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Golden Knights parachute team live the dream

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Andrew Davis
  • 375th Air Mobility Wing Public Affairs
SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. --  At 12,500 feet above the earth, buildings, roads and even the enormous C-5 Galaxy aircraft sitting on the runway start to look like small specks.

At that height seven members of the Army Golden Knights Parachute Gold Team prepare to jump. On hands and knees, precariously close to the edge of the aircraft, Army Staff Sgt. Reese Pendleton motions to his crew chief to make a couple of corrections to make sure they are over the hot zone.

Then with a "one, two, three ... see ya," he jumps out the door into a rush of wind and disappears off into the sky.

Staff Sergeant Pendleton, the narrator for the team, is one of seven members of the Army Golden Knights Parachute Gold Team who performed this weekend at the 2010 Airpower over the Midwest Air Show.

"We are a self-sustained unit whose job is to showcase the Army's capabilities to the American public," said Staff Sergeant Pendleton. "We come from all over the Army from a variety of Military Occupation Specialties, ranks and backgrounds."

During the show, the team performed four separate maneuvers, which demonstrated their ability while falling at speeds in excess of 120 miles per hour.

Staff Sergeant Aaron Figel said, "The first maneuver is a baton pass, during which two jumpers exit the aircraft separately and exchange a 14-inch baton mid-air. Second is the cutaway maneuver, which demonstrates what would occur if the primary parachute failed. The third consists of the diamond track which shows the amount of lateral movement a jumper can obtain during free fall. The final move is the diamond formation where four jumpers maneuver their bodies within inches of each other to form a diamond."

Being a self-sustained unit gives the team many distinct advantages.

"This team is unique in the way we operate and travel. We get to basically tour the country and do what we love every day," said Staff Sergeant Figel. "We perform at air shows and other events on an almost weekly basis during the summer months."

During the down season the Gold Team works on fundamentals and trains for the upcoming season.

Staff Sergeant Pendleton said, "We train basically nonstop year round. Whether it's training the new soldiers or perfecting our skills for the next season, it's what we do and what we love.

"The hard part isn't jumping from the aircraft, it's landing on the target. It can take months to perfect that, factoring in wind speed, altitude and weather conditions."

The Gold Team is one of the five teams that encompass the Army Golden Knights Parachute Team. Since 1959, the team has been known as the ambassadors of the Army, parachuting at more than 15,000 shows in all 50 states and 48 countries.