Is The Jump Master Responsible In The Training Death Of A Paratrooper ?

2015-07-21T21:06:43-04:00

A jumpmaster’s failure to properly inspect a paratrooper’s static lines was determined the “single most definitive failure” that led to the parachuting death of a young female soldier, an Army investigation has found.

According to the informal AR 15-6 investigation, Schmigel’s equipment was misrouted so that, when exiting the plane, she became a “towed jumper.” While be being towed, the subsequent jumper exited the plane and Schmigel became entangled in his T-11 parachute. Schmigel reportedly died from fatal lacerations to the throat and a broken neck. The entire incident lasted three to four seconds, according to the report.

The findings, obtained by Army Times through a Freedom of Information Act request, are from the investigation conducted within the 82nd Airborne Division; another investigation represents the Army's formal query into the incident. That safety accident report by the U.S. Army Combat Readiness Center has been completed and sent to command for review, and will be released in November or December, according to USACRC FOIA officer Vickie Hendrix.

http://www.armytimes.com/story/military/careers/army/enlisted/2015/07/20/report-jumpmaster-cited-training-death-paratrooper/30374491/

Report: Jumpmaster cited in training death of paratrooper

Response by SSG Jamil Spruill made Jul 21 at 2015 9:12 PM

2015-07-21T21:12:31-04:00

Yes he is he was responsible for inspecting her equipment and recognizing she was a towed jumper

Response by Rick Wiseman made Jul 21 at 2015 9:14 PM

2015-07-21T21:14:08-04:00

Most definitely! They were not at the mandated briefings and according to the article he was out of Cert... No question he was at fault!

Response by MSG Private RallyPoint Member made Jul 21 at 2015 9:21 PM

2015-07-21T21:21:30-04:00

Jumpmasters assume responsibility for each paratrooper at initial manifest call until they safely exit the aircraft and become the responsibility of the ground commander. So yes, they are responsible. This is why it is such a hard school. The military doesn't call anyone a "Master" unless they are.

Response by CPT Private RallyPoint Member made Jul 21 at 2015 9:38 PM

2015-07-21T21:38:32-04:00

Safety is drummed into your head. The investigation found him negligent and lose his jumpmaster wings. A soldier lost her life, he should be charged with dereliction of duty, and discharged which is still not enough.

Response by SFC Wesley Arnold, Jr made Jul 21 at 2015 10:04 PM

2015-07-21T22:04:50-04:00

To blame one Jumpmaster or Safety is hard to say ... How may Jumpmasters were present during rigging? Do you know specifically who preformed this Trooper's JMPI ? If there were extra safeties than a fuller inspection "might" have been available. As jumper who's follow a towed jumper everything was normal until my exit. The static line rose to the top of the door and no view until after exiting ... I tried to push off a little harder to give the jumper more room, I yelled "Towed Jumper" all the way down but it was in vain until I reached the ground and found a radio. At which time the Jumpmaster had already identified the problem and a pulled the Trooper in.

Two other Tow Jumpers that I know of were one who stayed so long it blew the young female Trooper's boot and was final drop free in the next county. Another was a fatality unfortunately as the Trooper in tow slammed against the aircraft one to many time before he was retrievable.

I was surprised the this accident happened with a T-11 parachute only to read it was a accident to that specific type of parachute. The article state; "The incident would not have occurred if the soldiers had used a T-10 version of the pack closing tie (the rope holding the parachute together that is broken when it deploys)."

Response by COL Charles Williams made Jul 22 at 2015 12:32 AM

2015-07-22T00:32:22-04:00

Yes. Absolutely. We rely in JMs to get this right 100% of the time.

Response by SSG Private RallyPoint Member made Jul 22 at 2015 12:59 AM

2015-07-22T00:59:14-04:00

To an extent, yes. But it's the responsibility for as clear and concise (as possible) reporting of the incident to see what happened.

Response by SPC George Rudenko made Jul 22 at 2015 3:11 AM

2015-07-22T03:11:17-04:00

Absolutely. S/he is the number one person regardless of rank.

Response by Sgt Aaron Kennedy, MS made Jul 22 at 2015 7:47 AM

2015-07-22T07:47:20-04:00

Stepping away from the responsibility piece for just a second.

Safety is Vigilance. It's doing the little things right 100% of the time. Sure there are things you can never foresee, but if you do all the little things right, the chances of getting hurt drop dramatically. Unfortunately, when small mistakes creep in, they compound, and they become major issues.

The other problem that happens, and this not an excuse, is "muscle memory." There's an old adage. "Muscle memory will save your life, muscle memory will get you killed." Know how to do it backwards and forwards to the point where you don't have to think about how to do it. To where your subconscious mind just takes over. The problem with that is, your conscious mind is what double checks everything and makes sure you didn't screw things up. Vigilance.

