European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - August 22, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                N the Dot Story and photos by Steve Taylor Munich Bureau it is get it on sgt t is class  yelled As Iho we Allier finally cloak cover bad Tolz. West Germany earlier on Friday Low dark Clouds had skated across the sky dumping occasional rain nearly 100 competitors had been patiently waiting Many under umbrellas or makeshift Lents. Lor the moment when Haslberger could give the word to go. While the grounds at Flint Cavern were dampened by the rain spirits were not competitors came from 14 nations terming 24 teams to seek honors in the International jump est sponsored annually by Iho bad Tolz military Community. Four teams were comprised of . Service members while a fifth team had one . Service member As part of its International makeup. Har Betger had gone up an hour earlier in a Black Hawk helicopter to Check weather. When no Chute appeared As the uh-60 hew overhead everyone knew that the Clouds were still too Low to make Safe jumps from 1,000 meters. Back on the ground however he reported that the Clouds were beginning to break up in the direction of Munich to the North the level of anticipation Rose. Thirty a Milos later Terry varos a former member of the is in tree fall Over bad Tsiz. A 20-centimeter disk s the jumpers Butts Eye hit from 1,000 meters. Pit on final approach the most critical element of a precision jump. 1 ,jbst22,1989 Golden knights. The army s crack demonstration Parachute team repealed har Iberger s a Templ when her Chute appeared the announcement was made Foi the next three learns to suit up the worst part is wailing Lor the weather Randy Bissel said there s a lot of Down  Bissel an army major and member of the bad Tolz Sporl Para club s flying circus team was one of the firs to jump Afler the weather cleared the bad weather had put the Competition almost a Day behind but bad weather was part of the plan Wilh extra Lime scheduled Inlo the meet. Each team was required to make a minimum of six jumps but Iho Noel Day while the weather was much More pleasant with mostly sunny skies the wind became the enemy. More delays More ground time and in looked As though the ultimate goal of eight jumps per Loam would not be met by late saturday afternoon. With winds Gusling to 16 knots Competition jumping was postponed As sgt. 1st class Jurgen Ramil put it you can jump you just can t hit  Ramil is assigned to special forces operations Europe he in bad Tolz. He jumps Wilh the bad Tolz Sporl club and during the jump est was jumping Wilh an International team formed Lor the meet ii was t until sunday thai the required number of jumps was completed. The objective is to touch a 20-Cenlimelor disk in the Middle of the jump area called tie pit. The accuracy of Iho jump is measured in centimetres with a double o meaning a period score. If the disk is missed a Loam of judges measures Iho accuracy of the jump manually the old fashioned Way via a tape measure but normally thai Type of score won t to competitive. Thai Circle is pretty Small from 1,000 Rne lors. Ramil said Yel it stands out because of a red Dot in to Middle of the disk. Besides you Don t pay thai much attention to u until about 1,000 Leet 300 meters or so until then you re just trying to stay in the pit area and line up for the final approach he said individual scores Are then added together to Lori the Overall team score for each jump Hen added in previous jumps to form a running total the Loam and individual with the lowest scores Al the end of the meet go away As winners ii gels even More complicated because the learns must jump together and land in the same order thai they jump. But for Many of the com Pohlers it was t a question of winning or losing ii was Iho jump ils Oll. We re out Here to have  air Force stall sgt. Bill Jones said and his teammates agreed their Loam is called Iho bomb lets. With three air Force cos and one army no As members Jones and his three air Force teammates Are assigned to operating location a Dot 6. 2nd weather Wing at bad Tolz none of the americans had jumped in Competition for accuracy As often As some of the other teams like the three belgian teams All irom the full time belgian military jump team some of the americans Aid they were Al their regular military jobs until it was time to jump alter the jump they. Would go Back to work the . Teams Tell that equipment makes a Dille rence also Many Loams have professional equipment issued to them. But the . Teams had a scattering of personal equipment but we got the same to shirts one member of the bomb lets said proudly. When the last jump was finally completed Lale sunday afternoon. Belgian team number 1 had placed first with a score of 0 45 centimetres France s 11 the div team placed second with 0 47 centimetres and belgian team number 2 was third with 0.75 centimetres a German captured the top individual honors while iwo frenchmen came in second and third. Har Beiger said late sunday that placing Lor the other 21 teams would nol be completed until later in Iho week when All the final scores were tallied. Awards Are Only Given for the first three places but he said that All the teams did Well. His closest estimate however was that no . Team would make the lop ten. The stars and stripes Page 15