Airborne student to instructor: “Sergeant, if our main parachute doesn’t open, how much time do I have to deploy my reserve parachute?” Instructor: “The rest of your life, private… the rest of your life.” Parachute Operations Low-altitude parachute operations in the regular army airborne units are hours of pain and terror followed by approximately 30 seconds of a … [Read more...] about Delta Training Jump Gone Sideways: Geo Hand is Dropped Over a Burning Forest
George E. Hand IV Articles
Delta Force Hostage Rescue: Saving the Final Five
(This is a three-part series. Read Part One and Part Two here.) Amidst re-fitting and re-arming our kit, we were promptly summoned to a session with the boss: “Guys, we are missing five passengers. All indications from the aircrew and other sources say that the five missing passengers were removed from the aircraft and taken to a location 45 miles from here. Its a tiny … [Read more...] about Delta Force Hostage Rescue: Saving the Final Five
Delta Force Tales: Repatriation of A Hijacked Airliner
Read Part One HERE And then it came: ‘CLIMB’ Absolute smooth movement was imperative in this event. Sloppy movement, believe it or not, could potentially rock or shake the aircraft, alerting the crows inside that something was going down. There was no hurry during this phase of the assault; however, the announcement of “COMPROMISE” would mean that stealth was off, and … [Read more...] about Delta Force Tales: Repatriation of A Hijacked Airliner
Delta Force Hostage Rescue
We brothers knelt in a circle around our winding up Black Hawk taxis. It was fairly early evening, but fully cloaked in darkness by this hour. We faced in toward the choppers, as the rotor wash pushed hard against our chests and faces. I chuckled as I busted the men to my right and left, as they flared their bodies and leaned into the stiff wind, enjoying a mock free-fall … [Read more...] about Delta Force Hostage Rescue
Former Delta Force Operator Geo Hand: Optics and Illumination for the AR15
Genesis In the beginning, Man created the gun and the cartridge. The gun was without form and void; darkness was on the face of the targets that Man sought, and he was afraid, for he could not see them. And Man said: "Let there be light — let there be target acquisition and fire control implementations for this gun." And there was light; there was a 1000-lumen SureFire M600 … [Read more...] about Former Delta Force Operator Geo Hand: Optics and Illumination for the AR15
Fieldcraft Tips From a Former Delta Force Operator: How To Run A Proper Dead Drop
What is Street Craft? Street Craft, clandestine communications, low-tech comms -- the employment of which in today’s level of technology can almost be described as an act of desperation, a scenario in which all other sensible means of communication have failed and all that remains is a Cold War-era communication system. Actually, the use of such methods is much older than the … [Read more...] about Fieldcraft Tips From a Former Delta Force Operator: How To Run A Proper Dead Drop
Delta Force’s Colin “Chainsaw” Rich Shot in the Head a Second Time, Survives
(You can read part one here) I awoke this morning and lay on the couch where I slept. It was cold in the room, as the sliding back door was open to let the dog out during the night. Wouldn’t you know the dog stayed in all night, and so did the cold. The back door is covered with a curtain of louvered slats that are supposed to do a fancy quarter-turn twist to open and … [Read more...] about Delta Force’s Colin “Chainsaw” Rich Shot in the Head a Second Time, Survives
Delta Force’s Colin Rich Took a .45 To the Skull And Came Back Stronger
I met Colin Rich in Delta; just a few selection classes behind me, he was. Born in Massachusetts, he had the accent and temperament of our fiery New England brothers. His accent and his sense of humor were two things that gravitated me to him during downtime, to tell preposterous lies and shoot the breeze (BKSE). My call sign then was Chik; Colin’s was Chainsaw. “So how does … [Read more...] about Delta Force’s Colin Rich Took a .45 To the Skull And Came Back Stronger
Remembering Delta Force’s Charles ‘Chuck’ Dexter Chase: A Nice Guy Until He Wasn’t Anymore
Charles D. Case, or Chuck as he preferred to be called, was an "A" Squadron non-commissioned officer. The squadron sergeant major preferred to call him Dexter, which he did. Chuck was a nice guy; he would tell you so. To me, that is not something you can ever say about yourself. You can’t say you are a good parent, a funny person, a good judge of people, or a nice person; … [Read more...] about Remembering Delta Force’s Charles ‘Chuck’ Dexter Chase: A Nice Guy Until He Wasn’t Anymore
The Secret Behind Delta Force’s Powerful Punch
The Importance of Strong Support If you ask a boxer the most important aspect of his punching power is, he will tell you it’s his legs. The punch starts all the way from the feet, through the knees, builds immense torque in the hips, and explodes through the shoulders, mimicking the dynamics of a bullwhip. In Delta, we all understood that our punch was only as good as our legs … [Read more...] about The Secret Behind Delta Force’s Powerful Punch
Delta Force Tales: Dirt Bikes in the Desert
Dedication for this write goes to sister Kitt Yana Settle. A Midnight Ride in the Jordanian Desert Moses "Mos" Bently was one hell of a great operator: strong, eagle-eyed, motivated, smart -- deadly. He came to the Unit from Charlie Company of the 7th Special Forces Group in Panama; a Commander's In-Extremis Force (CIF). I was glad as hell he was not just on our side, but in … [Read more...] about Delta Force Tales: Dirt Bikes in the Desert
How A Green Beret Combat Diver Nearly Became Shark Food
A Curious Encounter in Calda Channel Large creatures under the sea give me the creeps. Grouper startle me, barracuda give me the heebie-jeebies, and sharks…well, sharks make masonry bricks emerge from my butt. I wish like hell they didn’t scare me; I would have a bad-boy T-shirt printed up that says, “Ain’t Scared of Sharks.” I could rotate wearing it with my other bad-boy T: … [Read more...] about How A Green Beret Combat Diver Nearly Became Shark Food