EDINBURGH, Ind. - Precision jumpmasters are prepared to quickly respond and treat a casualty in any situation and make the difference between life and death.
Airmen from the Kentucky Air National Guard's 123rd Special Tactics Squadron and active duty Airmen from the 38th Rescue Squadron, Moody Air Force Base, Ga., recently reinforced this idea by conducting the land portion of the Precision Rescue Jumpmaster Course at Larkin Drop Zone on Camp Atterbury, Ind., June 6 to 16.
Air Force Master Sgt. Joseph Youdell, a pararescue instructor with the 123rd STS, said time and precision are everything for the rescue jumpmaster.
"When we deploy to different locations around the world, we have all the equipment for us to respond with fixed wing aircraft, like C-130s, to get to any situation very fast," Youdell said.
"Whether it's a vessel out at sea or a plane crash over land, [such as a] jungle, we can respond quickly and get the team out of the aircraft, effectively,” he said.
Youdell said Airmen who take the class have to land in targets that are about 10 meters in size, in a variety of jump scenarios.
"This encompasses everything from low altitude static line, round parachutes out of fixed wing C-130s, to static line square canopies out of fixed wing and rotary wing aircraft,” he said. “We also do other high-altitude jumps like military free fall parachuting.”
He said planning for accuracy is crucial to making sure the future jumpmasters will always be on target.
"Rescue jumpmastering is basically another technique of jumpmastering, where you use wind drift indicators that you drop out of the airplane to figure out what the drift is going to be, Youdell said.
They can accurately depict what the wind drift will be on the canopies, so they give you a real-time estimate of what the wind is doing so you can show up on scene at a close proximity to where the target is."
Besides completing land based jumps, the students will also have to do jumps into bodies of water.
"After we get done here at Atterbury, we are going to Michigan where we are doing what they call open target. This is where the target with either be a boat out there or a person and a one-man life raft. We have to get a team with one of our boats out of the back of the airplane down to them.”
Air Force Master Sgt. Cory Kuttie, a 38th RQS pararescueman, said he can see the benefit of the training and what he's learned in the course.
"As a precision jumpmaster, I need to put a guy right where I want him to land so that if you are trying to pick up a survivor, you don't have to waste time trying to walk or run,” he said. “That can make a big difference.”
Air Force Staff Sgt. George Reed, a 38th RQS pararescueman, said the course has been challenging.
"It's a fast paced course and has a high learning curve,” Reed said. “We had a week of ground training the week before we got here to help mitigate that. But even then you just have to be able to go at it for long hours.”
Reed, who has been jumping for about three years, said while jumping from a plane may not be for everyone, it shouldn’t be counted out.
"If you see people jumping and you feel the urge to do it, definitely give it a shot," he said. "If the little voice inside you is saying, 'Yeah, I'm kind of interested.' I'd say go for it."