“As a big as a pen,” Emily said. “Fits in your pocket.”
“That is some cool shit.”
“Dude, come on. Please. This is DIA. Anyway, look here,” Mark said pointing to the image on Google Earth. “Naturally, the fire department will roll out after the alarm sounds. That means the fire house will be empty. You, Ford, wait near the fire house until they leave. Hide out near their facility. We ask Wu to park the jet there, engines running, and you get in. He can tell his co-pilot buddy they are parking in that spot for an emergency.”
Ford was really thinking the plan was coming together. They had some great ideas, and the backing of the highest levels of the intel community and government. He was feeling comfortable with the courses of action laid out.
“I’m liking it. Yeah, yeah. Let’s do it. Why don’t you guys work on some of the details, and I’ll wing suit it up with the SEAL Teams?” Ford said, nodding toward the door.
“Be safe, see you, kid,” Mark said.
“See you, Ford. Have fun.” Emily replied.
Ford opened the door and saw Gabe.
“I’m up for the HALO’s with the Herc, sir. Today. When do we go?”
The Air Force Reserve’s 328th Airlift Squadron of Niagara Falls, New York flew C-130H2 Hercules aircraft. The four engine, turbo prop aircraft, originally designed with a pencil and slide ruler in the 1950’s, could fly anything and everything from vehicles to combat troops to special operations forces. New Hercs continue to roll off the Georgia assembly line even today. The workhorse of tactical cargo, the C-130 has done everything from fly in the Blue Angels to landing on an aircraft carrier. The two Niagara pilots, a flight engineer, a navigator, and two load masters, taxied the Herc to the ramp at Oceana Air Station to pick up the squad of 12 SEALs from Team Eight, plus a rubber F47 °Combat Rubber Raiding Craft, or Zodiac.
Niagara’s 328th had a rich history of real world missions, and the SEALS enjoyed flying with the Reservists because they either had grey hair, or no hair, meaning the aircrew was overdosing in experience. When you jumped, you wanted an aircrew that knew what the heck they were doing, and the SEAL squad felt relaxed flying with them. The 328th had flown plenty of special operations teams and parachute forces, especially since they have been conducting aerial transportation since the China-Burma-India theater from 1944–1945, and later troop carrier training from 1947–1951. The Niagara squadron also deployed to Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War, and knew how to special handle guys from the Teams.
Ford was also on the tarmac, mixed in with the squad from SEAL Team 8. He looked just like they did from a glance, except his clothing and gear was a bit different. Assigned to be with an experienced wing suit jumper, Captain Gabe Peoples partnered Ford with an E-6, a Senior Chief by rank, to ensure he got the wing suit training he needed.
“You ready, sir?” Senior Chief Special Warfare Officer Bobby Tosca yelled over the roar of the C-130 taxiing to where they were standing, in addition to hooking up his oxygen mask for pre-breathing. “You look good. Any last minute questions from our orientation class from earlier?” Tosca’s rank, used solely by Navy SEALs, is the corresponding rank of a Senior Chief Petty Officer or Master Sergeant.
Ford shook his head no. He was reviewing the plan, going over the details for the jump altitude today at 35,000 feet, and ensuring that his gear was properly set. The brief earlier in the day consisted of the flight crew from Niagara, the leads from the SEAL Team Eight, and including crucial things like weather, winds, other aircraft in the area, emergency procedures, and drop zone conditions.
Ford was wearing a flat black wing suit, gray black helmet, and a tinted visor, in addition to the donning the MFF ARAPS, or Military Free Fall Advanced Ram Air Parachute System. He was also carrying his personal oxygen supply, connected to a gray oxygen mask that connected to his helmet.
Their jump today was considered a HALO, pronounced, Hay-Low, which was a high altitude- low opening jump. The HALO ARAPS provided a multi-mission, high-altitude parachute system that allowed military members to jump as low as 3,500 feet, up to today’s max height at 35,000 feet. Their plan called for breathing oxygen for 30-minutes prior to the jump, just to get rid of any nitrogen in their bloodstreams, which they were getting ready to begin.
The wing suit provided Ford the lateral distance he needed, while the rest of Team Eight were aiming for a separate, sister water drop zone a few miles away. Only Ford and Tosca were hitting the land drop zone today.
Since Mark arranged specifically with Gabe about acquiring some additional gear required for the mission, at DIA’s expense, Ford figured he’d better use it today for practice. His first option offered, almost like a new toy, was the Electronic Automatic Activation Device, or EAAD, and it would allow an automatic activation of the parachute if either of them were unable to deploy the parachute at the designated altitude. Ford considered it, but didn’t accept because of the added extra weight.
Ford was also sporting a personal navigation aid, a Nav Aid, which was a moving map displayed on a screen that he wore on his wrist. It provided in-flight navigation, winds, weather, and previously uploaded mission planning capability, which allowed him to concentrate on the jump itself first. This Nav Aid allowed Ford to free-fall and wing suit glide, then while under the canopy to continue to track and locate himself, steering directly to the intended drop zone. Ford’s Nav Aid system used an encrypted GPS that integrated multiple satellites, and would be useable in Asia.
The last item that differentiated Ford from the average civilian parachutist was his oxygen mask. Since they were jumping today above 13,000 feet, they wore the new Parachutist Oxygen Mask, or POM, rather than the MBU-12P mask issued to basic military parachutists. The POM provided Ford with a terrific range of vision, as well as an unobstructed range of motion, ensuring the oxygen reached his body at such dangerous altitudes. It also allowed him to communicate by taking to other teammates over a common radio frequency, but they didn’t plan on using that feature today.
The Herc stopped taxiing a few hundred feet in front of them, all four of the T-56 Allison turboprop engines roaring. Just after the loadmaster lowered the ramp, he waved in the guys from Team Eight, carrying the Zodiac in first. Both loadmasters were outside the aircraft now, headsets on and wire cords trailing, to stay in contact with the rest of the aircrew. The Zodiac did not have an engine attached to the rear, but it did have one fastened down to the interior of the small boat. It also had a parachute that would not only deploy, but steer onto the middle of the drop zone with pin point accuracy due to the self-steering parachute attached to a GPS device. The device, called JPADS, for Joint Precision Aerial Delivery System, would bring it right down to its intended target using GPS satellite navigation.
Senior Chief Special Warfare Officer Bobby Tosca also had on his body or inside the raft, a backpack, a radio, hundreds of rounds of ammo, an HK416 rifle, in addition to a harness full of pockets that carried everything from rifle magazines to grenades to a first aid kit. Because he was not doing a regular simulated combat jump with the rest of his squad from Team Eight, and doing the special wing suit jump today, he couldn’t wear anything else. If he did, it would interfere with the aerodynamics of the wing suit, which was not lost on Ford.
Another aspect that Ford was familiar with, but certainly not an expert on, were the weapons. He was a pilot, not a ground firearms expert. So Tosca gave Ford the once over on the Heckler and Koch HK416 assault rifle, which was based on the AR-15 platform. Ford recognized it immediately because it looked like a smaller M-16 rifle, but he still need an orientation. Tosca shared that the designers of the HK416 thought of this smaller rifle as improvement over the Colt M4 that was recently a new issue to the U.S. military. Tosca even showed Ford the short-stroke gas piston system, native from another Heckler and Koch product, called the G36. Ford shook his head yes to the lesson, but had no clue as an aviator anything beyond a basic understanding, and laughed to himself about it.