-
6. Okinawa
- Texas A&M University Press
- Chapter
- Additional Information
6 Okinawa A short leave, in February, , Colt was assigned to the st Special Forces Group (Airborne) in Okinawa.1 When he reported for duty, the commander, Col. Francis B. “Frank” Mills, assigned him to command Detachment A-, known as one of the toughest and best Special Forces teams in the group. He told Colt that he considered him to be one of the few officers who were tough enough to handle that team. The men were all bachelors with no ties back home and were not only tough but also borderline reckless. Oddly enough, Detachment A- was designated a cold-weather-survival training team, and its members assigned to receive ski instruction—in tropical Okinawa, where there was never any snow and no mountains. Nevertheless , the assignment fit Colt’s experience. In addition to having been a ski instructor in West Germany and a cold-weather-survival instructor, he had taken regular skiing trips to Utah while he had been stationed at Fort Bragg. Yet with no place to ski anywhere near Okinawa, Colt faced a challenge in carrying out his teaching assignments. During the summer, he accomplished the initial training by creatively using rice straw spread on a grass-covered ammunition bunker; this way the men could practice sidestepping and sliding down it. The men were clumsy at first and looked odd in their shorts and T-shirts, but they learned the rudiments of skiing. During the winter, he flew them to Japan or Korea. Then, in the middle of his training assignment, Colt was suddenly redirected into something unexpected. O , drop zone in South Korea just northwest of Seoul. The men played pinochle during the four-hour flight from Okinawa. When the city lights came into view, they all got down to business. On this particular night, they were dropping onto a sandy beach along the Han River. The jump was considered a “Hollywood jump” (that is, safer as compared to those in other drop zones) because of the sandy beach on which they would land, though a trooper was occasionally blown into the river. Maj. John Todd, the group S- (logistics officer) for the st Special Forces Group (Airborne), came along as a “strap hanger,” a paratrooper who needed to make a pay jump. To remain qualified for the extra pay given for the dangers of jumping from airplanes, a paratrooper had to make at least one jump every ninety days. They often jumped at least every month. As a strap hanger, he was not normally part of the training mission, but at six feet, two inches tall and weighing pounds, the major was not about to be denied participation . Colt told Major Todd that, as the ranking officer on board, he should be the first one out the left door; the captain planned to be the first one out the right door. The major responded with a simple “Okay,” but that was enough to elicit a few muffled chuckles, at their own risk, from the other men. Todd had a squeaky voice at a pitch higher than most men could even imitate, but he was so big and strong that no one would dare comment about it. As the aircraft approached the drop zone, the red light came on. Colt went down the line to check his men, make sure their parachutes were on right,andtightenuptheirstrapsabit.Everyonewashookedupwithsafetypins in place. Paratroopers can be a bit nervous before they jump—they know all the things that can go wrong. When Colt reached the front of the line, he hollered to Todd, “Major, are you ready?” Todd snapped back, “Yeah, I’m ready! Why the hell are you questioning me?” Colt should have known better, but as jumpmaster of the aircraft, it was his responsibility to check everyone who was dropping. Obviously, Todd was no novice. Colt backpedaled, “Sorry, major, just doin’ my job.” Todd glared at him as he stood at the open door on the left and Colt stood at the door on the right. Each was watching out of the corner of his eye for the light to turn from red to green. The instant that the light changed color, they were out the door. In rapid succession the rest of the men followed. Todd got a slight head start. When his chute opened, it popped open right under Colt’s butt. The captain was literally sitting on the top of the major ’s canopy, a dangerous situation for both of them. His own...