Humvees Plummet to the Ground in Parachute Drop Fiasco
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End result: The mangled remains of the Humvee on the ground in Germany after crashing from hundreds of feet in the air. Posted to Facebook by US Army W.T.F.! MomentsStars and Stripes | Apr 22, 2016
Content warning: Video contains adult language.
GRAFENWOEHR, Germany -- A training mission gone awry resulted in the loss of three Army Humvees during a heavy equipment drop mission last week in Hohenfels.
A video circulating on social media shows the vehicles falling out of the back of passing C-130s during a routine training exercise for the U.S. Army's 173rd Airborne Brigade on April 11. Connected to parachutes, most of the Humvees simply float gently to the ground. But during a second C-130 pass, one of the Humvees disconnects from its chute and is sent hurtling to the ground.
A minute later, a second one breaks free from its chute. Then, a third.
A spokesman for the 173rd said that no one was injured as a result of the mishap and that the cause of the incident is under review. The brigade is wrapping up operations on Saber Junction 16, an exercise that saw hundreds of successful air drops over the course of the past few weeks.
"Everything is planned for safety purposes; everything is done according to Army regulations and policies to ensure the safety of personnel and equipment," said Maj. Juan Martinez.
"However, things do happen, and that's why investigations come up to identify what went wrong, what happened so we can learn from here and continue so when we do real operations, these things don't happen," he added.
The video, posted on U.S. Army W.T.F. Moment's Facebook page, has more than 1 million views.
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