[WSB-TV] WAYNE COUNTY, Ga. — The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating a plane crash in Wayne County that killed a former SEAL Team member Thursday.
On Thursday at 9:03 a.m., Wayne County emergency responders received reports of a missing aircraft. According to the report, it was last seen around Manningtown.
"The situation itself is probably the most difficult part, dealing with the potential impact that this has on family and the community at large," EMA Director Donnie Ray stated.
Wasdin was a member of SEAL Team Six, a recipient of the Purple Heart and Silver Star and a published author.
An NTSB investigator is traveling to the scene to determine what caused the crash. A preliminary report is expected to be released in the next 15 days.
[Soldier Systems] I’m sorry to report that the legendary Billy Waugh, who served his nation for over 50. years in US Army Special Forces, and after his military retirement with the Central Intelligence Agency, has passed away at age 93.
[WAPO] A Navy SEAL was killed in 2014, an Air Force commando went missing over the ocean in 2019 and an Army Green Beret will likely lose an arm in 2023. Each experienced a rare but catastrophic accident after their parachutes unexpectedly deployed when hit by wind gusts, violently ripping them out aircraft doors and prompting lawsuits questioning the safety of their gear.
All three were wearing the T-11 reserve parachute, which sits on a jumper's chest and is pulled if their main canopy fails. Critics argue that the parachute's fabric ripcord is more sensitive to strong winds than the 50-year-old rig with a metal ripcord that it replaced a decade ago.
While the number of accidents is small, the consequences can be dire. The military knows of the concerns. Evaluators altered the parachute as recently as 2021 to prevent openings from wind blast. Still, critics say small changes haven't stopped the problems, and the product should be replaced.
Army Staff Sgt. Brycen Erdody, a Green Beret medic, nearly died last year 1,250 feet over Fort Bragg, N.C., when his T-11 reserve opened after a wind gust came through an aircraft door. The parachute inflated and sucked him out, slamming him against the door frame, ripping off his helmet and partially severing his arm. An Army investigation cleared him of negligence in the accident.
Erdody has undergone five surgeries since then.
"Both my first ribs were fractured, my sternum was caved in, my bicep was cut in half, my nerves were pulled from my spine," Erdody told The Washington Post. "They'll probably end up having to amputate my arm because there's no nerve activity and never will be again."
Erdody and his wife Cassidy filed a federal lawsuit Monday in the Eastern District of North Carolina against the T-11's manufacturer — Airborne Systems of North America — accusing the company of designing a faulty parachute and failing to warn service members about its issues. The danger is greatest for jumpmasters, experienced parachutists who lean out of planes to spot drop zones, a role most victims were performing at the time of their accidents.
Airborne Systems did not return requests for comment made by phone and email Monday.
The complaint filed by Erdody's lawyers argues that the T-11 reserve was originally tested with safety pins installed, which provided more resistance and prevented accidental openings. Those pins aren't used in the rig given to troops, the complaint alleges, leading to deaths and, in Erdody's case, life-changing injuries.
Victims of these accidents can't sue the Defense Department due to the Feres doctrine, which prevents service members injured on duty from collecting damages from the federal government. But Erdody's attorney, Natalie Khawam, is still hopeful the lawsuit against the manufacturer will put the military in the spotlight, too.
"This is not going to bring back Brycen's arm, but hopefully it'll stop this from ever happening again to one of our service members," Khawam said. "When I talked to a subject matter expert, he said, 'In the military, we keep using gear until someone dies.' But several people have died from this product and they're still using it."
It is the second time Airborne Systems has been sued over problems with its T-11 reserve parachute.
Navy SEAL Chief Petty Officer Bradley Cavner was killed over El Centro, Calif., when his T-11 reserve was activated by a wind gust and his head struck the aircraft's door frame as he was swept out. A lawsuit filed by Cavner's parents ended in a confidential settlement in 2017, according to court records.
Air Force Special Operator Staff Sgt. Cole Condiff also died when his T-11 reserve opened from a wind gust, pulling him from an aircraft flying over the Gulf of Mexico. His body was never recovered.
