WEST POINT
PARACHUTE TEAM
B
LACK KNIGHTS
ULLETIN
V O L U M E
SECTIONS:
2-4— Day by Day
5— Black Knight Bios
6— Letter from the
Editor
1 ,
I S S U E
M A R C H
7
Inter-Service Academy Meet
2 0 1 4
By CDT Phil De Rosa ‘16
INSIDE THIS
ISSUE:
Plebe Success
2
Fly, Baby, Fly!
3
7th Group
4
Big Thanks
4
Meet Our New
Captain
5
Letter
6
With a successful Spring Break training
trip completed, the West Point Parachute Team
is busy making plans for the future. One major
upcoming event is the Inter-Service Academy
Meet, which will be held from April 18 to April
20 at West Point.
The Inter-service Academy Meet is a
weekend long skydiving competition amongst
Cadets from the United States Air force Academy and the United States Naval Academy. Both
the Naval Academy and the Air Force Academy
are sending about 10 cadets from their respective
parachute teams to compete in classic accuracy,
sport accuracy, and six-way speed over the Plain
of West Point.
After arriving on Friday morning all
visiting Cadets will receive a safety brief and
make a few familiarizations skydives on the
plain. Saturday morning at 0830, all competing
cadets will make their way out to the plain to
begin the freefall events. All jump operations
will be supported by the 2nd Aviation Detachment, who will be out in full force, flying two
Lakota’s. Competitors will break for lunch halfway through the day and after lunch will continue with a few rounds of accuracy. Sundays
schedule will follow a similar timeline, with
both the accuracy and six-way speed competitions coming to a close. The evening will conclude with an awards ceremony, guest speaker
and dinner in the Black and Gold Room in the
Mess Hall.
The West Point Parachute
Team is very excited to be hosting cadets from
both the Air Force Academy’s Wings of Blue as
well as from the Naval Academy’s Parachute
Club. We would also like to invite anyone who
might be in the West Point area from 18-20
April, to stop by and cheer on your West Point
Parachute Team as they BEAT AIR FORCE and
NAVY!
PAGE
2
DAY
BY
DAY
CURRENT
EVENTS OF
THE TEAM
CDT BJ Wallace after
his first AFF jump
BLACK
Plebe Success
By CDT Zach Beavor ‘17
The Spring Break training in Cape
Canaveral for the newest members of the
team was a great accomplishment not only
for them, but for entire team. In past years,
plebes did not attend the week long training
with the upperclassmen so this was an
achievement in and of itself.
Throughout the entire week, the
abundance of adrenalin pumping through
them. Although they may have been anxious, they all maintained the ability to run
though their freefall expectations: circle of
awareness, practice pulls, and overall altitude awareness. After they finished two tandem jumps, they moved onto the next level,
assisted freefall, where two instructors jump
plebes were all able to get their tandems and
first assisted freefall (AFF) jumps completed. This was a challenge considering the
team could only utilize two tandem certified
instructors, Coach Falzone and 1st Lt. Murphy, who is an alumni of the team. With
patience, the plebe members of the team
each performed their tandems out of a C130 or CH-47 Chinook at an elevation of
12,500 feet. All of plebes were able to
achieve two tandems effectively thanks to
their thorough jump training received beforehand and the skill and knowledge of the
wonderful tandem instructors. Many of the
newest members described their first tandems as extremely nerve racking, having an
out with you, one on each side. During freefall, the two instructors help guide the beginner skydivers by making sure the student
maintains proper stability and the ability to
pull for deployment of their chute. All of
plebes were then able to guide their parachutes to the drop zone with the assistance
of an instructor on the ground, via a walkietalkie.
This Spring Break for the
Parachute Team was a great milestone in
our training program because we started our
plebes jumping careers off sooner. We are
very proud of our newest members for making the first steps in becoming great skydivers.
KNIGHTS
BULLETIN
Fly, Baby, Fly!
PAGE
By CDT Russell Bowers ‘14
While down in Spring Break, the
workhorse for the Black Knights as the
Black Knights had the exciting honor to be Air Force plane provided load after load
jumping out of two different aircrafts: CH- for five days in the Florida sun. The C47-Chinook Helicopter and C-130. Each
130, being a cargo plane, is also known
very different birds with their own chalfor its carrying capacity as it can take up
lenges, the Black Knights had to learn and to 60 jumpers to altitude, which is exceladapt to the new aircraft as they preformed lent for big ways. However, the C-130 of4-ways, big ways, and
fers a few challenges
AFF dives out into the
as well. First, the
Florida Sky.
plane is very fast,
The Chinook, a
clocking 180 knots
completely new airwhen the skydivers
craft for every Black
are exiting, making it
Knight jumper, is
difficult spot and exit
known for being a
orders very quick.
skydiver’s favorite for
The Black Knights
several reasons.
had a total of 7 secPictured Above: CH-47 Chinook
Firstly, the helicoponds of jump run to
Pictured Below: C-130
ter is the fastest in
have every group
the Army, getting skyexit in order or risk
divers to altitude
being off the dropquickly with its dual
zone.
rotors. Second, the
Additionally, the fast
Chinook has a great
speed creates a tricky
capacity size, as it is a
exit for 4-Ways and
transport helicopter for
other linked exits as
the army and can take
the plane's burble
up to 26 skydivers. Finally, the Chinook
catches some jumpers by surprise. But behas the excitement of a ramp exit, which
yond these challenges, the best moment
allowed the Black Knights to practice dives out of the C-130 was the big way the
and poised exits out the back of the heliBlack Knights did on their last jump as
copter. It was truly a pleasure to be jumpnearly 20 jumpers left the ramp of the Cing out of such an incredible helicopter.
