Look Out Below

Photo By Staff Sgt. Gary Hawkins | Sgt. 1st Class, Jack Wilson, member of the 824th Quartermaster from Fort Bragg, N.C., sets the marker panels according to the heading the aircraft will use during a test drop of supplies to test a new type of disposable parachute rigging system, Aug. 12, 2008, at Kirkush Military Training Base, located about 100 miles east, southeast of Joint Base Balad.  

BALAD, IRAQ

09.02.2008

Story by Staff Sgt. Gary Hawkins 

3rd Expeditionary Sustainment Command

By Sgt. Gary Hawkins
215th Movile Public Affairs Detachment

JOINT BASE BALAD, Iraq – "Ten Seconds," "five seconds," "GREENLIGHT!" These are the verbal warnings given by the navigator and with a push of a button from the loadmaster, up to 16 container delivery system bundles are released into the air stream and sent gliding down to awaiting troops somewhere in the Iraqi desert.

Within 5 seconds, CDS bundles fly from the back of a C-130 Hercules and begin dropping to the ground, where military personnel are waiting to recover them. These supplies allow coalition forces to continue their mission with food, water and ammunition.

The 824th Quartermaster Company (Air Delivery), recently used a new type of CDS airdrop system at Forward Operating Base Caldwell, about 100 miles east of Joint Base Balad, to drop water and meals ready to eat. The rigging used was a new disposable type of parachute and rigging system that cost much less than that of standard high strength rigging.

The new chutes are cheaper to manufacture and can do the job without the hassle of trying to recover the equipment.

"The new rigging is called a hi-velocity style rig that falls at more than 80 feet per second," said Sgt. 1st Class Jack Wilson, a member of the 824th Quartermaster Company, based out of Fort Bragg, N.C. "The standard, more expensive rig is a low-velocity system that is designed for more delicate loads such as whole blood or breakable supplies and falls at just a little more than 30 feet per second."

Resupplying a unit is a very important mission, but recovering the expensive chutes and valuable rigging, which cost more than $4,500 dollars for each CDS bundle, becomes difficult in the vast deserts of Iraq.

"Units recovering supplies have to pack and carry the parachutes and rigging, which can take up a lot of room, then try to deliver it back to us by convoy or other means so it could be used again," said Wilson.

Methods used to deliver supplies to troops on the ground continue to evolve and the 824th QM is actively using more efficient ways to quickly, safely, and economically deliver supplies using the CDS system. Even in this modern era of hi tech capabilities, sometimes simpler is better.

"This drop was a practice drop of a new type of disposable parachute and rigging that cut the cost down, plus it tested the survivability of the supplies dropped with the new chutes," said Wilson. "This drop had about 80 percent survival of the supplies, which is more than we expected. Now the units can save time and space by not having to recovery the rigging to get it back to us."

The success of this drop has decreased the amount of energy, money and time spent and allows the receiving unit to carry on with the mission more effectively without having to pack and store rigging until it can be reused.

• Date Taken: 09.02.2008
• Date Posted: 09.02.2008 07:58
• Story ID: 23112
• Location: BALAD, IQ