Colorado Prison Gets Unexpected Visitors

U.S. Special Operations Troops Accidentally Parachute Onto Prison Grounds

(AP)  Military officials said 25 heavily armed parachutists who landed in a cornfield on the grounds of a Colorado prison last week were on a training mission but some 3 miles off target.

"Those were Special Operations Command forces conducting routine training," Army Col. Hans Bush, a spokesman for the command at MacDill Air Force Base, Fla., said Monday. He declined to identify the units that landed at Fremont Correctional Facility but said the target was Fremont County Airport.

The special operations troops, which could include Navy Seals or Green Berets, began dropping from the sky at about 4:50 a.m. Thursday. Guards on duty, who are trained to watch the skies following a helicopter escape in 1989 from a prison near Ordway, Colo., held their fire after noticing the parachutists were soldiers.

Guards who stopped the men and asked for identification were presented with documents that identified them only as Defense Department employees, Colorado Department of Corrections spokeswoman Katherine Sanguinetti.

"We don't know who they were and I'm not sure we'll ever know who they were," she said. "Everyone acted appropriately."

The parachute troops were armed only with rubber training bullets and would have been outgunned if shooting erupted.

"The good news is everyone was able to quickly assess the situation," Bush said.

"We train and practice here in the U.S. so we can work through things like this," Bush said.

The Fremont Correctional Facility is a mixed custody facility that houses inmates classified from minimum to administrative segregation. It houses 1,471 inmates and employs about 450 people.

[Dublecros]

Unfortunately, again, there is no cure for STUPID!!!!

Sounds like an episode from the old "F" Troop series.
Where is Gomer Pyle and Forrest Gump when you need them??

ROFLMAO!!!!!!

[cfin5]

If that pilot dropped me over that prison, on the way down there would be one thorough weapons inspection followed by inserted double taped, rubber bullet filled, banana clips. And just in case they could'nt hear all my "fair warning" blasphemy from above, I would "splash-up" my vacated or not landing point..... I'm sure those guys would have liked to help out any problem that pilot had with grinning for the rest of the day! LOL

[toldyouso21]

Now. If terrorists get the idea to dress up like US soldiers again and drop in on a prison, they know our prison guards will actually ask for id first--that gives them about 45 seconds to kill all the guards and release all the inmates on the rest of us. Tragic though this could have been, I'd have felt better if the prison guards had instantly taken out all of the unknown men with weapons instead of approaching them and asking for id.

[toldyouso21]

Yep. Imagine these same special ops forces landing in an area of heaviliy armed insurgents. Can anyone say skeet shooting? Mistakes during practice is one thing, hope they get it right before they face the real thing or we might have 25 more killed or captured and soon to be killed troops.

[coffeehead-2009]

practice makes perfect?

Today I saw a armoured TANK on the back of a semi in my small town -- it had our local "Sheriff's" office and county on it.

1+1 = screwed.



CHAPTER ONE

U.S. Military Personnel and the U.N. Charter

A Questionnaire Presented to 300 U.S. Marines



40. I feel there is no conflict between my oath of office and serving as a U.N. soldier.

Strongly disagree/ Disagree / Agree / Strongly Agree%u2013No opinion

45. I would swear to the following code:

"I am a United Nations fighting person. I serve in the forces which maintain world peace and every nation%u2019s way of life. I am prepared to give my life in their defense."

Strongly disagree/ Disagree / Agree / Strongly Agree%u2013No opinion

46. The U.S. government declares a ban on the possession, sale, transportation, and transfer of all non-sporting firearms. A thirty (30) day amnesty period is permitted for these firearms to be turned over to the local authorities. At the end of this period, a number of citizen groups refuse to turn over their firearms. Consider the following statement:

I would fire upon U.S. citizens who refuse or resist confiscation of firearms banned by the U.S. government.

Strongly disagree/ Disagree / Agree / Strongly Agree%u2013No opinion

http://utahbooks.com/Exceptional_pg_2.htm

[randalds]

Ever wonder whatever happened to Bush's old outfit that he was in in the Texas ANG? Well now we know they all transferred to CO.

[entity2006]

I am not sure it was a mistake being there, but maybe a mistake for getting that close. I talked to someone in a prison just North of St. Louis and he said he watched parachutists come out of the sky in the evening, right at dark. He thought that was weird. They landed in the field close to the prison. And it happened the dame day as the one mentioned. Maybe there is another organization working on aspects of another nature. Maybe they are working on a senerio of rescuing military men that are held in other countries. We will never know the truth.

[oleander8]

This is why they call it "practice".

[mo005]

Let me guess ,Its bush's fault ???

[docadams3]

We should train somewhere where our mistakes don't make the news.

[bogusbones]

John McClain of Die Hard would never have made a mistake like this.

[imnho]

This is an unforunate error. One of the reasons for trainnig excercises is to learn from and correct such mistakes before they deploy into combat. This was merely embarssing. In combat it could get people killed.

I think its safe to say that who ever had oversight of that operation was walking funny when he left his boss's office.

[thomderr]

My GPS is better than yours!

[missingamerica]

Any guesses on what tactic the next organized prison break attempt will use?

[richhong]

And these are our BEST. Seriously, this is how you get troops and civilians killed. With today's technology, three miles is one heck of a mistake.

BTW, I think it's funny that the article describes them as "heavily armed" ... but their rifles were loaded with rubber bullets.

[adak4]

Does this remind you of the rescue mission to get our diplomats out of Iran?

[dbstevens]

Jeez...if they can't tell the difference between an airport and a prison in their own country, where the heck are they landing in other countries they're not familiar with? This is utter stupidity.

[gunnerv1]

This rates a "Terminal oop's" with a heavy dose of "DUH", just a small mistake, 3 miles off target, not bad.

[hungry1968]

The Fremont Correctional Facility is a mixed custody facility that houses inmates classified from minimum to administrative segregation. It houses 1,471 inmates and employs about 450 people.


It's very, very lucky they didn't land in a maximum or super-max facility - they might have been lit up by the guards.

[asor1-2009]

If this dosen't give you a warm-fuzzy, nothing will.