about them at the same time and they’ll follow you anywhere,” I reply.
“Makes sense,” Robert says. “How do you learn that though?”
“Study people and watch their reactions to different things. And don’t ever fake compassion or understanding. People, especially soldiers, will see through that in a heartbeat. Always be yourself. The other thing with regards to leading is always study past actions in your head. Study mistakes and the things done right. Analyze every detail and think how you could or would have done it differently. Think up scenarios, not matter how wild or crazy, and think your way through it. If you come to an impasse, back up and rethink it. Throw odd shit in on the fly and think about how to take care of it. Think on it until your response becomes instinctual because there are many times you won’t get to think it through, you’ll only have time to react,” I say. The both sit quietly with the gears turning in their heads. Heat waves shimmer in the distance turning the end of the runway and the buildings beyond into a blur.
“One last thing, no matter how right you do things, you may lose people. That’s just a fact. You can’t account for every variable. That doesn’t mean you did it wrong. Although you may feel bad, it doesn’t always mean you did something wrong. Analyze it as with anything else but move on. If you think too much about one life that is lost, you’ll forget about those who are still living,” I add watching the shimmers dance. “Don’t forget, just forgive.”
“Lynn always says that you’re too hard on yourself and blame yourself when we’ve lost people in the past,” Bri says.
“She told you that?” I ask.
“No, I’ve just heard her talking to herself when she didn’t know I was around,” Bri answers.
“Well, you take my advice on this one because I obviously have no use for it,” I reply.
“Haha, very funny, Dad,” Bri says.
“Hey, they can’t all be gems,” I say.
“And in your case, none of them can,” Greg says. We all turn to see him standing at the top of the ramp.
“Don’t you have a hole you have to go fall in?” I say waving him beside us.
“See, your proving my point,” he says walking down and sitting.
“You good?” I ask Robert.
“I’m good,” he answers.
“Are you up for talking about things and planning some?” I ask Greg.
“Anytime,” he answers.
“Okay, I want you to play devil’s advocate to a degree and let’s talk our way through this, especially the jump,” I say.
“No worries on that as I’m already a little leery of it,” Greg says.
“We have a waxing moon past half so if it remains clear, we should have some light to guide us,” I say beginning. “So let’s look at that for starters.”
“Day versus night?” I ask.
“Well, day is better to jump for obvious reasons. We can guide in better and allow for any alterations earlier but we can be seen and they may even notice the aircraft overhead. Night is riskier, again for obvious reasons, but they will most likely be inside and won’t see either us or the aircraft. Plus, if they are inside, any aircraft noise will be hidden. Not like they can hear one that high anyway,” Greg answers.
“How about a sunset drop?” I ask.
“Not as risky as a night drop but there is the chance of being seen. If timed right though, they should be inside although we don’t know their habits being walled up like that. They may hang outside until later,” he says.
“Is it worth the added risk of being seen?”
“I’m not sure about that one,” Greg answers.
“Well, the thing I’m thinking about with that one is that Robert, and I’m sure Craig, hasn’t conducted a night landing in the 130, especially with NVG’s. They’ll have to if we drop at night. That means we’ll have to practice those tonight and drop the next day if we decide on a night drop,” I say.
“That’s one of the things I was worried about,” Robert chimes in.
“Alright, let’s table that and come back to it,” I say. “How do you feel about the HALO jump itself?”
“Not good to be honest. We could deploy at a high altitude and glide in although that would mean oxygen and I’m not really a fan of going back in there,” Greg answers pointing to the small building we exited not too long ago.
“Plus, we’ll have to add some warmer clothing,” I say. “There is also the fact that we won’t be able to see the ground if there isn’t enough lighting or there’s a cloud cover. I’d hate to steer half way over the country and come up short. If we had reliable GPS equipment, okay, but that option isn’t really available. We could deploy at a higher altitude rather than the normal 2,500 feet. That would give us some margin for error,” I say.
“I like the idea. What are you thinking then?” Greg asks.
“Well, say at around 3,000 feet above the ground,” I answer. “We won’t be able to see the ground at that point and will be at the mercy of the winds to a greater extent. And our accuracy falls with each foot higher above the ground we deploy.”
“What about a lower drop altitude?” Robert asks.
“We could but the 130 is a noisy machine and not only heard from a long ways off, but felt as well,” I answer.
“How easy is it to program the drop point?” Greg asks. “I was thinking we could make a determination of the deployment altitude based on the visibility over the target.”
“Not very really. It can be done enroute but that takes time and the decision would have to be made early in the flight,” I answer. “If we decide on a sunset drop, we can determine the altitude before we leave.”
“Are we leaving from here or Canon?”
“I was thinking from here and then land at Canon. If we drop at sunset, that will give Robert time to get back with some light left as it is only 100 miles away,” I answer.
“So, you’re leaning toward a sunset drop?” Greg asks.
“The more I think about it, the more I like the idea. We have light to correct and Robert has light to land. We don’t know the winds, although we’ll be able to know what they are at altitude, and I just don’t want to deploy and find we are going to land outside of the walls. That thought does not give me warm and fuzzy feelings,” I answer.
“So, a sunset drop then. With a low or mid chute deployment?”
“Low deployment unless we see we are far off target. We’ll each have to make our own determination on that. If we do notice we’ve been spotted, we’ll make for the compound we spotted to the south and hole up behind those walls. Provided we have the altitude for it,” I reply. Greg nods.
“So, we’re at 5,355 feet here according to the charts. Lubbock is around 3,256 feet. Because we don’t know the pressure changes, let’s plan for a 3,000 foot chute deployment. If we zero out the wrist altimeters here, we should deploy at 1,000 feet on the dial over Lubbock,” I continue.
Greg gives me a funny look before asking, “How good were you at math in school?”
“Pretty good,” I answer.
“Okay, 1,000 on the dial it is,” he responds.
“So what do you think? Make for a landing on the large central building?” I ask.
“I think so. That’s the only place we found a possible way in. Other than the ground level doors,” he says.
“I’m thinking they are holed up in one of the wings. Possibly with a group in one of the buildings and the prisoners, assuming that’s what they are, in the other. I don’t think they would actually separate themselves in the other wing. It’s too far away,” I say.
“I agree, but which one. There are two of them and it’ll be a challenge getting to just one I think,” Greg says.
“Let’s get Jim in on this,” I say. Greg rises and returns with Jim.
“Where do you think they would be holing up?” I ask Jim pointing to the star-shaped wings.
“I honestly wouldn’t know. They are identical inside and have their own kitchens, open rooms, eating and shower facilities,” Jim answers.