An Air Force investigation blamed Condiff and his teammates for not noticing that a protective fabric insert — added to the ripcord flap after Cavner's death to prevent another accident — was extended one inch too far, so it couldn't stop the wind from deploying the parachute as intended.
A military parachute instructor with 20 years of experience who is not a plaintiff in Erdody's lawsuit said the fabric inserts were a "Band-Aid."
"They keep trying to find small solutions without actually doing what they're supposed to do and say 'the system's unsafe' and take it out of service," said the instructor, who still works for the military and asked that his name not be used to protect his career. "The old (reserve parachute) was a metal handle that was tucked away and wasn't affected by wind. With this new system, just the way the wind gets under it, that can deploy it from either direction."
Erdody's 2022 accident happened despite the fabric inserts being used. An Army investigation shared with The Washington Post stated that Erdody and his fellow jumpers performed all actions, including pre-jump inspections, properly. His jump rig was even inspected twice before the accident by different soldiers, the investigation stated.
"One of them would have caught an issue with the reserve," an unnamed witness cited in the investigation said.
It's not clear how many of these accidents there have been. The Army's parachute malfunction review board at Fort Lee, Va., only knew of three incidents in the last 10 years. Meanwhile, the Air Force investigation into Condiff's death tallied seven by 2019. And an Army Infantry School bulletin said there had been reports of "more than a dozen" before the first death in 2014. Regardless of the number, the consequences are stark.
"Although the number may seem statistically minute, the Airborne community responded by implementing increased safety measures to reduce the likelihood of any such incidents in the future," said Army spokeswoman Onyx Taylor-Catterson. She pointed to the fabric inserts as one important change, as well as efforts in 2021 to change the shape of the T-11 reserve ripcord handle to prevent the risk of wind blast.
Taylor-Catterson said the review board audits safety measures four times a year. More changes could always come. But critics hope for a larger overhaul.
"They're still jumping the same system I used when I got sucked outside of the airplane," Erdody said. "There's been nothing, no fixes."
#1
So I have a couple questions. Where is the Airborne safety board on this? Second, removing the handle and cable was a good idea, so what did they design wrong, or is there really a problem here? The 82d uses these chutes, to the tune of a couple thousand jumpers a day. They dont have this issue. It seems, by the article that this is only happening to jumpmasters. What are the JSOC jumpmasters doing that is different from the 82d or the Rangers? If it truly is isolated to the JSOC teams, they need to look at the processes for the teams exiting, look for a change in process or a change to the JSOC equipment, not the entire airborne community. To say thats not fair, almost all of the JSOC equipment from uniforms to weapons to vehicles are all modified for specific operations, not standard issue.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
04/07/2023 11:02 Comments ||
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#2
JSOC jumpmasters doing that is different from the 82d or the Rangers
Nothing different, except sticking their heads out the door to check for wire, hazards and such at the drop zone. That is where they get their blast of wind from. The other troops get their blast as they exit the aircraft and the chute is gonna open then anyway.
You are also trained to cover the reserve when you jump so if things go south you get it deployed quickly. This may be enough to keep it from springing early while the jumpmasters have to hold onto the door if they don't want to have an unplanned exit and that may expose the reserve pull.
#5
That also happened in the early 80's, 83 I think. The div commander made the riggers jump every chute they packed. Found the guy quickly. For a short period of time riggers lost their red caps and were not welcome at the nco clubs...
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
04/07/2023 16:02 Comments ||
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[Daily Mail] A fearless blonde-haired Southern Belle was seen grabbing a possum by its tail with her bare hands causing chaos on a dance floor at a Texas hall.
The hilarious scene caused quite a stir that took place at the Banita Creek Hall located in Nacogdoches, Texas around midnight on Saturday night near closing time that drew yelps and howls from folks at the Texas joint.
The video that was posted on Facebook shows the denim-short wearing cowgirl named Jessica White, also known 'now' as the 'Possum Queen,' walking through the dance floor - like a champ - with the possum hanging upside down from its tail. Check out the photos at the link
Posted by: Bobby ||
04/07/2023 02:11 ||
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#3
You pick them up by the tail so that they don't bite you (they don't get rabies, but they might have some icky bacteria or something in their mouths, and their claws are pretty sharp). They don't move that quickly so it's not a real feat to catch them.
