PFC Christopher F. Dona – RIP, Ranger
We lost a fine soldier last Thursday.
PFC Christopher P. Dona, 1st Bn, 75th Ranger Regiment, was killed Thursday. He died in a training parachute jump.
In one of life’s cruel ironies, PFC Dona had returned from his first combat deployment to Afghanistan last month.
The incident is under investigation. Initial reports were that PFC Dona’s parachute appeared to work normally during the jump. However, he was also reportedly dragged for a considerable distance (approx 100m) on the ground post-landing, and was also reportedly found entangled in his chute’s static suspension lines and straps from a “harness” used during the jump.
Military training is often high-risk, with little margin between safety and injury. This is another reminder that when things go wrong, even routine training can be deadly.
RIP, my brother-in-arms. May God comfort your surviving family and friends.
Category: Real Soldiers
Rest In Peace PFC. Christopher F. Dona. A young warrior, gone too soon.
Died with his boots on. R.I.P. PFC Christopher. Next time….
Rest easy soldier.
ive seen jumps go dead wrong and people walk away with out injury, and ones that look routine and ya get broken bones. tragic to hear this and i hope the cause is found.
RIP PFC Dona RLTW
Ow. My condolences.
Helluva thing, that. May God hold him close, and may His Angels of Mercy bring solace to his family and friends.
Lost another combat vet Ranger in a similar incident 10 years ago. Proving once again that even in training your life is at risk.
RIP Ranger. See you at the ORP….
RIP, Ranger.
RLTW.
RIP Ranger Dona. Airborne!!
I hate to nitpick, but if he was tangled in anything it was his risers and suspension lines, not Static Line(s). A Static Line is the line that is used to open the chute, it is attached to the pack tray cover and then in the aircraft it is attached to a cable. Upon exit the Static Line extends to its full length, removing the pack tray cover allowing the chute to deploy. It remains connected to the cable in the aircraft.
Having been drug on the ground before it is not a fun experience, but one we practiced for. I suspect if he was tangled up in his suspension lines that things went badly on exit, or the chute collapsed on top of him then reinflated..
In any case, his death is a tragic reminder of just how dangerous our jobs are or were as the case may be. Training had it share of lethal risks.
Anytime you jump, your life is at risk. Combat or training. I am sad we lost such a young warrior. God bless and bring comfort to his family.
RIP young Warrior
RIP
I am sitting at home right now..6 weeks of convalescent leave from shoulder surgery on Friday.
From an injury on a training jump that happened 12 years ago now…which was also the result of getting drug
It is indeed dangerous. We just make it look easy.
RIP young man your with God now
@9, if it was his static line, it means he was hung exitting the air craft. remember all those warnings about handing the static line off to the jump master, not throwing it? good chance, this is why.
@12, i got out of the army because of a training jump. i broke my back in 3 places landing on tar mac. propper jump and opening, just caught a wind gust that put me in the wrong place.
We are diminished. RIP Ranger.
RIP, Ranger Dona. Fair winds and a safe DZ with G-d’s Airborne Paratroops.
Guys- If they found static lines in his chute: We got a prob. Being a SME on the subject- And not having access to all the data. Here is a possible scenario.
Jumper had moderate to high winds- he had a hard landing. Possible hard head hit, possibly knocked out or really disorientated. The winds picked up inflating his T11 main- (due to the nature of material the T11 main is made from) semi inflated and suspension lines wrapped around his neck and pulled taught strangling him as he was dragged. Until he was stopped.
If my buddies are right the most impressive thing I see out of the his whole sad ordeal. Is what happened after. I give honor due to the Regiment for the respect shown: is how his PL, PLT SGT, SQ LDR, Team LDR and an E4 and few other brother Rangers carried him off the DZ to the EMS unit after he was clear to remove the body. They told the EMS and Investigators that they would Move him. I am moved and honored to have served and supported the Ranger Regiment
I think all of us who jumped as a part of our living in the military have experience the close calls… Why we got paid the “big bucks” and got to wear the beret before they decided to make everyone feel “special”.
His death is tragic, and the story relayed by Dirt Dart of his Brothers carrying him from the DZ is what kept so many of us there. I was not a Ranger but the Brotherhood was not much different in my time in the Airborne. Brothers til the end.
Another Warrior taken before his time.
Another Fallen Warrior now guarding the Gates of heaven.
Rest in Peace, Soldier.
Rest in peace, young man.
I had a few jumps at Taylor Creek and was dragged once on Luzon. This hits home. Damn.
My condolences to his friends and family.
rb325th: thanks for catching that error; it’s now fixed. Meant to write “suspension lines”, but had the proverbial brain cramp and wrote “static line” instead. Coffee apparently still had not become fully effective when I wrote the article.
@17. We had a similar incident at Bragg back in 06. An officer from 20th En Bde had a hard landing on the FLS at Normandy DZ that knocked his ACH off. He was then dragged down the DZ and subsequent impacts to his head killed him. He was jumping a -1D and winds were high.
Clear skies, gentle breezes, and soft landings. RIP, Ranger.
Rip to the Ranger. It’s an honor to know you served.
We are better for this man having walked among us. May he rest in peace.
A Ranger’s Prayer
I pray that I need never teach
Our son how to take a beach.
Where obstacles and mines abound
And bullets patter all around.
I pray that he need never face
Machine gun fire from a hidden place
With artillery churning up the sand
And smoke obscuring all the land.
I pray that he need not perspire
From the heat of an LSI on fire,
Or see an LCA go down
While some men swim, and some men drown.
I pray that he need not dig in
To escape the shells that search for him.
Or, sprinting across a hedgerow’s gap,
Midway, feel a bullet’s slap.
I pray that he may see the sky
Without barrage balloons riding high.
Or hear a whistle somewhere round
Without dropping to the ground.
I pray that he need never hear
The whistle of bombs that fall too near.
Then lie beneath the rain of stones
That crush men’s flesh and smash men’s bones.
I pray that he need never roam
O’er land and sea so far from home.
But laugh and love and take a wife
To love and cherish all his life.
—– Victor J. ‘Baseplate’ Miller