBER
Did some drinking with Carlo in Germany after our rotation in 2006, I'll drink a few more in your name brother.
Rest In Peace Carlo.
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