Navy Parachutists Rescued From Trees (SEALS)

**Team Sergeant** · 06-16-2010, 08:01

LOL, ouch, that's going to leave a mark........

Navy Parachutists Rescued From Trees
June 16, 2010
Virginian-Pilot
VIRGINIA BEACH -- Five parachutists from a Navy special warfare unit became trapped in trees Tuesday in a remote part of Joint Expeditionary Base Fort Story and were rescued with the help of the city Fire Department.
It took about two hours to get them all down.
The city was called to help military rescue workers about 9:30 a.m., said Bruce Nedelka, the city's emergency medical services division chief.
One of the five service members fell to the ground when a tree limb broke, Nedelka said, and was taken to a Norfolk hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

Three ambulances, two fire engines, two ladder trucks, two specialty rescue trucks and two battalion chiefs were dispatched to the scene, Nedelka said.
The five service members, assigned to Naval Special Warfare Group 2, were on a routine parachute-training exercise, said Chief Petty Officer Robert Fluegel, a Navy spokesman. He said the accident is under investigation.
Special warfare teams include SEALs, the Navy's secretive, highly trained sea-air-land commandos. Fluegel would not say if the five parachutists were SEALs.

http://www.military.com/news/article...rom-trees.html

craigepo · 06-16-2010, 08:25

hehe. Been there, done that. Thank heavens there were no cameras around.

Being stuck in a tree is not cool. Parachute harness leg straps + stuck in tree=being perilously close to castration.

Whoever came up with the idea of "climb down your reserve parachute" had clearly never attemtped the task.

2018commo · 06-16-2010, 08:33

I spent a night and most of the next day unscrewing a mess at AP Hill after most of our company landed in the trees. After which the dz became known as DZ Death... lots of stories from that night! I suspect most of us have that tee shirt.

**Pete** · 06-16-2010, 09:02

It was dark last night. If the city was called arounf 9:30AM I'd assume it was a night jump.

When you think you're going into the trees on a dark night you don't have much time to adjust when you can start making out the trees from the voids.

I sneaked into a void one time just big enough for my -1. But the full moon helped, was able to pick out the spot from about 100', pull a toggle and slip in.

Thought I was going into the trees one dark, dark night and at about 10' realized it was a bean field. "Crap - splat" ate the ruck and busted the frame.

Dozer523 · 06-16-2010, 09:58

Jumping into Jordan late one night, my leg bag and ruck got all hung up. I'm trying to untie, shake stuff loose. (I think I waddled off the ramp at 2.5X my original weight) Looked around saw the trees below, "Oh I've got plenty of time . . . "
HEY WAIT A MINUTE . . . there aren't any trees here!
WAM! Augured in, next to a bush.

nousdefions · 06-16-2010, 12:20

Funny .... I don't remember any bushes either .....

You didn't miss anything, it still hurt

06-16-2010, 13:09

I once participated in a 2 hr NOE flight, followed by a rough terrain jump. If I were asked today if I would do it again, I'd opt out saying I had an expense report to write or help the S1 with soldier family DEERs enrollment.

I prayed for a tree vs. the extremely rocky, (boulders) slope I landed on. I kept the ruck on for protection.

tst43 · 06-16-2010, 14:51

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dozer523

Jumping into Jordan late one night, my leg bag and ruck got all hung up. I'm trying to untie, shake stuff loose. (I think I waddled off the ramp at 2.5X my original weight) Looked around saw the trees below, "Oh I've got plenty of time . . . "
HEY WAIT A MINUTE . . . there aren't any trees here!
WAM! Augured in, next to a bush.

I had a similar experience on what turned out to be the hardest drop zone I had ever bounced off in Georgia. A 750 ft. ceiling and absolutely no light...descended to what I thought had to be tree-top level. Deployed the lowering line and felt the initial tug from the ruck, only to feel the lowering line go immediately limp. Thinking my ruck had separated from the lowering line, I looked down (opening my legs in the process) to see if I could spot my ruck. I quickly found out that the reason the lowering line went limp...I was just before impact on the DZ! That one left several marks.

greenberetTFS · 06-16-2010, 15:04

Whoever came up with the idea of "climb down your reserve parachute" had clearly never attempted the task.[/QUOTE]Craigpo

When I was making a night jump I was doing PLF's in the sky because there was no moon and it was dark as hell........ I couldn't see anything and had no idea where the ground was at,I landed on some tall pine trees and since I could tell how high I was I pulled my reserve.............. I was in the process of going down when my feet hit the ground.......... yep I was about 4 feet from the ground and hadn't realized it........My 1st SGT was pissed when he saw both chutes deployed .......................

Big Teddy

06-16-2010, 15:35

The hardest DZ in the world, Guam. Nothing but old steel grates that supported aircraft during WWII.

Utah Bob · 06-16-2010, 15:52

I remember the first jump I made in Tolz. Col beck gave all us newbies a speech about how maneuverable the TBM chute was and no reason you should miss your damn mark etc etc etc.
We watched as he boarded the chopper, jumped at 2,500 and scooted all over the sky above the DZ.
And landed in a tree. The only one around.
Nobody said anything. The Smaj just glared at us. Good times.

rdret1 · 06-16-2010, 17:35

I can imagine the stories and jokes going around the firehouse.

mark46th · 06-16-2010, 18:32

Dark, moonless nights are no fun. We jumped into Ft Leonard Wood at night. Saw the inverted L, did a 360 to look for obstacles and when I came around the pots were out. I was counting so I could release my gear. As I reached to pull the releases, I hit hit the ground. Not the best PLF ever performed. I was out for a minute or so. I went back out the next morning to get the rest of my stuff, discovered I had hit in the middle of a patch of poison oak... We had six injuries(knee/ankle) out of the 12 guys on my team.
I think I would rather have had a bad ankle or knee than poison oak...

Richard · 06-16-2010, 19:56

Most of our jumps were at night before moonrise or after moonset for obvious reasons - hope that hasn't changed...for obvious reasons.

Richard's $.02

cetheridge · 06-16-2010, 23:21

Two of my most memorable jumps were at night. Tactical jump at Bragg...slipped away from trooper under me stealing my air. Different shades of black indicated I was going into the trees, prepared for tree landing. Hit a tree, inverted, taking out limbs headfirst with my helmet, thinking "Damn, I'm gonna break my neck when I hit the ground". The lines snagged, jerking my upper body upright, landed softly on my ass. The second in Panama...went out the door, the pots on the ground went out...total darkness. Prepared for PLF when feet touched softly on the ground and did a slight deep knee bend...no need to roll. Oh, that was nice. Packed my gear, took 6 steps and fell into an 8 ft. deep ditch.