^^ Stuff you learn from living where "the 'Possum roams".
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
04/07/2023 8:54 Comments ||
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#4
They are not hard to catch once they play possum.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
04/07/2023 8:58 Comments ||
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#5
Group I ran with, dude standing underneath the Bud Light tag with soy mouth watching the gal take care of business would have caught hell up to today.
[JustTheNews] Budweiser distributor in Springfield, Mo., has cancelled the planned appearance of the Budweiser Clydesdales this week amid mounting backlash against the company for its partnership with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney.
Wil Fischer Distributing, which distributes Budweiser in the area, reportedly made the decision to cancel the Clydesdale showings over fears for the safety of their employees, OzarksFirst reported.
#1
Yes. The problem isn't that Anheuser-Busch has lost its once legendary marketing prowess and made one of the stupidest marketing decisions in history. The problem is all you hateful transphobe bigots out there are making us scared.
Posted by: Tom ||
04/07/2023 9:41 Comments ||
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#2
Oh Bullshit.
Nobody is going to mess with the horses, even if they got gay'd up.
What happened I'd bet, is that they were going to gay them up, and somebody noticed the music's tempo even with a tin ear.
#3
Such bullshit. We would never do anything to hurt the horses. This is an attempt to gaslight the left and separate those that dont approve of what The European owners of Budweiser are doing. We might, however offer the horse team rainbow unicorn headsets for their horses...
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
04/07/2023 11:05 Comments ||
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#4
Me as Marketing Director:
"What would be zo hip, zo now, would be a re-imagining of the Budweiser Clydesdales as My Little Ponies! It would be soooo super cute."
........"Fetch the Draw and Quarter gear. Call billing, I have a Pay-Per-View extravaganza idea."
#6
Safety concerns my ass. Its not wanting the iconic image shown being met with ridicule and disapproval over the stupid marketing decision about BudLight. The horses aren't at risk, but imagery of the whole Budweiser display being met with negative reaction that will never be erased.
#7
The Qwerty counter-meme is weak, and I'm sure Coors Light would just assume stay out of it (one circulating is CL with a bunch of redneck boogery going on). Another is the old jeans "where did it hurt you" that was popular back when Marvel movies were watchable.
And that's just it. It isn't hurt or embarrassment - it is ridicule. Its the stupidity of predictability. It wounds their corporate focus group laziness with monotonous laughter.
Along these lines, I'd like to know how some aging rock star who hasn't been a thing since Pearl Jam and season 1 of Friends going on tour with fake shop-teacher tits is serious messaging.
In fact, this is all quite literally the plot of ridicule in South Park's 'Funnybot'. Awkward!
#9
I've see Budweiser Clydesdales up close and personal. One time they were kept in the pasture where I kept my horses. They were yuuuge. Very docile, too.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
04/07/2023 14:34 Comments ||
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#10
I guess those that are TRANS-CLYDESDALE
could demand to help pull the wagon.☺
[Daily Mail] Water levels fell so low in key reservoirs during the depth of California's drought that boat docks sat on dry, cracked land and cars drove into the center of what should have been Folsom Lake.
But those scenes are no more after a series of powerful storms dumped record amounts of rain and snow across California, replenishing reservoirs and bringing an end — mostly — to the state's three-year drought.
Now, 12 of California's 17 major reservoirs are filled above their historical averages for the start of spring. Several before/after slider photos at link.
Posted by: Bobby ||
04/07/2023 02:16 ||
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[Breitbart] Trump Tower in reliably Democrat Chicago, aka The Windy City or Mobtown ...home of Al Capone, the Chicago Black Sox, a succession of Daleys, Barak Obama, and Rahm Emmanuel... was placed on lockdown and saw a SWAT team respond after a woman wielding a rifle walked into the building on Wednesday morning.
Local police said the SWAT officers responded to the building around 11:25 a.m.
