Photo By Staff Sgt. Courtney Davis | 2nd Battalion 134th Infantry Regiment Soldiers prepare their rucksacks and parachutes...... read more read more
On a breezy, early March evening, more than 40 Nebraska, Texas and Oklahoma Army National Guard Soldiers jumped into the darkened skies over the Husker Drop Zone, March 8, 2025.
The combat airborne drop was part of a bi-monthly training exercise designed to assist the paratroopers’ ability to maintain their proficiency while also giving them the opportunity to meet and train with their counterparts from Texas and Oklahoma.
Leading the exercise were Soldiers from the Nebraska Army National Guard’s 2nd Battalion (Airborne), 134th Infantry Regiment, which has units located at the Mead Training Site, Kearney and in Indiana. According to battalion leadership, Guard airborne Soldiers typically conduct a parachute training exercise every other month. The battalion also typically opens up their training exercises for airborne qualified Soldiers from other states to help those Soldiers also maintain their jump status.
During the March 8 exercise, Staff Sgt. Keegan Knotek, a fire support specialist with the Oklahoma Army National Guard 160th Field Artillery Brigade, was one of several Soldiers who traveled to Nebraska to participate in the exercise. This was Knotek’s first time participating in a Nebraska airborne exercise.
“We are making initial contact with our counterparts,” said Knotek. “These guys have been really great to integrate with, and they have taken us under their wings.”
However, before Soldiers can conduct an airborne jump, they must first complete a myriad of inspections, training and other important tasks to ensure their procedures and memories are sharp.
Prior to the jump participants rehearsed airborne operations in mockup replicas of a C-130, a medical evacuation, troop, and cargo transport aircraft. The preparations included a pre-jump inspection, a rehearsal of the actions they needed to take both in the aircraft and once they left the airplane. The rehearsal also focused on such important airborne fundamentals as how to deal with malfunctions.
The Soldiers then conducted two pre-jump iterations and then headed over to PFL (parachute landing fall) to practice landing in the drop zone.
Once pre-jump training was completed, the Soldiers received the necessary equipment to complete a successful airborne operation. Participants attached their parachutes to their harness -- which signified a combat jump -- weapon cases and optic lenses were bubble wrapped, and all equipment was easily accessible upon landing.
Spc. Kristopher Rodriquez, a parachute rigger with the Texas Army National Guard, said riggers come down whenever there is a jump to ensure parachutes are properly and correctly packed and distributed. Also, the riggers can participate in training if they need to stay current with their jumps.
Once the riggers handed out the parachutes and the airborne Soldiers packed their rucksacks, both jumpmasters and riggers walked through the hangar to inspect equipment.
“We’re getting rigged up to get on the aircraft,” said Spc. Vincent Nichols, an infantryman assigned to Nebraska’s 2-134th Infantry Regiment. “We are buddy rigging our parachutes, so the jumpmasters can come by to do their inspections. Afterward we are set to load the bird and be on our way.”
A few hours later, the moonlit skies above the Husker Drop Zone blossomed with parachutes as members of the Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Texas Army National Guard began to exit the C-130 before landing on Nebraska’s Husker Drop Zone.
Another successful airborne training exercise was in the books.
| Date Taken: | 03.25.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 03.31.2025 10:52 |
| Story ID: | 493896 |
| Location: | LINCOLN, NEBRASKA, US |
| Hometown: | AUSTIN, TEXAS, US |
| Hometown: | CHANDLER, OKLAHOMA, US |
| Hometown: | LINCOLN, NEBRASKA, US |
| Web Views: | 79 |
| Downloads: | 2 |
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