When was the last time you heard of some legs showing up at an event and read the words:
Two tubas were destroyed, said Mike Keating, assistant chief of the post’s Fire Department. MacDonald said a trumpet was also damaged.
I always felt that the Leather Personel Carriers were vastly superior to jumping out of a plane, and this proves it.
FORT RILEY, Kan. – A parachutist went off course Thursday at the start of a military review and dropped feet-first into the 1st Infantry Division’s band, injuring three players.
Several thousand people watched as the man under the red, white and blue parachute landed on the 30-member band, about 50 yards off target. A gasp went up from the crowd, followed by silence as at least a dozen people rushed over to help.
“I hear, ‘Oh, expletive,’ and immediately, I hear a crash,'” said the band’s commander, Chief Warrant Officer Scott MacDonald.
Enough of this nonsense already. Today it’s some non-offending innocent Tubas, tomorrow it could be the kettle drums. I think we’ve lost enough already. Redeploy the Airborne.
The parachutist was a civilian. No need to smear Paratroopers! You’re just exhibiting a severe case of “para-envy.” Besides, the band members are “legs.” So this is just another case of jump-qualified persons kicking butt (or jaws as it turns out – and my sympathies to the unfortunate gal).
Death From Above!
Airborne, All The Way!
ROFLMAO.
“MacDonald said he wondered briefly whether he had enough members left to perform.
“We did Soldier on,” he said. The band played the division’s and the Army’s fight songs, then sounded a trumpet cavalry charge.”
There ya go. Suck it up and drive on….
I remember a parachute demonstration by the Golden Knights at a July 4th celebration on Fort Bragg where the parachutists (not paratroopers) were supposed to land in a taped off area in the crowd. While the crowd watched the small area, one parachutist came up a little short on the intended drop zone and kicked a spectator in the back of the head, knocking the fellow unconscious. They don’t call it “death from above” for nuthin’.
There are only two kinds of people in the world; paratroopers and the folks who want to be paratroopers.
TSO: I always heard it as only 2 MOSs, 11B and Wannabe.
I don’t struggle with this particular envy stuff much. I can swim a lot further than I can fly.
Didn’t they see him coming? Even so I guess the tuba guys never had a chance…
Good thing it was a parachutist and not an amtrac that hit the band. If you really want it destroyed overnight, whether from ship or land, rain or shine, Marine amtracs is the way to go. (I hate to admit though, the best school the Corps ever sent me to, was Jump School at Ft. Benning. The Black Hats were great instructors.)
You ain’t tracks, You ain’t sh..!
The problem is that the dumbass in the parachute wasn’t a paratrooper. Wanna maybe but that landing was going to bust his ass Tuba or no Tuba.
Yeah, I’ve been at about 50 jumps that the 82nd has made at events, and I’ve never seen one miss by more than 10 meters. I just hoped for a cheap shot on Lilyea, who didn’t raise to the bait quite like I’d hoped.
Well, I’ve got a boatload of stories of guys (by guys, I mean me) who missed drop zones by more than 10 meters. There’s a drop zone in Alaska I still haven’t seen.
Welcome back, by the way, COB. I haven’t received the deed to my casino yet, though.
It is good to be back but I’m off again tomorrow. More good news and more travel but a guy has to make a living.
That casino may not be so far away.
You want STORIES? I’ve got stories! My last posting was as parachute turn-in point (advance guard), in a place in Germany I’ve long since forgot (NOT Bonn-land, though! But with a 3rd ID guy who went nuts and dropped a full 30-round magazine in the general direction of his barracks! The dumb-ass MPs seized OUR pallet guards because they’d LET him pass down to his palletized ammo-area!). The heavy drop preceded the infantry drop (Natch!) and dropped a jeep with three chutes in the trees. So the jeep was left hanging upside down about 50 feet above the ground with three different chutes in three different trees on a hillside. I never did figure out whether they got THAT jeep down in one piece.
On the same drop (infantry this time), I heard people in the AIR screaming “MEDIC!” before they touched down in the rock garden they couldn’t avoid. Not to mention the guy who came down through the 75-foot pine branches off to my side. He made it down safely, but his parachute was RIPPED TO SHREDS. I’m SO glad I missed that particular drop. The worst that I faced was a drop on Sardinia where the annually-preceding company had suffered 30% casualties (air-lift qualities) on touch-down. I hit soft sand and very, VERY nearly kissed the ground!