There have been times where I was working on something that I was EXTREMELY proficient at, finished the task, and realized I just had no memory of doing it. It was all subconscious. I had to go back through it with a fine tooth comb, and make sure I didn't mess it up. If you're dealing with an administrative task.. that's likely no big deal. If you're dealing with throwing someone out of a plane, and 9.8m per second squared... that's a huge deal, especially with lots of people, as each instance increases the likelihood that you screwed up one thing.

The easy answer to this was Negligence (to the point of Dereliction), though if you asked the JM in private he would probably say "I checked it. I know I checked it." And will doubt himself forever.

Not making excuses for him. The investigation and report says where the failures occur. He wore those wings and accepted the responsibility that came with them. And losing someone in training just shouldn't happen.

Response by SGT Private RallyPoint Member made Jul 22 at 2015 7:52 AM

2015-07-22T07:52:39-04:00

If the fault was found to be an issue which could be found on a proper JMPI, yes, the jump master would be at fault. Regardless, the safety on the plane was out of his cert anyway, and also not attending the briefings the day prior is just another mark against him. I'm sure there will be a lot more investigating, but right now it appears as if the JM who did the JMPI and the safety on the plane are at fault.

Response by LTC Dave Duffy made Jul 22 at 2015 9:56 AM

2015-07-22T09:56:18-04:00

Yes, JM was punished correctly. There is no room for error in airborne operations. My issue is why wasn't the Airborne Commander and Primary JM reprimanded as well? Their responsibility to ensure all JMs attend briefings and rehearsals as well as being current. Greater problems than just missing the misrouted static line.

Response by SFC Joseph Bosley made Jul 22 at 2015 1:23 PM

2015-07-22T13:23:05-04:00

As a former paratrooper and master parachutist I have to say absolutely the jumpmaster is responsible. Not to reiterate MSG Sparks comments because he is completely right. Being directly responsible for more than 140 lives is heavy burden, one that any jumpmaster bears by choice. Its the jumpmaster who is responsible for the actions and capabilities of their safeties. The fact that a safety failed to properly inspect the rigging of a soldier is the responsibility of the primary jumpmaster of the chalk. However there are several other things that are at fault here too. I was also an S3 Air so the fact that this jumpmaster was give only 4 safeties and every one of them brand new is inexcusable also. There should always be an experienced safety on each door teamed up with new safeties. The Battalion Commander or Operation Officer should have caught this and stopped it if the S3 Air didn't. If it got that far the primary jumpmaster should have said something. Ultimately its the Primary that responsible for everything that happens on their chalk.

Response by MAJ Keira Brennan made Jul 22 at 2015 2:59 PM

2015-07-22T14:59:19-04:00

I read a portion of the AAR/15-6 and it sounds like it...

Response by SSG Robert Webster made Jul 22 at 2015 3:10 PM

2015-07-22T15:10:28-04:00

The simple straight forward answer to the question is yes.

There were a number of things that were wrong about this particular incident. The entire jumpmaster team is at fault to include the chain of command, support and the airborne commander.

However, I believe that the investigation statement as made “single most definitive failure” is political pablum.

I am not a jumpmaster or a rigger, but from reading between the lines, an item that does not appear to be addressed by any of the commentary is the possibility of a design flaw in the static line system of this particular pack configuration. Undue pressure on the flap covering a release pin causing the pin to bind and not release definitely sounds like a design flaw to me. And no amount of additional training and inspections will correct that issue if that part of the report is correct.

Response by SGT Private RallyPoint Member made Jul 22 at 2015 5:48 PM

2015-07-22T17:48:39-04:00

I didn't take the course but I did study for it during my tenure with the 82nd. If that would have happened on my watch it wouldn't even be a question, as far as I'm concerned I would have assumed the responsibility for it before the bird left the tarmac. Jump master is an important and vital role, and should be treated with the gravity it commands.

Response by SFC Private RallyPoint Member made Jul 22 at 2015 11:40 PM

2015-07-22T23:40:09-04:00

I think this question needs to be more branched out.. Without a doubt the Jumpmaster is at fault, but what about the rest of the command that led to the failure of this jump. Why in the world would you have have several brand new Jumpmasters performing there first duty AT NIGHT AND why would you have a safety not performing safety duties.

