As part of Monday’s Salute to Veterans Parade, members of the Black Daggers, the U.S. Army Special Operations Command Parachute Demonstration Team, will parachute down from a C-130 Hercules to Broadway in a spectacle of smoke.
Why the smoke? It’s to make it easier for spectators to see those performing, said Sgt. 1st Class Shawn Callahan, the parachute team leader.
“Without the smoke, you’d never be able to see us,” he said. “The people parachuting would look like ants.”
During the air show, members of the team will jump in Army combat uniforms with oxygen masks and carry fake weapons to help the crowd see what it would look like going into combat.
Callahan said he also looks forward to performing with the Canadian Skyhawks parachute team at the air show.
“This is the only time we get to do this with them,” he said.
Performing together, the teams combine for 16 to 20 formation canopies.
“It’s incredible for the crowd but it’s also incredible for the skydiver,” Callahan said.
Nancy Fields, media chairwoman for the air show, said the Black Daggers believe in the air show’s mission to honor and recognize veterans.
“They jump all over the country,” Fields said. “But they like coming to Columbia, which is nice to hear.”
Skydiving does not have the roller coaster feeling that most people anticipate, Callahan said.
“The best way to describe it is like sticking your hand outside the window with the wind rushing by your hand — only you’re going 120 mph when you’re falling through the sky,” he said.
Callahan has completed more than 9,000 jumps and has been skydiving since he was 16 years old. “In fact,” he said, “that was my 16th birthday present.”
He said other members of the team joined the military first and learned to parachute either through skydiving schools or military parachute clubs.
There are two things people are afraid of when skydiving: jumping out of the plane and not knowing what to expect, Callahan said.
“But skydiving is safer than driving,” he said. “In a car you worry about everyone else, the person in the vehicle next to you. But when I jump I know I can trust the people I trained with as a team.”
Precautions include a device that automatically opens parachutes at 900 feet, Callahan said. During jumps, one member of the team also stays on the ground to make sure there is medical support and to stay in communication with the aircraft.
While in Missouri, the team will also jump at a school in Sedalia, which Callahan said is a way to help with Army recruiting efforts.
Callahan remembers military recruiters coming to his high school and simply talking, but he said students find the Black Daggers performance particularly interesting.
This way, he said, students can meet the team members, including two special operations medics, two special forces, two army rangers and one parachute maintenance technician.
“Some of the jobs in the military are really cool,” Callahan said.
Click here to view the whole schedule for the air show.