I talked with some dude from this group awhile back. They found my info somewhere and were asking about smokejumping operations and developing their own air operation. It looks like they will finally be doing the South America air drop thing, to fix a runway near a remote village and do some remote medicine. Great concept, and I hope it takes off as it get’s more attention.
SOAR will be doing a partnership with RAM, and it should be cool to see how this pans out. Hopefully no one breaks a leg doing this shit. ha ha
Air Drop Assist is the training side of the operation. For a small fee, they will train you for paracargo and parachuting operations. This group is working with both RAM and SOAR, and these are the guys I think I talked with. -Head Jundi
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This is a great little video about what they do.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ly9gLb1enxg&feature=user
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http://www.airdropassist.org/en/index.html
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http://www.ramusa.org/
SOAR to deploy airborne medical team in South America
On March 25th of 2008, SOAR will send its airborne trained medical personnel on an important mission in Guyana. SOAR, in partnership with RAM Airborne, will deploy medical and non-medical skydivers into remote areas of the Guyana. These teams will deploy into extremely remote areas with two basic missions. The airborne team will skydive into the jungle to complete this medical mission. The primary goal of the mission is to repair airfields that are currently unusable. Because the airfields are in such bad condition, the team will have to skydive into the area and aircraft will drop cargo by parachute to the teams below. The teams will use hand tools to cut trees, fill in holes and do whatever is needed to repair the airfield. The Remote Area Medical free air ambulance uses these airfields so that villagers can receive emergency medical care. Without the airfields, villagers can expect a two to three week trek to receive medical care. Most will not survive the trek.
The secondary goal of this mission is to reach villages that have not seen medical personnel due to their remote location. The medical teams will skydive into the airfield under repair, hike to the local village and then assess the condition of the village as well as providing any medical care needed by the villagers. When the medical mission is complete, the medical team will assist the airborne team in the completion of the airfield repairs.
This mission is expected to take three or four weeks to complete. It is an extremely rigorous project where volunteers will be working in hot and humid conditions. The RAM Airborne team completed a similar mission in 2003. Volunteers for this assignment are required to be experienced skydiver and many are medical professionals. Additionally, skydivers for this mission are required to complete training with the Airborne Institute in Eloy, Arizona prior to volunteering to be an airborne member of the SOAR team.
That guy you were talking to was probably me., this would be a few years back though. I was getting info for busch crash suits etc.
Comment by Gary — Friday, January 15, 2010 @ 4:34 PM
Oh yeah, and I got several people info as I was gathering info. Spoke toi Smoke Jumpers frmo BC and Wash etc. I was the ex-Army Spec Op and now a Fire Fighter. Think I got some info off dropzone site too. hit me back sometime.
Comment by Gary — Friday, January 15, 2010 @ 4:41 PM
Hey Gary,
Yeah, that was awhile back. Boy, I look at the Haiti thing and think to myself, why do I not see that sky filled with paracargo chutes with boxes of tools and aid? There are fire caches all over the west, filled with all of this stuff, to include the parachutes, and there are plenty of military and smokejumper loadmasters that could put this together. Groups like yours would have been great for an airdrop mission as well. Any word on deployments with SOAR or RAM? Take care. -Matt (by the way, I jumped out of Redding and Boise–USFS and BLM)
Comment by headjundi — Friday, January 15, 2010 @ 8:15 PM
No, I havent been able to get this off the ground due to funding.
My Fire Dept has been in a Contract Arbitration ofr 5 years, so funds were to tight. Im sure that group heard me talking about the idea and picked up on it when they couldnt find me. We are getting a contract in the next few months, so Ill be back on it very soon, and designing a NGO for the pirposes we had talked about before.
I look at the Haiti thing and think the same thing. I was jumping up and down yelling get my NGO off the ground and Id be there long ago clearing runways or making new ones, and proving basic care and clean water. Its very frustrating, that generating financial support for this is so difficult. Id love to talk to you about it a bit more since its been yers since we spoke and the info you gave me isnt fresh in my mind any longer. I myspaced you as well with my email, and I put it in the email field here. Hit me back if you wouldnt mind, thanks.
Gary
Canada
Comment by Gary — Saturday, January 16, 2010 @ 4:06 AM
Yeah, I just might do that Matt. My neighbor is a Helicopter Pilot from up north. He was a bush helicopter pilot. I might be able to convince him to do it. but… Im thinking that the distances, and the cargo might make the heli a slow option vs a fixed wing.
Do you still smokejump?
Im seeing a big issue is security in Haiti right now as well. Its just sad to see this unfold. I went to Katrina for Rescue efforts, and even that was a bit chaotic. Alot of people came to help, but they werent prepared to take care of themselves first, with water and food and tents sometimes.
Anyways, thanks for the info. Would mind picking y our brain on some things like rigs, canopy, crash suits etc. Its always good to talk to people with differnt experiences in my opinion. Why reinvent the wheel.
Gary
Comment by Gary — Saturday, January 16, 2010 @ 5:06 AM
Gary,
You should put up an ad for your company again, and put it up on Aprodex and with the IPOA. Reliefweb would be another place to advertise as well. Because I agree that a company like yours, could have been essential in the initial attack of this incident. When roads and airports and everything else is in a shambles, the best and most cost effective step to take, is just parachute people and stuff in. Using a helicopter would be cool too, but the costs for those things are nuts, and the distances you would have to cover for a Haiti operation would be nuts as well. You know the deal, and it is frustrating to watch. Take care. -matt
Comment by headjundi — Saturday, January 16, 2010 @ 4:33 AM
Oh, sorry to here that brother. Thats really a bad deal.
Security Spec eh, cool, I work with Michigan Tactical Officers Assoc. as a TacMedic
I met some guys frmo Blackwater in N.O. Were ya there for that?
Comment by Gary — Saturday, January 16, 2010 @ 5:49 AM
Gary,
Nope. I broke my right femur on a fire jump back in 2003 and that was that. Now I work as a security contractor. I did a little dispatch work in the 'in between' years until I could get on my feet as security specialist.
Take care. -matt
Comment by headjundi — Saturday, January 16, 2010 @ 5:38 AM