More than 600 paratroopers from the U.S., France, United Kingdom and Poland leapt onto the Hohenfels training ground on Wednesday, June 15, 2016, as the second phase of the multinational training exercise Swift Response 16 began. (Michael S. Darnell/Stars and Stripes)
More than 600 paratroopers from the U.S., France, United Kingdom and Poland leapt onto the Hohenfels training ground on Wednesday, June 15, 2016, as the second phase of the multinational training exercise Swift Response 16 began. (Michael S. Darnell/Stars and Stripes)
Maj. Gen. Richard Clark, commander of the 82nd Airborne Division, speaks to a crowd minutes after landing on the Hohenfels training area on Wednesday, June 15, 2016. Clark and elements from the 82nd were taking part in the second phase of the multinational training exercise Swift Response 16. (Michael S. Darnell/Stars and Stripes)
An 82nd Airborne Division soldier scurries off the drop zone to make room for other soldiers soon to be parachuting onto the Hohenfels training ground on Wednesday, June 15, 2016. The 82nd, along with soldiers from Poland, the United Kingdom and France were participating in the second phase of the multinational training exercise Swift Response 16 began. (Michael S. Darnell/Stars and Stripes)
More than 600 paratroopers from the U.S., France, United Kingdom and Poland leapt onto the Hohenfels training ground on Wednesday, June 15, 2016, as the second phase of the multinational training exercise Swift Response 16 began. (Michael S. Darnell/Stars and Stripes)
An American C-130 passes by a soldier drifting to earth during an air assault on the Hohenfels, Germany, training area on Wednesday, June 15, 2016. (Michael S. Darnell/Stars and Stripes)
Nearly 400 paratroopers from the U.S. Army's 82nd Airborne Division leapt onto the Hohenfels training ground on Wednesday, June 15, 2016, as the second phase of the multinational training exercise Swift Response 16 began. (Michael S. Darnell/Stars and Stripes)
An American soldier braces for a hard landing on the Hohenfels, Germany, training area on Wednesday, June 15, 2016, as he and other troops from the 82nd Airborne Division conducted a joint operation with French, British and Polish troops as part of Swift Response 16. (Michael S. Darnell/Stars and Stripes)
Nearly 400 paratroopers from the U.S. Army's 82nd Airborne Division leapt onto the Hohenfels training ground on Wednesday, June 15, 2016, as the second phase of the multinational training exercise Swift Response 16 began. (Michael S. Darnell/Stars and Stripes)
A Polish paratrooper fights with his parachute after landing on the Hohenfels, Germany, training area on Wednesday, June 15, 2016, as part of a multinational air assault as part of Swift Response 16. (Michael S. Darnell/Stars and Stripes)
HOHENFELS, Germany — It takes about 40 seconds for the average paratrooper to reach the ground from 1,500 feet in the air, according to Sgt. 1st Class Richard Flanagan.
During that time, jumpers mentally run through a checklist. They have to be prepared to undo the ties and clasps that hold their gear close to their bodies. They have to scope out a clear landing path and after that, plan for a properly executed landing that, to the untrained eye, looks similar to a boxer collapsing after one too many blows to the head.
But one thought trumps all others, Flanagan said.
“I hope this thing opens,” he said, referring to the nylon parachute that has allowed him to make 47 successful landings.
Flanagan, a jumpmaster with the 82nd Airborne Division, didn’t get to join his fellow paratroopers in their most recent of jumps, Wednesday at the Hohenfels training area.
Instead, the seasoned vet was coordinating efforts at the landing zone, where more than 600 paratroopers from several nations landed.
The jump marked the beginning of the second phase of Swift Response 16, a multinational crisis-response training event. Earlier this month, the first phase of this U.S. Army Europe-led exercise began with a similar air assault near the Polish town of Chelmno.
On Wednesday, the Americans from the 82nd were joined by Polish soldiers and the Airborne Combined Expeditionary Force, made up of French and British commandos.
After flying in from Ramstein Air Base on American C-130s and French C-160s, the troops will now begin a weeklong field exercise that has been in the planning stages for quite some time.
“As far as the development of an exercise like this in multiple locations with multiple partners, it is very complex,” said Maj. Gen. Mark Loeben, U.S. European Command’s director of exercises and assessments. “It takes a 12- to 18-month training and planning cycle to really get an exercise like this to fruition.”
