how embarrassing!!
Posted on 07/17/2007 10:17:32 AM PDT by DancesWithCats
CANON CITY, Colorado (AP) -- No, they weren't coming to the rescue. Military officials said 25 heavily armed parachutists who landed in a cornfield on the grounds of a Colorado prison last week were on a training mission but landed about 3 miles off target.
"Those were Special Operations Command forces conducting routine training," Army Col. Hans Bush, a spokesman for the command at MacDill Air Force Base, Florida, said Monday. He declined to identify the units that landed at Fremont Correctional Facility but said the target was Fremont County Airport.
The special operations troops, which could include Navy Seals or Green Berets, began dropping from the sky at about 4:50 a.m. Thursday. Guards on duty, who are trained to watch the skies following a helicopter escape in 1989 from a prison near Ordway, Colorado, held their fire after noticing the parachutists were soldiers.
Guards who stopped the men and asked for identification were presented with documents that identified them only as Defense Department employees, Colorado Department of Corrections spokeswoman Katherine Sanguinetti.
"We don't know who they were and I'm not sure we'll ever know who they were," she said. "Everyone acted appropriately."
The parachute troops were armed only with rubber training bullets.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
how embarrassing!!
Sounds like they need more training.
Once in awhile you miss the drop zone. My son busted a leg a couple of years ago at Bragg when they missed the drop zone and he landed in a tree.
Not buying this line.
ooops
Sounds like they did a HAHO jump and miscalculated because of the tricky winds around the area.
What do you want to bet the two inmates who managed to escape that night ... returned to their cells and told no one?
This really brings back memories. I was a working in a small Colorado mountain hospital about 30 years ago when a group of Green Berets were flown in to practice night parachute jumping in mountainous terrain. All of a sudden our little ER was full of men in camo with matching face paint and sprained ankles, knees and backs. That was my first experience at removing cactus needles from various parts of the human anatomy. The officer in charge was not especially happy with them! LOL
Well, sure. But a THREE mile miss!?
That said ... doesn’t inspire a whole lotta confidence
‘scuse my ignorance ... what’s a HAHO jump? And do you pronounce it Hey HO?
The lights are awful little from 12,500 ft. Get your calculated release point pick the spot and go. Hope you get the wind drift right and follow the low man.
Thats why it is training.
The world is a Drop Zone and everybody is sure to hit it sometime.
Just checked the map, as I went to high school in Canon City. Canon City actually has an airport! I always missed on the drive down from the Springs. That part of the world is not what people from Colorado would call “mountainous”. It’s one step above desert. Or eastern Colorado, for that mater.
It is also just north of the Supermax in Florence. If that weren’t there, I don’t believe there would be many guards awake at that time of night out there. But there are lots of rattlers out there, so maybe that’s it.
Sounds like a navigator will be getting downgraded. And the aircraft commander will take some flak.
High Altitude High Opening. It’s the most difficult way to hit a target because you’re suspended by the chute at the mercy of the wind for much longer than typical lalo jumps, or even the halo jumps the SEALS are known for.
hope this helps
In a typical HAHO exercise, the jumper will jump from the aircraft and deploy the parachute at a high altitude, 10–15 seconds after the jump (typically at 27,000 feet or so). The jumper will use a compass or GPS device for guidance while flying for 30 or more miles. The jumper must use way points and terrain features to navigate to his desired landing zone, and along the way, must correct his or her course for changes in wind speed and direction; making for a tricky navigation problem. (from Wiki)
What’s the big deal? Those guys are in shape, they could probably do the 3 miles back to the drop zone in 15 minutes.:)
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