11th Airborne soldier injured during parachute jump in Hawaii

The accident comes after a jump exercise killed one 82nd Airborne soldier and injured another last month during training in Louisiana.
U.S. Army paratroopers with the 2nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 11th Airborne Division, “Arctic Angels,” descend over Malemute Drop Zone after jumping from a U.S. Marine Corps KC-130J Super Hercules during joint airborne operations at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, Dec. 8, 2023. Marine Corps aviators from Marine Aerial Refueler Transport Squadron (VMGR) 153 out of Marine Corps Air Station Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii, and Army paratroopers conducted the joint airborne sustainment training to ensure mission readiness in an arctic environment. (U.S. Air Force photo by Airman Raina Dale)
An 11th Airborne Division paratrooper was injured during a jump exercise with hundreds of soldiers in Hawaii on Monday. Air Force photo by Airman Raina Dale.

Share

An 11th Airborne Division soldier was injured during a jump while training in Hawaii Monday, Army officials said.

“The status of the injured soldier is not available at this time,” the service said in a statement.

The soldier was injured during an 11th airborne joint forcible entry exercise where hundreds of paratroopers from Hawaii and Alaska units jumped out of Air Force C-17s. The accident occurred at the Pōhakuloa Training Area, which is between the Mauna Loa, Mauna Kea and the Hualalai Volcanic Mountains on the island of Hawaii.

The practice jump was part of Exercise Arctic Aloha, which soldiers in the 11th airborne’s 2nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team conducted ahead of their deployment to the Pacific region.  

Army officials said the incident is under investigation. 

Subscribe to Task & Purpose today. Get the latest military news and culture in your inbox daily.

“The purpose of this operation is to prepare Spartan Paratroopers for decisive action operations in the U.S. Army Pacific area of responsibility through establishment of multiple intermediate staging bases, joint planning, and joint forcible entry operations in both the tropical and arctic environment found in the INDOPACIFIC,” according to the Army.

The accident follows another jump accident last month at the Army’s Joint Readiness Training Center in Louisiana where one soldier was killed and another was injured. Task & Purpose learned that Army officials initially suspected that a parachute malfunction may have caused the death of the soldier, Pfc. Matthew Perez.

The latest on Task & Purpose