A paratrooper with the 82nd Airborne Division died Monday during airborne training operations at For

[soothsayer]

Link to tweet

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Chad
@chadgarland
·
Apr 21, 2021
The soldier has been identified as Spc. Abigail Jenks, 21, of Gansevoort, N.Y., a fire support specialist serving as a forward observer within the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division.

She is survived by her parents.



Chad
@chadgarland
Inbox: A paratrooper with the 82nd Airborne Division died Monday during airborne training operations at Fort Bragg, N.C.

Further information withheld until 24 hours after next of kin notification.

Authorities are investigating the incident.
Image

Chad
@chadgarland
Jenks was conducting a static-line jump from a UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter when she was fatally injured, the 82nd Airborne said in a statement.

The incident remains under investigation.
10:46 AM · Apr 21, 2021

[Abnredleg]

1. My old unit

1/319th Airborne Field Artillery Regiment.

RIP

[BComplex]

2. I live just up the interstate from there. Lots of pretty young female soldiers get killed

at Fort Bragg. Lots of them. I'm sick of it. This MIGHT be an accident like they said, but I seriously have doubts about what goes on there. Women in the military are NOT being protected from male predator soldiers as a group.

[Abnredleg]

3. Not during a jump

Too many layers of supervision. Everything is checked and double checked.

[BComplex]

4. Glad to know there is somewhere at Ft. Bragg where the women are safe!

How many have been killed in the past year? 4?

[Ilsa]

15. I'm always suspicious when I hear of

Women getting killed in the service during training. I had asked a friend if she was worried that someone could mess with the catapult on a carrier if she took her next assignment (new squadron) versus retiring. She retired. (She had been vocal about sexual harassment.)

[bluedigger]

5. I'm sorry to hear that.

1/321 FA, 101st redleg myself. 319th and 320th had battalions with us at Campbell. Working with helicopters is always a little extra dangerous. Curious what happened to her.

[Abnredleg]

6. Nothing in the paper yet

It was a chopper jump, which usually is a low stress affair.

[GulfCoast66]

10. I'm not making a comment just asking someone who obviously knows.

I thought static line was when the trooper slid down a rope using only their hands and legs to slow the descent. Which always strikes me for those with more courage than I had, even as a young man. I trained as a arborist as a young man but we never depended only on our strength to prevent falling. We were always tied in even when climbing and swing from limb to limb. Many people dropped out because they could not trust the rope or their knots. But I’ve seen films of you airborne guys sliding down 30-40 foot ropes not tied in. Not for me!

Do I have my terms mixed up?

[Abnredleg]

11. You're talking about fast roping

That’s when you slide down a rope like a fireman’s pole. A static line parachute jump is when you have a cord (the static line) hooked at one end to a cable in the aircraft and the other to the parachute. You jump out of the aircraft and the static line deploys the chute. The other method would be to deploy the chute manually with a ripcord.

[GulfCoast66]

13. Got it. Fast lining. That seems really dangerous.

Not that the other stuff you did was not.

So static line is like what they did on D-Day?

When you fast line do you wear gloves! Because even arborist work is impossible without gloves. The rope eats your hands up, sometimes even with gloves.

Thanks for expanding my knowledge.

[bluedigger]

18. You always wear gloves when rappelling.

There are various techniques to get to the ground. The most dangerous is probably the "slack Australian" rappel. Instead of throwing the rope out the door and sliding down it, the rope is coiled into a bag, and feeds out a grommet at the top of the bag with the end tied off to the helicopter (or whatever you're rappelling off or out of). Then the rappeller jumps out with the bag, which the rope feeds out of. In theory, you get near the ground a few feet before you run out of rope. I never tried this.

My National Guard unit did a demonstration of this and almost killed a guy. Two things went wrong, according to the accident investigation. First, you're supposed to tie a knot at the end of the rope in the bag, so it can't slide through the grommet, keeping the rappeller on the rope until he releases himself. That was not done. The second mistake was the helicopter used. They were working with a medivac huey unit, and their altimeters were set to read above sea level, not above ground level (or the other way around, I forget). Anyways the helicopter was too high, and the rappeller slid right off the rope, still 20' above the tarmac. He broke over half the bones in his body. I met him two years later, in his return to visit the unit, in a wheelchair. He was still really fucked up. Training is very dangerous, as others have pointed out in this thread. Had a few close calls myself.