The SWAT team reported to an apartment on the 27th floor, where the armed woman allegedly went after claiming she was "tired of being abused by her husband," according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
The woman forced the SWAT team into a standoff that reportedly lasted three hours.
Officers also partially blocked off streets surrounding the Trump International Hotel and Tower. Authorities said the incident was "domestic-related," and there was no threat to the public.
The incident occurred one day after former President Donald Trump ...Oh, noze! Not him!... was arraigned and pleaded not guilty "Wudn't me." on a 34-count indictment for falsifying business records.
The armed woman was taken into custody and brought to a hospital for evaluation, according to the Sun-Times. There were no injuries reported.
#2
This is a payback for the opium war that was inflicted to them by the western powers america is the easy of the bunch to fuck
Posted by: ACA JOE ||
04/07/2023 12:52 Comments ||
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#3
Such morality displayed, Mr. Joe: “We are going to wage a secret war on the the biggest target, even though they are completely innocent, instead of the descendants of those who actually did the evil deed a century ago.”
I vote we accelerate the current trend of decoupling our economy and trade from China.
#6
At some point, it would be nice to see our intelligence services break away from surveillance of conservative Americans and look at intercepting one of the Fentanyl shipments bound for Mexico - .maybe one not brokered by the CIA.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
04/07/2023 18:37 Comments ||
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#7
Well, if trafficking is not deemed illegal by Jurisdictional parties, there is no "illegal" trafficking, right?
[American Military News] A Japanese army helicopter is believed to have crashed into the ocean, with its 10 crew members feared dead as debris seems to have been found near where the aircraft disappeared from radar screens.
The helicopter, a UH-60JA Black Hawk, vanished from radars Thursday afternoon local time during a reconnaissance mission north of Miyako Island, which lies south of Japan’s main islands, the Associated Press reported.
Since then, debris thought to be parts of an aircraft have been found in the area, according to the head of Japan’s Ground Self Defense Force, Yasunori Morishita. He said officials now believe the craft crashed in the water, AP reported.
Officials declined to confirm a news report that oil traces possibly related to the helicopter had been found by Japanese coast guard ships, AP reported.
Morishita said the helicopter had been stationed at an important army base in the region, located on the southernmost of Japan’s five main islands, Kyushu, AP reported. One of the missing crew was the division commander, named Yuichi Sakamoto, he said.
The missing helicopter comes after nine U.S. troops were killed in a collision between two Black Hawk helicopters during a training exercise at Kentucky’s Fort Campbell last week.
Miyako Island is about 200 miles east of Taiwan, an island China claims as its own and intends to eventually rule. Japan has been boosting its military capabilities in that region amid China’s increasingly aggressive military posture, AP reported.
Separately in the nearby Taiwan Strait, China has launched a three-day operation during which it says it will board and inspect cargo and construction vessels. China has also deployed an aircraft carrier strike group near the island, USNI News reported.
Both of those developments came as House Speaker Kevin McCarthy met with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen, the highest-level meeting ever held in the U.S. for a visiting Taiwanese leader.
[HOT AIR] In case you hadn’t noticed, President Joe Biden has been making a number of appearances lately at manufacturing plants. These trips included a microchip plant in North Carolina and a "green energy" plant in Minnesota. He’s been attempting to show voters how his policies are driving an economic comeback in the manufacturing sector, particularly for projects to save the climate or whatever. But as usual, the real story of American manufacturing is quite different than the one that the White House is trying to sell. As was reported in the Free Beacon on Monday, analysts are keeping a close eye on the Institute for Supply Management’s manufacturing index, known as PMI. It’s a key indicator of how strong manufacturing actually is in the United States. And this week, the index fell to the lowest level seen since the pandemic began.
U.S. manufacturing reached its lowest point since the start of the pandemic, according to a report released just as President Joe Biden embarked on a tour of U.S. factories to tout his promise to boost the industry.
On Monday, the Institute for Supply Management’s manufacturing index reached its lowest point, 46.3, since May 2020, Reuters reported. Excluding the pandemic recession, the index, known as PMI, was at its lowest point since 2009.
