European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - June 13, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                \ -�0.-j.\ \ " -_.sol. 6nf Fin a groan on lop of hit Pata Ehatt to held it Down we i repacking. A Page from ont of tit Damont Lvalion Leam i Logbook of jump. By Charlie Bowden staff writer it s hard to imagine Macho airborne Soldier holding  at Vicenza. Hal Home to 1he airborne in combat team a select Lew of these airborne warriors do just that while plummeting straight Down at 120mph. Six soldiers irom the 4th in. 325th in regt lorm the Southern european task Force setae Parachute demonstration team the Only officially sanctioned earn in the . Army in Europe. They don11 gel he publicity of the army s Golden knights Parachute learn but the setae team is no Bush league. They take great Pride in the fad a five members of the team made the Cut during recent tryouts or the Golden knights although that broke up heir own Veteran team of demonstration bumpers. Sol. Tony Rill 25, ramrod straight Crew Cut is a carry Over from last year s team. As operations sergeant is gives the impression of constantly being in motion always Busy and on the move o Rosl bordering on hyperactivity. On the other hand he has the patience of a cat wailing next to a mouse Holuj knowing that sooner or later the mouse will come out. His patience and thai of the other team members. Is readily evident when wailing o jump sometimes most of the Day often Only to land that they can t gel anal clearance. You Delin lately gotta be patient cause you spend a Iotch time waiting said sic. Jeff Moon a slow Lal King virginian who before departing recently to join the Golden enl gals served As the elder statesman of the group. Whan the Ham wait like most soldiers they tend to Start joking around with each other trading jibes poking fun telling tall tales. But for this group almost All he oking is entered around the concept of jumping out of perfectly Good air planes. It s a closed discussion rare july like that outsiders would have a hard time penetrating much less understanding. In the army airborne soldiers must jump at least four limes a year la s part of the Job they get an extra $ 110 a month or doing it. On the demonstration team they la make that Many jumps in an afternoon. During the annual training session when the team holes up at Valano a Italy for two weeks to get ready Lor their demons Lral Ion season the team averages 60 jumps per Man. They work on particular routines Luning heir ram air parachutes or developing what they Call air awareness and improving accuracy. The learn members Havo around 1,700 tree fall Parachute jumps among them not a lot when compared to championship teams that can brag of 10,000 or More. But whatever the number hurling one s body out of he relative Security of the belly of an air plane and racing to the ground at 200 Mph is not something that is taken for granted said staff sol. Bob Griswold. Do it be things for granted no. And 1 Don t think anybody else does  the californian said. You Lake things for granted and you Start gelling careless. You can t Atford to be  there is a certain amount of fear involved in the chosen Hobby of these men although it s More a fear of where one lands than How. There s fear risk said but it s More a fear of missing the target nol accomplishing your  Griswold however thinks of that Little nagging less As fear and More As apprehension. Your first free fall you re a Littie bit More apprehensive because of fear of the  Griswold said. It s not As if they had never jumped but reef Aii is a horse of a different color. It s different than when you jump i Alrh a Static line. When you ire Etall. You re pulling your own Cord so you re a Little More apprehensive. But the More i did it the More i started enjoying it. Now it s not a fear of slamming myself into the ground that you overcome very Early it s More e fear of nol being Able to do what i set my mind to  that Fredom of mind comes irom Confidence that is developed through rigid and exacting attention to safely no matter How lackadaisical they May appear on the outside safety is a primary Factor in everything in Edo Risi said every jumper goes through a jump Naster Check before each jump Risi said. It takes less than 60 seconds but it s a very clean Check Quick and  the individual makes his own Check Detore he puts the Parachute Rig on. Risi said then he puts it on and goes to the jump master for another  Moon said some jumpers often make one other Check. Another Check that we often do is after you be been on an aircraft for a while especially if you be been squirming around Moon said. You just ask your partner Lor what we Call a pin Check hell reach Bach and Check one More Lime to make sure the pin is properly routed and there s Noil no in the Way. Then hell give you the go sign and you re gone hitting the Mark everybody thinks we re supposed to hit that target says sol. Tony Hulsi of the setae Parachute demonstration team. We re not it s just a Marker. But it s become such a matter of Pride that a jumper will do whatever it takes to hit the  Sec. Jeff Moon in his no nonsense manner says he worries Little about accuracy. When we finish our training phase. I guarantee you everybody ii be in the Middle of that pit. It s like everything else ii just takes  Risi is More simplistic hitting the pit is everything. That target and what you do in the air. Is the most important thing to you. Thai s what the fans can l see Risi said. If everybody misses then it s of. But if just one Guy misses they la always remember that one Guy who missed. Ifil you there s no getting Over  site. 4 John Shannon touch ii Down on target at in la Tampa Leaf Central Airport open it a to a from. J13, 1966 the stars and stripes Page 15