Photo By Michael Vanpool | Soldiers in Air Drop University push a low-cost low-altitude bundle of supplies out...... read more read more
Subscribe
FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. – The riggers of 4th Platoon, 647th Quartermaster Detachment, offered soldiers from across Fort Campbell a glimpse into their world with Air Drop University.
The attendees of Air Drop University learned the basics of rigging, dropping and recovering Low-Cost Low-Altitude bundles during a weeklong course here.
The 4/647 QM Det., attached to the 58th Signal Company, 101st Special Troops Battalion, 101st Sustainment Brigade, taught the method of aerial delivery they used frequently during their recent deployment to Afghanistan.
“We’re tossing stuff out of airplanes,” said Sgt. Tryk Crenshaw, an air defender with 2nd Battalion, 44th Air Defense Artillery Regiment, 101st Sustainment Brigade. “I’ve never seen anything like this before, so it should be interesting.”
soldiers running through the course can take their new air drop knowledge to their units. This understanding will assist them in recovering and rigging their own bundles.
“We asked the [support operations] from all the brigades if they wanted to send some soldiers,” said Chief Warrant Officer 3 Joshua Hughes, the air drop technician for Support Operations, 101st Sust. Bde. “They can rig bundles with this hands-on today and the field manuals, and resupply their own units.”
During their yearlong deployment to Afghanistan, the brigade delivered more than 10 million pounds of supplies, ammunition, and food and water to the various forward operating bases and Combat Outpost in and around the country utilizing aerial delivery.
The fundamentals of aerial delivery included basic rigging procedures. The soldiers at ADU went quickly from the classroom to the rigger shed. Several different parachutes were shown, but one system was the star of the training.
Low-Cost Low-Altitude aerial deliveries can drop around three hundred pounds of supplies, and they can be dropped from about 150 feet above the ground. From that low of an altitude, the parachute has barely enough time to deploy before slamming into the ground.
“There’s no time for it to drift anywhere,” Hughes said. “We’re dropping these bundles directly into FOBs in Afghanistan, approximately the size of a football field. They don’t have to leave their sanctuary or gear up to receive their equipment.”
With the right manual and some hands-on experience, anybody can rig a LCLA bundle. A rigger just needs to inspect the bundle before the delivery.
The brigade combat teams can use this air drop to resupply their own soldiers. At a rigging time of around thirty minutes and a cost of just $55, the benefits of LCLA outweigh those of a ground convoy. Other parachute systems can cost hundreds, if not thousands of dollars.
“This parachute was used as a personnel parachute system,” said Sgt. 1st Class Narada Johnson, platoon sergeant for 4/647 QM. Det., 101st Sust. Bde. “Since we’re phasing out of this parachute, we turned it into a cargo parachute. Instead of tossing it, since it can withstand up to 350 pounds, we rig a load that’s less than 350 pounds.”
The training culminated with LCLA air drops and recovery operations. Half of the soldiers pushed the loads out of a Sherpa aircraft, while the other half were at the drop zone waiting for the bundles to fall.
“We got pretty close to the drop zone, we weren’t too far off,” Crenshaw said. “It’s good for the first time.”
When the attendees return to their unit, they’ll have the essentials of how the riggers resupplied soldiers across Afghanistan last year. The LCLA was the prime pick for the riggers.
“When we’re deployed, this is the ideal parachute system to use,” Johnson said. “Downrange when we’re doing close to 2 million pounds of supplies a month, we had to pack our own parachutes. That takes a lot of manpower away. These parachutes come prepackaged.”
| Date Taken: | 04.12.2012 |
| Date Posted: | 04.12.2012 11:37 |
| Story ID: | 86637 |
| Location: | FORT CAMPBELL, KY, US |
| Web Views: | 195 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Air Drop University, by Michael Vanpool, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
No keywords found.
LEAVE A COMMENT