MAUNA LOA, Hawaii ¨C Early one morning this month, 864 Army paratroopers bundled into C-17 transport planes at a base in Alaska and took off for a Great Power War exercise between three volcanic mountains on Hawaii¡¯s Big Island.
Only 492 made it. Some of the C-17s had trouble with their doors, while others were forced to land early. A few of the parachutists who did make it sprained ankles or suffered head trauma. And one ¡ª a 19-year-old private ¡ª began to fall quickly when his chute did not open.
Across the field, shouts of ¡°pull your reserve¡± could be heard before the young private hit the ground and medics ran to treat him. The horrifying scene and its aftermath encapsulate every jumper¡¯s worst nightmare.
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