“When you first jump, I imagine that’s what it would be like to be in a tornado,” the 31-year-old Beavercreek man said. “It’s four to five seconds of mayhem and then it’s complete silence.”
For the first time since the early 1990s, the sight of paratroopers descending over the main airstrip at Wright-Patterson returned with a day jump followed by a scheduled night parachute drop.
It was also a first for Centers’ parents, Robert L. and Robin A. Lowe of Dayton, who saw him parachute for the first time.
“I’m scared of heights so it kind of had me a little scared,” Robin Lowe admitted.
The 412th Civil Affairs Battalion and the 346th Psychological Operations Co., based in Whitehall, Ohio, had troops parachute from about 1,250 feet out of two C-130s that flew in from Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, N.C. In combat, the paratroopers may jump as little as 500 feet above the ground.
Specialist Scott Ramon, 24, has gradually grown accustomed to parachuting with more than a dozen jumps, including over Normandy, France as part of D-Day celebrations.
“It was just unbelievable how many people were there watching,” the Sandusky man said.
Paratroopers must pass rigorous training and follow strict safety protocols, but Centers, an Afghanistan war veteran, said “you definitely get a bit nervous.”
“When you first jump, it’s sky, ground, sky, ground, plane,” the soldier said. “You just see everything. And then it’s poof, nothing. No noise. It’s just you and you’re looking down and it’s fantastic.”
Landing “is the worst part,” he said, because of the chance of injury. “That’s where it really gets scary.”
Paratroopers in Saturday afternoon’s jump escaped unscathed although one airborne soldier had a scraped nose.
“This is a dangerous event,” said Lt. Col. James P. Sanders, battalion commander and a jump master. “You’re jumping out of a plane with a hundred pounds of equipment, 75 pounds of chute. If the worst I come away with is a scratched nose, hey, we’ve had a good day.”
At night, airborne soldiers drop equipment dangling below them to gauge how far they have to land.
“A night jump is a lot different because you really don’t know when you’re going to hit the ground,” he said.
Sanders said the Ohio-based airborne troops could return to Wright-Patterson for more training.
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