Military Free Fall
Considered to be one of the military’s most demanding and potentially hazardous advanced skills, military free-fall (MFF) parachute operations are used to infiltrate enemy territory under the cover of darkness to avoid detection. Infiltration of special operations forces is conducted under the cover of darkness in varying weather conditions and terrain. MFF parachutists land at their objective as a combat-ready tactical unit. The John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School's Military Free Fall Training Unit is based at the U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground (YPG) in Yuma, Arizona - a general purpose desert evironmental test facility. YPG also hosts annual winter training for the U.S. Army Parachute Team, the Golden Knights.
The MFF School is made up of nearly 100 permanent instructors who annually train approximately 1000 students annually from all Department of Defense services. Taught by Company B, 2nd Battalion, 1st Special Warfare Training Group, Special Forces MFF team members are taught to conduct operational high-altitude, low-opening (HALO) missions by exiting an aircraft at altitudes up to 25,000 feet above sea level. The MFF parachutists free fall to about 3,500 feet above ground level before deploying their canopies. During high-altitude, high-opening (HAHO), parachute missions, MFF parachutists exit and deploy their canopies at high altitudes, using highly-maneuverable, gliding ram-air parachutes to silently travel for very long distances.
Special operations forces personnel make the transition from static-line airborne parachutist to military free-fall parachutist in a four-week course taught at Fort Bragg, NC, and YPG, AZ. During the first week, called ground week, students learn body stabilization while flying in the vertical wind tunnel at Fort Bragg as well as basic aircraft procedures, parachute packing, and high altitude parachutists physiology.
Students go to YPG for jump operations during the last three weeks of the course. Advanced aircraft procedures, beginning with individual exits while wearing combat equipment, introduce students to the MFF environment. Students learn grouping exercises, night jumps and high-altitude jump procedures with combat equipment and oxygen.
