European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - June 3, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse Riggin parachutes a special sense of Pride sgt Michaal Marth Laing a Light table to int Peet a Parachute for damage tight Elk a. Page 14 the stars and stripes by Charlie bowmen staff writer berets marking one As a paratrooper Are common on Eyer Casein in Vicenza Nlaly. Less common Are the fire engine red baseball Caps thai Are the Mark of a re proud of what we said chief warrant mice Curtis Minge. Who Heads the Parachute rigger platoon Al the Lerino rigger facility on the outskirts of Vicenza. The riggers Are not required to Wear Iho distinctive berets he said although they Are Nir borne qua lied and Parl of the 41h in 325th inf regl airborne in combat team. Bui. Mingo , that does t cause n problem. In fact the battalion kind of likes seeing the fed a 5 he said. They know we re proud of our Job they know re not trying to hide who we for a jumper the rigger ranks right up there with a Savior. When the Jiral Rauw on a Parachute he s Belling that the thing will open when he his Boris out of the belly of in aircraft. Jumpers have n lot of respect Lor riggers because they virtually hold a jumper s life Tri their Minge said. That alone makes riggers a select group Small in number and Light knit. There Are about 2.500 riggers in the army and most know one another either personally or by acquaintance. It s also a group that encounters High attrition because of the string enl demands. Thore is no shared responsibility Tor the packed Parachute. Stress is High. A s a repeat thous routine not unlike an Assembly line in a factory. Bingo said a Nijer. Depending on experience. Will pack 25 to 30 parachutes in an eight hour Day hell walk upwards of two Miles Back and Lorah along the 48-fool pricking table the Packer will spend Loday packing 25 to 30 parachutes tomorrow that s All lie can expect pack 25 to 30 Moie parachutes mings said. But with lives literally on the table they can t take things for granted. All around the Lerino Lac Ihly Are signs hat solve As a constant reminder i will be sure it s the last line from the rigger s pledge which Minge said is exactly How riggers feel about their Job ii they Don t feel that Way. They Don t a a riggers very he said. In our business we can t accept errors and we want it that Way. If we eel a Man has Loo Many personal problems in he s been drinking too much using drugs Well pull him off the pack table that s one reason Why the relationship Between supervisor and Packer is generally a close one. We watch the people we observe their actions gel to know them rather closely said Minge. Who has been a rigged Lor 16 years. We reach a Point where we can Lell when a Man has something besides packing on his mind when we see hat we pull them aside and iry 1o find out what s sometimes. Minge said packers Are pulled irom the Lable and put to work in maintenance or Supply for a while. There just is no margin for error Fie said. Time mending parachutes or working Supply also helps prevent burnout Minge said. As insurance against error the packing process involves a system of checks double checks and triple checks. I will keep constantly in mind that until men grow wings. Their parachutes much be says the first commandment of the rigger s pledge. A packing Job can be trashed at any by the Packer or the in process inspector. The Packer checks Lor a clevis in the Parachute no matter How Small. To might Juii need a Quarter Inch darn but it could become a major problem if not replied immediately fringe a j. The in process Insp Clor roves constantly among the packing tables watching the packers with Hawk like intensity. The packers however hardly notice. The Are used to his presence and expect it the inspector is moving constantly among the packers checking various items Al different limes Mingo said. He never checks the same Man Lor the same hem twice. It keeps Ihm on their once the Parachute is packed lightly but neatly crammed Inlo a compact 30-Pound package the final inspector gives it one last Check. Alter that it s ready for use or it s broken Down and repacked ii in in t used within 120 Days 365 Days for Reserve chutes in the Lerino fact Ity. A Large Chart on the Wall traces the platoon s packing history Over the past several years. It s a Topsy Turvy Chart ranging from highs of nearly 15.000 packs a year to lows of around 9,000 packs a year. The unit averages about 10.000 packs annually and Mingo proudly Points Oul has not had a malfunction in More than 100,000 packs. We be had reserves he said but no deploying a Reserve Chule is cause for investigation. Finding out what caused it is something that is important to the Confidence of the bumpers and the packers. The initial inv Vigallon includes a 100 percent inspection of All equipment that the paratrooper jumped Wilh Rucksack weapons Container Rifle the Parachute. Inner views follow with Trie jumper those in front and Back of him and the platoon s malfunction Neq. If i think there is a to in Ojiem that i can t Correct equipment failure perhaps then i would ask for an investigation from an outside source Minge said. Sometimes it s an act of god. The Packer does his Job. The jumper does his of everybody does 100 percent but to have a malfunction. Thai s the reason we get hazardous duly and who packs for the packers they do Minge said. When we re told to jump we just pull one off 11 stack. It could be one of their own it could be one i packed. It could be Chat anybody packed. Bui they take it. And they jump it
