Posted on Apr 28, 2015
A Fish Story? Paratrooper Who Completed Final Jump With Pet Fish Receives UCMJ
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Army SPC Matthew Tattersall, the Paratrooper who gained fame just last week for celebrating his final training jump by bringing his pet fish along with him and filming the experience on a Go-Pro camera, has now faced the wrath of the UCMJ for his stunt.
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UCMJ
UCMJ
Posted 9 y ago
Responses: 262
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Honestly that kind of Article 15 would be more like a badge of honor. Last jump, brought a fish, and became famous.
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From the Mechanized, Non-Airborne Infantryman... I am happy that no American Flags were burned in protest on the local college campus. Go Airborne! Can the Fish now apply for VA Benefits for PTSD?
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SFC Mark Merino
No. Their attention span is like 3 seconds so he can't remember the entire ordeal....lol
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MAJ (Join to see), I think it's a total load! I jumped with a camera off and on much of the time I was on jump status, to include many of the jumps I made with SFTG at Fort Bragg! Granted it was only an Instamatic, and it was small and inexpensive, but we didn't have GoPros in the early seventies!
Social media was his problem. He should have waited until he left the service before going public!
Here's a photo I took while under canopy when jumping with the 20th SFG(A) at DZ Castellanos, Camp Blanding, FL on 10OCT70. We jumped a Lockheed C-141 Starlifter, taking off from NAS Jacksonville.
Sgt Aaron Kennedy, MS CSM Charles Hayden MAJ Carl Ballinger SSG James J. Palmer IV aka "JP' SFC Mark Merino CDR (Join to see) SPC Jan Allbright, M.Sc., R.S. SFC Jack S.
SPC Margaret Higgins, saw your post about your photographer's coffee cup. I took this photo, among others, while jumping!
Social media was his problem. He should have waited until he left the service before going public!
Here's a photo I took while under canopy when jumping with the 20th SFG(A) at DZ Castellanos, Camp Blanding, FL on 10OCT70. We jumped a Lockheed C-141 Starlifter, taking off from NAS Jacksonville.
Sgt Aaron Kennedy, MS CSM Charles Hayden MAJ Carl Ballinger SSG James J. Palmer IV aka "JP' SFC Mark Merino CDR (Join to see) SPC Jan Allbright, M.Sc., R.S. SFC Jack S.
SPC Margaret Higgins, saw your post about your photographer's coffee cup. I took this photo, among others, while jumping!
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LTC Stephen C.
SPC Margaret Higgins, we all are soldiers, and I was a SP4 in 1970. I took this photo under canopy on 10OCT70, after completing jump school on 9APR70
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SPC Margaret Higgins
LTC Stephen C.: What a great Lieutenant Colonel/soldier you are! That is how the Generals that I have met are: they don't think that they are any better than I. -Margaret
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LTC Stephen C.
Retired soldier is what I am, SPC Margaret Higgins. I've also met a number of great generals and some not so great!
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LTC Stephen C.
Col Remi van Dongen Ph.D (CompSci), if you're addressing me, I have no idea what needs to be verified. If you're talking about the kid who jumped with a goldfish in a water bottle and got an Article 15, that's from the Army Times and it's old news. What needs to be verified?
SSG Carlos Madden SSG James J. Palmer IV aka "JP4"
SSG Carlos Madden SSG James J. Palmer IV aka "JP4"
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MAJ (Join to see)
Col (Join to see), apparently not, Dave! I guess this was the only one they could find out there on the DZ, so they're gonna fry it, and the SPC, too!
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Let's see if I remember the phrase we used so often. "If your not cheating your not trying, and if you get caught your not trying hard enough". I am sure this young trooper would not do anything to risk the safety of his fellow paratroopers. Considering that the photo was in daylight tells that it was probably a Hollywood jump with little risk. Hope he gets it blown up into a huge picture and hangs it on his wall for all to see. All the way Airborne!
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SPC Nathan Freeman
Maybe I'll bring a chihuahua for the next jump. If I drop it, it will be raining cats and dogs
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Dont see what the big deal is..... Any one get hurt? Did they say not to bring a fish? Was it against the rules?..maybe he should have put a pt belt on that fish.... I bet
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Let's see ... 12 days worth of extra duty versus a story that will be told by paratroopers for centuries ... no question, I wish I'd have done it! AIRBORNE, SPC Tatersall!
Speaking of risky behavior, I got my Silver Wings in 1976. If they caught you with a beret on your person before your 5th landing, you were DOOMED ... dogged until you dropped out, and I wasn't at Benning ... I was at an SF-run school. But yes, I had my beret on every drop and put in on when I finished the 5th one.
On my 8th jump, I took a camera and was happily filming everything in sight. It was also my first jump with a -1C (steerable chute.) If you aren't paying attention, you are actually accelerating towards the ground. I was knocked unconscious, drug halfway across the DZ, broke my glasses and my camera.
The sky, even more than the sea, is terribly unforgiving of even the slightest mistake. Words to live by. But if I didn't want to live on the edge, I would have remained a civilian.
Speaking of risky behavior, I got my Silver Wings in 1976. If they caught you with a beret on your person before your 5th landing, you were DOOMED ... dogged until you dropped out, and I wasn't at Benning ... I was at an SF-run school. But yes, I had my beret on every drop and put in on when I finished the 5th one.
On my 8th jump, I took a camera and was happily filming everything in sight. It was also my first jump with a -1C (steerable chute.) If you aren't paying attention, you are actually accelerating towards the ground. I was knocked unconscious, drug halfway across the DZ, broke my glasses and my camera.
The sky, even more than the sea, is terribly unforgiving of even the slightest mistake. Words to live by. But if I didn't want to live on the edge, I would have remained a civilian.
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LCpl Darrell J. Farley Jr.
SGM I don’t know, Air / Seaborg unforgiving!!! But sharks don’t fly( unless they are in Sharknado)
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Army being Army in dishing it out - You break rules you get in trouble. However Hollywood, day, and no canteen; how else is Willy going to earn his Airborne Wings? Also how is this any more dangerous than jumping with a service dog?
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SMSgt Lawrence McCarter
Except in this case the dog is part of the Military mission just as the Service Member jumping with Him is.
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SGT Joseph Miller
Spc David Stephenson the difference is that the dog is secured in a harness and does not interfere with the jumpers ability to control the chute. I can see the armys point of view but believe ucmj action was too harsh as this should at most been a letter of reprimand or a good counseling statement. The armys point of view is he has one hand on camera and one hand on bottle with fish, what's he suppose to do if his chute suddenly fails? Drop the camera and fish and pull reserve? Put camera and fish away and then pull reserve? At the height we jump that would be stupid as he would hit the ground before he was able to put them away and pull. How about how he has got something in each hand and not steering the chute and remember the army jumps in mass jumps, what if he has another jumper coming at him and he needs to steer away to avoid an entanglement but his hands aren't free? What he did not only endangered his life but those jumpers around him who were properly jumping and it's an inexcusable act but they did go a little overboard on punishment.
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SPC David S.
SGT Joseph Miller - I understand the safety concerns - in mass not a good time to be jacking around - however I agree UCMJ seems a bit much - however - I don't know anything about SPC Tatersall prior conduct. Maybe this guy was asking for some special attention.
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