Memorial Day 2018: Emotions Run High For Golden Knights, Pilots

MIAMI BEACH, FL — Sgt. First Class Teigh Statler was delivering a preflight briefing to the U.S. Army’s vaunted Golden Knights parachute team over an unusually soggy holiday weekend in Miami Beach. The Gold Demonstration Team’s earlier performance had to be scrapped due to weather concerns and this one was in doubt. Moments later, word came from the air boss that the specially fitted C-31A Troopship would not be taking off from Miami-Opa Locka Executive Airport and select members of the team would have to settle for a far less dramatic beach arrival in a white van.

“We’ve got to put flight suits on and then head to the beach, do baton presentations at the Hyundai tent and then come back out here,” Statler relayed to the dozen elite paratroopers, who make up one of the largest of the four Golden Knight squads that crisscross the United States wowing crowds from spring through fall. Their last performance of the year will be at the annual Army Navy football classic in December.

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In lieu of their harrowing jump maneuvers — including one where a team member intentionally cuts away their main parachute to demonstrate an emergency recovery — the Knights would instead be presenting ceremonial flight batons to Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber, Police Chief Daniel J. Oates and other dignitaries at the second annual Miami Beach Air & Sea Show sponsored by Hyundai.

But with Subtropical Storm Alberto wreaking havoc, the weekend’s weather proved to be a losing battle for the Golden Knights, one of only three U.S. Department of Defense-sanctioned aerial demonstration teams along with the Navy Blue Angels and the Air Force Thunderbirds.

Short of the precision parachute routines that have become synonymous with the Golden Knights, the baton presentation was a welcome consolation that local officials will not soon forget.

Memorial Day weekend holds special meaning for Statler, his team and all of the nearly 2.1 million uniformed men and women around the world that comprise the U.S. military’s armed services on active and reserve status.

"It’s huge. I know it’s glamorized as barbecues and everything else,” Statler acknowledged of the Memorial Day celebrations taking place around the country. “To me, it’s a lot more than that. It’s about reflection of all of the military service members and law enforcement first responders who have come before us, and paved the way to allow us to go out and do air shows on Memorial Day weekend and honor and pay respects to their sacrifices that they’ve made to allow us to do what we do."

Each year on the last Monday in May, the nation pauses to honor the men and women of the U.S. military who sacrificed their lives in service to their country and the cause of freedom.

“We are ambassadors,” acknowledged Staff Sgt. Andy Sippl, a first year Golden Knight who was born in Germany. “For me personally, it was the best choice I’ve ever made to leave Germany to come to the U.S. and join the military.”

For him, Memorial Day is a day to remember the sacrifice of those who came before him in his adopted country.

“It’s definitely a big day because we think about the people who served for us prior to give us the opportunity we have right now,” he explained. “I love the support of the nation here because the majority really do support the military. It makes you feel recognized. You do your work. You do your job every day and when somebody says, ‘thank you for your service,’ it does mean something. It means a lot.”

On a typical day, Golden Knight team members make 10 jumps. They also pack their own parachutes. The constant practices are physically demanding.

“We have different maneuvers. On days like this when we don’t get the altitude we can do low shows. We call it the stack out, which means everybody jumps in an interval," according to Sipple. "Usually we have a two-second separation.”

Team members generally try to open their chutes when they hit 2,000 to 2,500 feet above ground. “When we do a full show, we have four different maneuvers and we can go up to 12,500 feet,” he explained. A full show includes a baton pass between two jumpers. “They separate a little bit and then they start flying together. Then they exchange the baton and they start spiraling down.”

Candidates for the Golden Knights must have completed a minimum of 100 jumps prior to trying out for the team.

Sgt. Nik Grimm tried out for the Golden Knights as soon as he made his 100th jump. He had been a high school teacher before deciding to join the Army and always wanted to serve.

“I really enjoy teaching and sharing knowledge that I gain with others,” he said. “When I land, I get to share knowledge and experience with the American public, which is the biggest part of our job.”

Memorial Day holds special meaning for him though he does not have a long tradition of military service in his family. His grandfather was drafted during World War II but other than that, he is the only member of his family to wear a uniform.

“I never had a chance to deploy in my time in service so Memorial Day is really meaningful for me,” Grimm shared. “It reminds me that there are still a lot of people out there who have sacrificed a lot more than I have.”

Memorial Day also had special meaning for the Air Force and Navy pilots who performed jaw-dropping maneuvers at the Miami Beach air show.

Capt. Andrew “Dojo” Olson piloted the Air Force’s brand new F-35 Stealth Fighter as part of a showcase of past, present and future U.S. military air power along with the F-16 and a World War II-era P-51 Mustang.

“What we’re doing is not easy. We’re flying hundreds of miles an hour, about three feet from each other and we’re mixing propeller planes with jet airplanes,” Olson explained. “We’re doing it super safely and we’re doing it to showcase Air Force air power.”

To describe his advanced aircraft as physically demanding would be something of an understatement.

“It’s 9Gs out there — nine times the force of gravity. It’s trying to pull the blood out of your head and push it down to your feet,” said Olson, who likened the experience to having a 2,000-pound elephant on his chest.

Maj. John Waters piloted the F-16 at the Miami Beach show. “It’s 15 minutes of controlled violence,” he added. “I go as slow as 115 miles per hour and all the way up to 750 miles per hour pulling 9Gs several times.”

He said that's like riding a roller coaster — without the tracks.

Lt. Tanner “Pistol” Rindels of Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri, performed a combat search and rescue demonstration for the Miami Beach crowds, who turned out despite weekend downpours.

“What we’re doing specifically is if, unfortunately, somebody had to get out of a jet, or somebody got separated from a unit, we would go in with a group which we call the Sandys,” he said. “Our role is to come in and really to make sure that individual is safe and there is no other enemy.”

But even for well-trained professionals, like the Golden Knights, things can occasionally go sideways.

“A couple of weeks ago at an air show, I forgot what kind of parachute I was wearing. It was bigger than my normal parachute,” acknowledged Grimm. “It got caught on the door. I flipped and tumbled outside the door. The press rider that was sitting in the doorway after I got out, she turned to the other jumpers and said: ‘What was that cool trick he did?’”

Sgt. First Class Mike Koch has parachuted into Yankee Stadium, a Texas Longhorns’ game and even National Hot Rod Association events in his five years as a Golden Knight.

“My personal favorite is the small town shows,” he explained. “I’m a small town kind of guy, grew up in a small town.”

But he will never forget his first jump with the squad in Dubuque, Iowa.

“We were jumping into a 100 foot by 100 foot area in a gas station parking lot surrounded by power lines, with a major downtown road running right in front of the gas station,” he recalled. “The only spot that I could possibly land and be safe was in that 100 by 100 area. I was married. It was my first narration that I had ever done in front of all these people — and my entire family was there.”

For him, Memorial Day is a time to reflect on the soldiers who are in harm’s way.

“I’m just thinking about the guys that are overseas right now and the men and women of the armed services that have done stuff in the past for us to have the freedom that we have now,” he said. “It’s a holiday that’s close to our hearts.”

No matter how many times he hears it, Koch said he never tires of people thanking him for his service.

“It feels great,” he said. “It seems meaningless, just somebody coming up and thanking us for what we do. Yet it’s great. It’s a great feeling.”

Photo gallery by Paul Scicchitano