Response by CW3 Private RallyPoint Member made Jul 23 at 2015 6:07 PM

2015-07-23T18:07:15-04:00

I feel a lot of people on the Jumpmaster team are to blame for this one. Whoever JMPI'd her could have taken the time to re-dress her static line for one. The Jumping Jumpmaster could have taken the time to look at everyone's parachute one last time as they entered the bird. The Safety should have seen that when doing their checks. And the Jumpmaster graduated from the school 185 days ago and had yet to pull any safety duties before this... Come on, especially a recent graduate knows that they need to pull duties at least every 180 days or complete a Jumpmaster Refresher to stay current. Then on top of all of this to still be added to the final air letter as a safety and not going to rehearsal or the Airborne Commander's meeting. Also, during "Check Static Lines" the Soldier behind her didn't check her static line on her pack tray. Could have told the safety that her static line was misrouted under her Main curved pin protector flap. Lots of people are at fault on this and because of everyone being lackadaisical about their duties a good paratrooper lost her life.

Response by SFC Private RallyPoint Member made Jul 28 at 2015 6:55 PM

2015-07-28T18:55:07-04:00

Yes. As a Jumpmaster you assume the responsibility and safety of every Jumper all the way to the drop zone. You are the one that is never wrong; why because someone's life depends on it. As a JM my first thought and last thought was always the safety of the jumpers it didn't matter if they were on my stick or not I was always looking for something wrong because there always is at least on thing that could have been missed. But that's why you have a team of Jumpmaster's you look out for each other.

What has me baffled is when I was a new Jumpmaster I was shadowed by a senior JM for several jumps in all the positions till I showed to them that I was proficient in all of my JM tasks, and if I went un-current any amount of time then I went thru refresher training and was shadowed again. Finally I know for a fact that I would have NEVER be allowed to performed duties as a JM if I missed the JM brief.

Response by SGT Felicia King made Aug 1 at 2015 11:19 AM

2015-08-01T11:19:43-04:00

Yes, I was never airborne. I was in an airborne MP unit, but was too chicken to complete airborne school. However, if I was airborne, I would hope that the Jumpmaster would be complete in his checks when he gets to my checks. Then afterwards he can boot me out the airplane with his size 13 boot. LOL

Response by SGT Private RallyPoint Member made Aug 4 at 2015 1:07 AM

2015-08-04T01:07:09-04:00

As a friend of the soldiers I would say of course based on emotions. Now as a paratrooper, the jump master/safety is there to check and make sure all is fine at the last minute. He should have checked it as he checked static lines. It does not stop with just him though. There were way too many mishaps that were left unchecked and someone ended up dead as a result.

Response by CPT Russell Pitre made Aug 14 at 2015 5:29 AM

2015-08-14T05:29:52-04:00

They should relieve that whole damn command. They treated this like they didn't care. Then someone pays for their leaderships failure. I hope they can't sleep at night.

Response by SGT Kristin Wiley made Aug 17 at 2015 1:33 PM

2015-08-17T13:33:57-04:00

It was more than just the jumpmaster who was responsible. It was an inexperienced jumpmaster team, three members of the jumpmaster team TO INCLUDE THE BATTALION COMMANDER did not attend the pre-flight jumpmaster brief; the jumpmaster was allowed to perform safety duties outside of the window that requires refresher training. This isn't the jumpmaster's fault, this is the whole command team's fault. They did not enforce or uphold the safety standards put in place. What kind of example is the Battalion Commander setting by not attending the pre-brief? The command clearly has no accountability of its jumpmasters or the specific jumpmaster in question would never have been allowed to perform his duties without proper refresher training. The command was lazy and careless, and this was reflected in the jumpmasters' that day. The jumpmaster who got 'blamed' seems to be a scapegoat for the command's failures.

Response by SGT Scott Bell made Sep 6 at 2015 6:46 PM

2015-09-06T18:46:37-04:00

YES

Response by MSG Private RallyPoint Member made Oct 21 at 2015 12:02 PM

2015-10-21T12:02:24-04:00

There's actually nothing in the regs about the Bn CDR being at the JMB. He was out of currency by 5 days, we all know of something done by someone that was out of currency, but since something happened he's the biggest piece of shit around. Before the incident the safety was only responsible for tracing the static line from point of attachment to the first stow. The jumper behind is responsible for first appearance at the shoulder to the main curved pin protective flap. This was a freak accident, if she weighted another 50 lbs it would have been a rough exit but she never would have been towed. There are several people at fault, it's messed up to nuke the cherriest guy out there.

Response by SFC Thomas Van Valkenburg made Oct 27 at 2015 9:32 PM

2015-10-27T21:32:20-04:00

When I was a Jumpmaster and Instructor we were taught to check the static line all the way down to the pack opening loop. I'm not familiar with the new procedures for the T-11 but it sounds like a rigger was involved with this mishap as well as the Jumpmaster/Safety. We always had a cherry Safety work with other experienced Safeties for their first few jumps. He was not taken care of by his fellow Jumpmasters.