130 at once chasing to build a formation
While the Chinook was a wonderful over the Florida sunset.
experience for the team, the C-130 was the
BLACK
KNIGHTS
BULLETIN
3
7th Group
PAGE
4
By CDT William Scott ‘17
The Black Knights Parachute Team has
long been known for a standard of excellent performance, but the other jumpers that the team met
over Spring Break raised the bar still higher. Almost all of the lifts that the team was carried on
put them shoulder-to-shoulder with members of
the 7th Special Forces Group, an Airborne unit
whose missions task it largely to countries in Latin
America. Interacting with the ODA group further
inspired the team’s hard work throughout the
week, and multiple members of the team spoke
with the 7th Group to learn about the potential careers in Special Forces that the Army offers. The
team watched the 7th Group perform multiple precision stacks throughout the week, but aside from
skydiving expertise, unexpected fun ensued when
members of 7th Group played a game of Ultimate
Frisbee with the team (luckily, no score was kept)!
Big Thanks
By CDT Jim Delahunty ‘17
The West Point Parachute team would like to give a
big thank you to all those who assisted in the Spring
Break Trip, as it could not have been done without
their help! The experience that our cadets gained
while being allowed to jump every day from a
unique aircraft and beautiful location would not have
been possible had it not been for the parents and the
West Point Parent’s Club of Florida who helped ensure that food was provided for each meal. We salute
our Black Knight supporters and cannot thank them
enough for their selfless efforts! Blue Skies!
BLACK
KNIGHTS
BULLETIN
VOLUME
1,
ISSUE
5
PAGE
Meet Our New Captain!
By CDT Emily Carl ‘14
5
B
L
A
C
K
Catherine Fuller
K
N
Hometown: Boerne, TX
Major: Chinese
Branch: Military Intelligence
Hobbies: Skydiving, reading, and scuba
diving
Quote: "If you can fill the unforgiving minute with sixty seconds worth of distance
run, yours is the Earth and everything
that's in it" - Rudyard Kipling
I
G
H
T
B
I
O
S
Cadet Catherine Fuller, class of 2015 was recently voted into the position of Parachute Team Captain. Catherine Fuller is a member of Company F4 and is originally from Houston Texas. She has been an integral part of the Parachute Team thus far and excited to take on the
challenges of leading the team. The election of team captain took place
while the team was in Florida conducting spring training jumps. The
new team captain is typically chosen before the end of second semester
to allow the new captain a period of time to adjust to the position. In
this way, the team chose a promising leader to carry them through this
next year. Catherine has proven to be one of the most committed members of the parachute team and as such has certainly earned this position.
BLACK
KNIGHTS
BULLETIN
PAGE
DAY BY DAY
WE GET BETTER AND BETTER
UNTIL WE CAN’T BE BEAT
WON’T BE BEAT!
Letter From the Editor
I hope you all enjoyed this issue of
the Black Knights Bulletin. Spring
Break was an absolute blast and
we can not wait for other opportunities in the future.
I hope that many of you will be
able to make it to the 1st Annual
Inter-Service Academy Meet here
at West Point. If you are not able
to make it, be sure to check the
Facebook page for updates
throughout the competition days.
Of course, there will be many stories about the competition in the
next newsletter, so watch your
inboxes for that!
For the following issues, as
graduation is approaching, we
ask that you send in stories
regarding the team and its influence on your career. All stories are welcome!
By CDT Alexandra Deets ‘16
If anyone wants to know more
about how they can help the team,
please contact me, the team PAO,
at my contact info listed below or
Jessica Kuhlman at [email protected].
Black Knights Bulletin Editor:
CDT Alexandra Deets
P.O. Box 1150
West Point, NY 10997
[email protected]
Please check out our Facebook
page and LinkedIn pages:
www.facebook.com/pages/WestPoint-ParachuteTeam/166801830014020
www.linkedin.com/pub/west-pointparachute-team/86/141/873/
Once again, I hope you enjoyed the
latest issue of the Black Knights
Bulletin. If you have any comments
or recommendations pertaining to
the newsletter or would like to submit an article/ picture, please feel
free to contact me through the information listed below.
Respectfully,
CDT Alexandra Deets
Company H-2, USCC
Class of 2016, USMA
WPPT PAO
Blue Skies!
6