Tuesday, October 7, 2014

Fatal arrogance. There's a reason for SOP's.

Gory, gory, what a hell of a way to die,
He ain't gonna jump no more!
-- Blood Upon the Risers, an old Airborne song.
How a jump turned fatal at Fort Bragg
The general's report found four noncontributing factors that were not linked directly to Wright's death. Those factors were a VIP culture that enabled him to skip procedures that lower-ranking soldiers have to follow, problems with his parachute, problems with the 11th Quartermaster Company that packed his parachute and problems with the jump's planning that allowed him to circumvent the process that lower-ranking soldiers must follow.
Read the story through to the last paragraphs about the human cost of stupidity and lapses in judgment. What a useless loss.

4 comments:

Sean said...

It is better to be humble in spirit with the lowly, than to divide the spoil with the proud. Proverbs 16:19

Anonymous said...

That fatal combination of ignorance, arrogance, and stupidity is not uncommon among Colonels, especially under today's quota system.

Squid
III

Anonymous said...

Sad for his family, sure. Net gain for the service.

How?

A combat leader who would skip vital training for his own convenience will skip other steps as well, and get his command killed. This individual example has been removed from some fortunate soldiers' chain of command.

Additionally, the incident may serve as a cautionary tale for others who would otherwise take similar advantage of rank.

pdxr13 said...

+1.

...a cautionary tale for others who would otherwise take similar advantage of rank.