Comments on: Rigging Drops for Special Ops http://www.fas.org/blog/secrecy/2007/10/rigging_drops_for_special_ops.html Secrecy News from the FAS Project on Government Secrecy Sat, 28 Nov 2009 00:31:30 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=abc hourly 1 By: Irving http://www.fas.org/blog/secrecy/2007/10/rigging_drops_for_special_ops.html/comment-page-1#comment-893 Irving Tue, 16 Oct 2007 20:25:16 +0000 http://fasweb.beacontec.com/blog/secrecy/2007/10/rigging_drops_for_special_ops.html#comment-893 Ah special ops drops. In 1963 I was on an advance mission for the 101st airborne division and stopped in Okinawa to confer with friends in First Special Forces. They had just been assigned the Military Assistance Advisory responsibility initially assigned to the MAAG mission in Saigon. When I arrived, I was fascinated by dozens of HALO (high altitude low opening) drops being performed by dummies released from 20 thousand feet, perhaps higher. Most crashed into Machinato inlet because the reefer lines failed to explode and deploy the skirts of the chutes. Special Forces were desperately trying to perfect a technique to deliver teams into remote areas and into the North without detection and HALO was the putative answer. Then came the helicopter and at first it was thought they should be used to be used in parachute operations. Military planners tend to think in parochial ways. Look into this carefully and you may never stop laughing--or crying. Ah special ops drops. In 1963 I was on an advance mission for the 101st airborne division and stopped in Okinawa to confer with friends in First Special Forces. They had just been assigned the Military Assistance Advisory responsibility initially assigned to the MAAG mission in Saigon.

When I arrived, I was fascinated by dozens of HALO (high altitude low opening) drops being performed by dummies released from 20 thousand feet, perhaps higher. Most crashed into Machinato inlet because the reefer lines failed to explode and deploy the skirts of the chutes.

Special Forces were desperately trying to perfect a technique to deliver teams into remote areas and into the North without detection and HALO was the putative answer. Then came the helicopter and at first it was thought they should be used to be used in parachute operations. Military planners tend to think in parochial ways. Look into this carefully and you may never stop laughing–or crying.

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