PMI is a tool for identifying economic trends in the manufacturing and service sectors based on business conditions at hundreds of major companies. A PMI below 50 indicates decline.
As noted, the PMI is a fairly straightforward measure of manufacturing health in the country. It’s set up on a scale of 1 to 100. A PMI higher than 50 indicates growth, while a measurement below 50 signals decline. This week the PMI hit 46.3. If you factor out the aberration of the government shutdowns in 2020, this is the lowest the PMI has been since 2009 at the tail end of the Great Recession.
#3
China will use every bit of its enormous economic, political and media power, overt and covert, legal and illegal, to prevent any resurgence of actual American manufacturing and re-industrialization. The entire relationship is parasitical, and increasingly colonial in its brazenness! The Middle Kingdom is at the heart of the balkanization and tribalism of current American political and cultural turmoil, and has mastery of the Marxist elites who run the Demokrat party?
[The Federalist] In February, an FBI memo was leaked labeling traditional Catholic Christians as potential terrorist threats. The memo also implied those who attend the Latin Mass are potentially racists.
Catholic leaders quickly complained at the injustice of the pretext for surveillance of their coreligionists, noting the grave First Amendment infringement of the FBI surveilling conservative Christians and that Latin Masses draw Catholics from many ethnic groups. Even left-wing Catholics came to traditionalists’ defense.
The FBI later retracted the memo, but for many it was yet another sign that many federal agencies have been politicized and now serve as arms of the far-left wing of the Democratic party. In his recent book, "The Gospel of J. Edgar Hoover," Stanford University religious studies professor Lerone A. Martin paints the FBI under Hoover as fervently Christian and conservative, smearing conservatives and Christians by association with the famously authoritarian Hoover.
In his epilogue, Martin reveals one of his principal goals of "The Gospel of J. Edgar Hoover": "canceling" Hoover and a radical reform of the FBI. His final chapter includes a detailed plan of reforms he desires for the FBI.
MIXING GOVERNMENT POWER WITH RELIGIOUS IMPULSES
"The Gospel of J. Edgar Hoover" also explores a little-known facet of Hoover: his Christianity. Hoover was born in a devout Presbyterian household in Washington, D.C.’s Capital Hill neighborhood. As a child, Hoover studied the Westminster Shorter Catechism as well as the Bible.
Hoover studied law at George Washington University, eventually joining the Justice Department and then the Bureau of Investigation. After Hoover rose to director, Martin claims Hoover attempted to create a Christian culture at the bureau, penning articles for publications such as Christianity Today and inviting agents to Jesuit retreats.
#2
Oct 13, 2020 · Lerone A. Martin, associate professor of religion and politics and incoming director of the American Culture Studies program in Arts & Sciences, received a $250,000 grant from The Teagle Foundation to develop and implement a summer humanities program for promising, underserved high school students from the St. Louis region. April 8, 2020.
#5
Going to the Teagle Foundation website tells you all you need to know . Like Bennet Serf's egg, you don't need to eat the whole thing to know it's rotten.
#1
My experience is that, before chewing your arm off, 2-or-3 shots of whisky (Just heard about this - no JD ever again!) the morning after works also.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
04/07/2023 15:01 Comments ||
Top||
#5
In my youth (66 yrs ago) i read a book about astrology. One of the guidpeosts to your 'sun sign' was the query 'where was Uranus when you were born"
I answered 'about 18" from my head" and put the book down.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
...Oh, noze! Not him!...
[HOT AIR] In case you hadn’t noticed, President Joe Biden has been making a number of appearances lately at manufacturing plants. These trips included a microchip plant in North Carolina and a "green energy" plant in Minnesota. He’s been attempting to show voters how his policies are driving an economic comeback in the manufacturing sector, particularly for projects to save the climate or whatever. But as usual, the real story of American manufacturing is quite different than the one that the White House is trying to sell. As was reported in the Free Beacon on Monday, analysts are keeping a close eye on the Institute for Supply Management’s manufacturing index, known as PMI. It’s a key indicator of how strong manufacturing actually is in the United States. And this week, the index fell to the lowest level seen since the pandemic began.
