Military
SOG Veteran Recalls Second Combat HALO Jump Into Enemy Territory in 1971
Jocko Podcast
SOGCast 051: RT Idaho's John Trantanella on 2nd SOG Combat HALO Jump Into Laos.
"We went out in pairs. Larry Mayus held gas and Bobby Castile and I we went out. We flipped over and it worked out that I was on my back and Bobby was facing the ground so I could just watch the sky really nice. We did have automatic opening devices. There was really no markings on our parachutes. There was no on our equipment, no US markings. And we figured with all the trees down there that we're going to have a good chance they're going to be in the trees and we don't care. But they won't know who it was."
John Trantanella describes participating in the second of only five combat HALO jumps during the entire SOG history on May 7, 1971. The four-man team jumped from 18,500 feet into Laos near the A Shau Valley with no identifying marks on their equipment, prepared for deniability if captured or killed. The mission aimed to conduct area reconnaissance in preparation for what would later become Operation Lam Son 719.
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