Tuesday, December 04, 2007

Toufoo Troopers?

About 2-3 days ago there were big headlines in all newspapers and tabloids, bringing the news of a few paratroopers drowning in Langkawi during a rehearsal for the LIMA show. Apparently there was a gush of wind coming out of the blue and blew them off course, resulting in 3 dead and a dozen injured. There was much grieve in the nation, including me and many accept it as the Act of God.

Out of curiosity, I wonder why there is suddenly so many people become Samyvellu??

IMHO, the government really owe us a good explanation. Either that or I missed out something. We already have graduates who can't speak, police who can't run and now, soldiers who can't swim?? What is the government doing with taxpayers money?

I remembered vividly that during standard 5, I watched a documentary on survival skills that says a parachutist needs to cut of his parachute-line right before his feet hit the water. A still attached chute will drag the person along the current into the deep sea.

If soldiers died as a result of smacking into skyscrapers Tarzan-style then I'll be able to comprehend. But well trained soldiers drown because they hit water!? C'mon!! I'm sure there must be better explanation than that.

Just imagine:

Scenario #1
You are on a plane crashing into the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Will you jump out of the plane in a chute or not?

Scenario #2
You are the army commander. Singapore is invading and deploying paratroopers are critical. You need to check the weather around the clock to minimise occurrences of 'Sudden Gust of Wind' and whether the rally point is anywhere near a swimming pool. A paratroop retaliation on Singapore is virtually non-existent because the damn bloody rock is so small the troops probably end up in the water anyway.

Scenario #3
You are a paratrooper.
1) You cannot land into the jungle because your chute will get caught with the branches and you will be dangling like a swing.
2) You cannot land near a pool because you drown.
3) You cannot simply jump off a plane because you need to test the weather before hand. Try shoving off your colleague to test the wind.
4) Preferable destination is an open air-field, no wind and a grand red carpet laid down for you to land on.

Therefore, I hope you guys out there can tell me more about parachuting and this 'sudden gust of wind' thingy because I'm wondering whether the troops are:

1) well trained
2) well equipped
3) too good, so much that there were no rescue boat and first aider around the scene of accident.

Do leave your comments.

1 comment:

Zentrox said...

Agree... The paratroopers should be well-trained to handle situations like this. I believe that the topic "how to overcome unpredicted/extreme weather conditions" is in a paratroopers' guide.