[GulfCoast66]

12. You might get a smile out of this.

I got my Pfizer vaccines at a FEMA site in Orlando around 7 weeks ago. I saw what I thought was National Guard members at the entrance of the tents and was discussing it with the young man in front of me and the young lady behind me in line. Imagine my surprise when I saw the Screaming Eagle on their sleeves! I was explaining to the young folks that these were definitely not NG soldiers but the most famous Division in the US Army. Which required more explanation. They had no clue until I brought up Band of Brothers. The Sargent at the tent overheard my explanation and commented it was nice to hear that some recognized them.

Young troopers from the 101st gave me both of my jabs! Both were young Hispanic men from California.

Let me tell you, it was the best run operation I have ever seen. There were around 200 people in line in front of me and including the 15 minute wait after the shot I was back to my truck in 50 minutes.

[bluedigger]

17. That's great! Very pleased to hear you got your shot!

I follow the 101 on FB and they have been sending out vac teams across the country, I guess. Saw one post from Chicago. They are pretty experienced at giving out mass vaccinations. As part of the rapid reaction force designated for first deployments they keep their folks vaccinated for everything around the globe. I remember going through a vaccination exercise in the gym at Fort Campbell. I got up to my turn in the line and my section chief was giving the shots. We were artillerymen! Turns out he was a good friend of the medic who supposed to be doing it, and asked to step in. So they let him jab us. He did fine. Hopefully you got a little more professional service.

[GulfCoast66]

19. My wife really enjoyed it.

Said getting shots would not be bad if they were always giving by a young soldier!

[Wounded Bear]

7. Sorry to hear that.

Jumping out of an aircraft is inherently dangerous. Condolences to her family.

[CRK7376]

8. I always hated

Blackhawk and Huey jumps....the elevator ride was great, but I hated scooching over to the door and throwing my legs out and lifting up and pushing off with a tad bit of forward roll.....I never felt in control, ramp jumps out of C130s and Chinooks were alway awesome, especially if it was a water jump!

[MustLoveBeagles]

9. RIP

[albacore]

14. Training accidents kill more of our people than combat these days...

Our military is overtasked...and overtaxed. Not enough rest between deployments, not enough training, not enough personnel... even though we have an enormous "defense" budget.
"Between 2006 and 2018, 31.9% of active-duty military deaths were the result of accidents, according to a congressional report updated last month. By comparison, 16.3% of service members who died during that time were killed in action.
“Since 2006 … a total of 16,652 active-duty personnel and mobilized reservists have died while serving in the US armed forces. Seventy-three percent of these casualties occurred under circumstances unrelated to war,” the report states.
It is a trend that has only seemed to pick up momentum of late, as noncombat deaths have exceeded the number of military members killed in action every year since 2015."
In 2017, nearly four times as many service members died in training accidents as were killed in combat, according to a House Armed Services Committee report related to the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2019 – a key point highlighted by many lawmakers and military officials who argued for additional defense spending to help offset readiness issues that have compounded for years."
https://www.cnn.com/2019/06/06/politics/us-military-deadly-accidents?fbclid=IwAR1Hgi84u68akDJeZpbsxXrRm6ee_S_Zv7yir_V5VrbMSYyJGix85GAhnF0

[Ilsa]

16. Huge budget, but stingy on approving

Benefits for retired vets' widows, veterans, etc.

[Klaralven]

20. Minor incident - there have been much larger training accidents

The Gallant Eagle 82 Airborne Operation resulted in a mass casualty situation that was successfully managed by the military medical system. Of 1780 paratroopers, 158 were injured, for an injury rate of 8.9%.This included 6 deaths. This paper describes the medical preparations before the airborne operation, medical operations responding to the mass casualty, and evacuation of patients to a variety of referral hospitals. Also, this paper provides a summary of the distribution of injuries caused by hard landings and paratroopers being dragged that occurred due to parachute operations in high winds on portions of the drop zones.

https://watermark.silverchair.com/milmed-153-4-198.pdf

It has become rarer to drop large units in training exercises.