Previously Held MOS 11E10-Armor Crewman
2622-Unit Officer, Training Center
1203-Tank Unit Commander
12C-Cavalry Officer
2162-Operations & Training Staff Officer (G3 A3 S3)
12A-Armor Officer
Four Army paratroopers died and dozens were injured 30 Mar 1982 when a large airdrop designed to test the Pentagon's ability to respond quickly to trouble around the world went awry in the California desert.
Later in the day, The Associated Press reported, military officials said that at least 71 soldiers had been injured, three of them critically. Eight other soldiers were also hospitalized.
In one of the largest airdrops since World War II, more than 2,200 soldiers from the 82d Airborne Division parachuted from a fleet of Air Force C-141 and C-130 transports over the Mojave Desert about 130 miles southeast of here.
Lieut. Gen. Robert C. Kingston, commander of the Rapid Deployment Joint Task Force, a specialized, multiservice unit organized by the Pentagon to move abroad quickly to deal with military crises, said that the parachutes of two of the soldiers had failed to open properly in the drop and that two other paratroopers had died in landing accidents. Examinations After Jump
General Kingston said that about 100 of the paratroopers who jumped in the exercise were ''examined for possible injury,'' but most were able to rejoin the simulated combat exercise.
In a statement released by the Army this afternoon, General Kingston said, ''Parachuting is inherently dangerous. All normal peacetime safety precautions were followed during this morning's jump.''
The deaths occurred at Fort Irwin, a sprawling Army facility that has been used by the Army for desert warfare training since World War II.
There were reports today from some residents of Barstow, near Fort Irwin, that winds were blowing at up to 40 miles an hour this morning when the deaths occurred, but the Army said that when the airdrop began about 6 A.M., the winds were not nearly as great.
General Kingston said that at ''one time during the jump this morning there were winds higher than 10 knots,'' but that when the fatalities occurred, the highest winds were gusting at 10 knots. A knot equals one nautical mile per hour.
An Army spokesman said the maximum wind speed allowed by regulations for peacetime drops was 13 knots, about 15 miles an hour. Military sources said they expected a board to be convened to learn more about the accidents. The Associated Press quoted Specialist 4 Daniel Maynard, 24 years old, of the Army, who suffered a fractured pelvis, as saying there was air turbulence before the soldiers left their planes. ''I was more than glad to get out,'' he said.
Specialist Maynard said everything went smoothly until he was 50 feet from the ground. Then, he said, a gust of wind hit him, snarling the straps of his parachute and driving him to the ground.
Army officials said their preliminary investigation had indicated that parachutes of two of the dead soldiers failed to open completely, while one man died when he landed on a piece of heavy equipment that had been parachuted into the drop zone a few moments earlier. They said the fourth soldier died when he was dragged along the ground by winds.
The Los Angeles County-University of Southern California Medical center here was alerted to receive casualties from the accident. Others were taken to the Long Beach Naval Hospital near Los Angeles.
The accidents occurred in the first major simulated assault in ''Gallant Eagle '82,'' a monthlong exercise, including almost 4,000 participants from all the armed service branches.