YPG’s Airborne Test Force successfully performs water jump
Manoah Tuiasosopo
Reporter Manoah Tuiasosopo was there to catch all the action and breaks down how they got it done.
(KYMA, KECY) – The Airborne Test Force (ATF) at the Yuma Proving Ground (YPG) successfully performed a water landing plane jump.
One by one, U.S. Army soldiers leap from the aircraft, a task they’re used to but this time with a twist.
Staff SGT. Jonathan Harris, a Medic with YPG’s ATF, explains “Had a nice little jump, an easy jump into the water, nice easy landing compared to landing on the ground like we usually do, so that was really nice.”
The airborne soldiers are equipped with parachutes and floatation devices.
They spend around two months prepping for the rare water landing into Senator Wash.
“As we’re coming down, you’re adjusting to the wind making sure you’re steering your canopy in the right direction, stay over the water and have a nice safe landing. We always try to face canopies into the wind at about 200 feet to make sure we’re going to land straight down into the area that we’re targeting,” SSGT. Harris shares.
Harris says the mission went as planned and that this water landing highlights YPG’s capabilities which are constantly expanding and evolving.
“I really just learned we have a lot of capabilities in the Army to insert ourselves into different places as necessary and with proper preparation and training, we can really go anywhere in the world and do anything that we’re asked to do for our jobs,” Harris explains.
The Yuma County Sheriff’s Office and U.S. Border Patrol were on hand to provide support in the water with boats and jet ski’s equipped with soldiers, deputies, and members of CBP’s BORSTAR team.
Michael Espinoza, an U.S. Border Patrol Agent & Marine Instructor, adds “We have never done anything like this before. I think they mentioned they haven’t done this here in 20 years.”
The partners all tell us if possible, they’d like to perform this rare exercise as often as they can.