For a minute or so, Brian Karst is as free as a human being can be. The Vancouver soldier is untethered from Earth, other than the gravity that pulls him groundward at 120 mph. Free fall, for sure.
Sgt. 1st Class Karst is a member of the U.S. Army’s Golden Knights parachute team. Their job is to literally drop in at ceremonial appearances, air shows and sports events. Their most recent stop was San Antonio, where the Golden Knights were part of weeklong activities capped by Saturday’s 2016 Army All-American Bowl.
The high school all-stars played inside the Alamodome, so parachuting down with the game ball — a frequent assignment — wasn’t an option.
But the Golden Knights did demonstration jumps late last week, giving Karst a chance to do what he loves.
“The moment you leave the plane, it’s freedom,” the 1999 Mountain View High graduate said a few days ago. “It’s a huge relief. Once you’re in the air, you can’t get back in the plane. You might as well enjoy it.
“The most stressful time is right before the jump. You have to think about everything: what you do when you leave the plane, after you’re in the air, after I open my parachute.
“When you pull the chute, now you’re just worried about where you’re going to land,” Karst said. “After it’s open, most of the fun is over. Now you’re wanting to land and do it again.”
A busy day might mean 10 jumps, Karst said. While he has 2,253 parachute jumps to his credit, “I am still on the low side” among the Golden Knights. “The average has 3,000 and above. On our competition team, a couple have almost 20,000 jumps.”
There are 56 jumpers in the program. About two dozen are on the competition team; it participates in national and world championships, where events include formation-building, style, accuracy and free-flying.
About a dozen members of the tandem team accompany military personnel and VIPs — including former President George H.W. Bush in 2004 and 2007 — on two-person free falls.
The 24 demonstration team jumpers provide airborne displays, often featuring smoke canisters and flags. They also do maneuvers that include parachute pendulums and multi- jumper stacks.
They exit the airplane at an altitude of 12,000 to 14,000 feet — about as high as you want to go without bottled oxygen, Karst said.
“From there, it’s a minute of free fall.”
Bronze Star in Iraq
It is not how Karst started his Army career. Officially, Karst is a radio and communications security repairer. He was awarded a Bronze Star during a deployment to Iraq while stationed at Camp Victory near the Baghdad airport. As the noncommissioned officer in charge of his unit’s communications, Karst was “responsible for 60 trucks, maintaining all their radios, and was pretty much the network technician, as well. I went on several missions — convoys and troop transports.”
His career path took a detour when Karst was stationed in Hawaii. He and some friends flipped through a tourism brochure, looking for recreational activities.
“We did parasailing and scuba, and we ran out of stuff,” he said.
Except for tandem skydiving. That’s when they agreed: “We have to do this now.”
“I was the last one to get out of the airplane. One at a time, I watched my friends leave with the tandem guys. My heart was racing. I told myself, ‘I can’t chicken out!’ ”
After exiting the plane, “I was in free fall for roughly a minute and in the air about five minutes after the parachute opened.
“I asked to get into this full time.”
Karst entered the Golden Knights tryout program and earned a spot on the team in 2011.
In addition to entertaining huge audiences, the Golden Knights serve as Army ambassadors. Karst enjoys that role, too. A military career was a natural fit for Karst, but many people today don’t share his background.
“My dad was in the Marines. All his brothers were in the military. I heard those stories and I never wanted to do anything else,” Karst said.
At meet-and-greets following Golden Knights appearances, “It’s great to go out and talk to people who don’t have military in the area,” Karst said. “A lot of times, we’re the first soldiers they’ve encountered. We get to make the first impression.”
