Is The Jump Master Responsible In The Training Death Of A Paratrooper ?

Jumpmasters assume responsibility for each paratrooper at initial manifest call until they safely exit the aircraft and become the responsibility of the ground commander. So yes, they are responsible. This is why it is such a hard school. The military doesn't call anyone a "Master" unless they are.

As a former paratrooper and master parachutist I have to say absolutely the jumpmaster is responsible. Not to reiterate MSG Sparks comments because he is completely right. Being directly responsible for more than 140 lives is heavy burden, one that any jumpmaster bears by choice. Its the jumpmaster who is responsible for the actions and capabilities of their safeties. The fact that a safety failed to properly inspect the rigging of a soldier is the responsibility of the primary jumpmaster of the chalk. However there are several other things that are at fault here too. I was also an S3 Air so the fact that this jumpmaster was give only 4 safeties and every one of them brand new is inexcusable also. There should always be an experienced safety on each door teamed up with new safeties. The Battalion Commander or Operation Officer should have caught this and stopped it if the S3 Air didn't. If it got that far the primary jumpmaster should have said something. Ultimately its the Primary that responsible for everything that happens on their chalk.

Stepping away from the responsibility piece for just a second.

Safety is Vigilance. It's doing the little things right 100% of the time. Sure there are things you can never foresee, but if you do all the little things right, the chances of getting hurt drop dramatically. Unfortunately, when small mistakes creep in, they compound, and they become major issues.

The other problem that happens, and this not an excuse, is "muscle memory." There's an old adage. "Muscle memory will save your life, muscle memory will get you killed." Know how to do it backwards and forwards to the point where you don't have to think about how to do it. To where your subconscious mind just takes over. The problem with that is, your conscious mind is what double checks everything and makes sure you didn't screw things up. Vigilance.

There have been times where I was working on something that I was EXTREMELY proficient at, finished the task, and realized I just had no memory of doing it. It was all subconscious. I had to go back through it with a fine tooth comb, and make sure I didn't mess it up. If you're dealing with an administrative task.. that's likely no big deal. If you're dealing with throwing someone out of a plane, and 9.8m per second squared... that's a huge deal, especially with lots of people, as each instance increases the likelihood that you screwed up one thing.

The easy answer to this was Negligence (to the point of Dereliction), though if you asked the JM in private he would probably say "I checked it. I know I checked it." And will doubt himself forever.

Not making excuses for him. The investigation and report says where the failures occur. He wore those wings and accepted the responsibility that came with them. And losing someone in training just shouldn't happen.

Safety is drummed into your head. The investigation found him negligent and lose his jumpmaster wings. A soldier lost her life, he should be charged with dereliction of duty, and discharged which is still not enough.

Most definitely! They were not at the mandated briefings and according to the article he was out of Cert... No question he was at fault!

Yes, JM was punished correctly. There is no room for error in airborne operations. My issue is why wasn't the Airborne Commander and Primary JM reprimanded as well? Their responsibility to ensure all JMs attend briefings and rehearsals as well as being current. Greater problems than just missing the misrouted static line.

To blame one Jumpmaster or Safety is hard to say ... How may Jumpmasters were present during rigging? Do you know specifically who preformed this Trooper's JMPI ? If there were extra safeties than a fuller inspection "might" have been available. As jumper who's follow a towed jumper everything was normal until my exit. The static line rose to the top of the door and no view until after exiting ... I tried to push off a little harder to give the jumper more room, I yelled "Towed Jumper" all the way down but it was in vain until I reached the ground and found a radio. At which time the Jumpmaster had already identified the problem and a pulled the Trooper in.

Two other Tow Jumpers that I know of were one who stayed so long it blew the young female Trooper's boot and was final drop free in the next county. Another was a fatality unfortunately as the Trooper in tow slammed against the aircraft one to many time before he was retrievable.

I was surprised the this accident happened with a T-11 parachute only to read it was a accident to that specific type of parachute. The article state; "The incident would not have occurred if the soldiers had used a T-10 version of the pack closing tie (the rope holding the parachute together that is broken when it deploys)."

Yes. Absolutely. We rely in JMs to get this right 100% of the time.

Yes he is he was responsible for inspecting her equipment and recognizing she was a towed jumper

It was more than just the jumpmaster who was responsible. It was an inexperienced jumpmaster team, three members of the jumpmaster team TO INCLUDE THE BATTALION COMMANDER did not attend the pre-flight jumpmaster brief; the jumpmaster was allowed to perform safety duties outside of the window that requires refresher training. This isn't the jumpmaster's fault, this is the whole command team's fault. They did not enforce or uphold the safety standards put in place. What kind of example is the Battalion Commander setting by not attending the pre-brief? The command clearly has no accountability of its jumpmasters or the specific jumpmaster in question would never have been allowed to perform his duties without proper refresher training. The command was lazy and careless, and this was reflected in the jumpmasters' that day. The jumpmaster who got 'blamed' seems to be a scapegoat for the command's failures.