Part V - Behind the Screen
โโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโ A little bit of background information that went into the new chapter of Qui Audet Adipiscitur Chapter 13: Oleum Camino (Oil on the Fire). Not to get more appreciation for the workload but to spread knowledge and maybe inspire others to do more dedicated research. โโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโ Parachute Incident The actual accident happened January, 2020 in Iraq and I found three articles about it. The one from the Mirror cites an SAS source: "All the parachutists were relying on night vision goggles. The coming-together, which could have killed both guys, happened after they had pulled their chutes. One or perhaps both of the injured jumpers could have become disorientated or may have been studying the navigation board strapped to his chest when the collision occurred." That however doesn't seem right because with HALO jumps they only open their parachutes 1000 metres above the ground, not before. With the planes approximated altitude of 5.5 kilometres and the approximated max. speed of freefall being 180 km/h, you can calculate how long it takes from the jump to the parachute deployment - 18,7 seconds. They also don't jump out of the plane at the same time, to minimise the risk of injury and them hitting each other. So, with special forces we can safely assume that their jumps are timed in intervals. They must have become entangled immediately, the lower they would have been the less likely they could have corrected the course and landing enough to survive. Meaning, below a certain altitude they would have died, leading to the conclusion that they must have gotten entangled quite early after the parachute was opened. To check if one might have gotten off course after opening their chute it took a little more digging. First looking up the wind speed and weather conditions for the region on the estimated time frame (which you can deduce from the publishing dates of the article and checking what day the RAF jets have bombed the mountain range) - those were perfect and wouldn't have caused any significant drag, like prolonging the descent after the parachute was deployed or turbulence through increased winds (which can be calculated online). The logical conclusion is that one person must have closed in on the other while in freefall, where they only had 18,7 seconds to alter their trajectory to such a degree to be able to hit the other operator or deploy their own chute close by. The alternative would be a health issue and loss of body control mid freefall that accidentally altered their path. However, it suspiciously screams intentional.
The sources all confirm that the location of the caves (insurgent hideouts) were about ten miles (16 km) north of Baiji. Easy to find an area if you check that margin through measuring on Google Maps. Caves must be somehow accessible with cars to terrorists as it is still very far out and they need to maintain mobility. Of course, my choice can be off by 1-2 km but the general area has a high chance of being accurate. First Terrorist Hideout โ Cave 1 - 35ยฐ09'44.0"N 43ยฐ24'17.3"E Second Terrorist Hideout โ Cave 2 - 35ยฐ10'44.1"N 43ยฐ23'13.2"E For the crash site it must be considered that it can't be on too uneven ground, because the articles mention that their rescue came in a CH-47 helicopter. The sources all mention that the troops 'ran' to where the injured soldiers where and formed a protective circle around them. The latter implies that they anticipated potential hostile involvement from all sides, which is only logical when in open terrain with little to no cover. Leading to the assumption that the crash site was plain and the helicopter was able to land for the rescue (roping up and down + using a dragging basket for the injured = more risk of injuries, being spotted in the air, and takes much more time as they max. two people can board simultaneously). Potential Location of Crash โ Site - 35ยฐ09'56.7"N 43ยฐ23'00.5"E The sources point out that the rescue team were sent out at a secret base - it doesn't say location but 'base', so it's likely an old or discontinued military/armed forces/police ground/area - within minutes - so they must be close to the helicopters. Logically, I checked for landing pads/ air strips and checked former American FOBs, Campsites until I found the K2 Airbase Seneia Town, that was within a 10 -15 minutes helicopter flight of the caves and crash site. That one took a lot of cross-referencing, altering search parameters, and again satellite images, spending hours on Google Maps combing through the Iraqi countryside.
โโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโ Demolitions Training This was quite easy in comparison because the Royal Army and Ministry of Defence have wonderful information online. The DM (Defence Munitions) / or DSDA (Defense Storage and Distribution Agency) / sometimes MOD (Ministry of Defence) Kineton is not only storing 60% of the entire munitions of UK's military but houses the Defence Explosive Ordnance Disposal, Munitions and Search School (DEMSS).
Some fresh, young, cadets that were touring DM Kineton this year.
The location is easy to find on google and the satellite images show the famous grass top igloos and storage units. For all who are interested, here is a government published document about 'Buildings associated with military explosives', with technical details and specifications. At Kineton are an approximate 4,000 soldiers trained annually across over 70 courses, which include to support the operational readiness of the British Army and allied forces. Not far fetched that they are inviting specialists across the UK's military branches to give lectures or courses. About the equipment, and gear of the military regarding explosives, it wasn't hard to find that a lot is supplied by Alford technologies. A few clicks later and one has access to the Standard Breaching Kit data sheet that might be even used by the SAS (can't be so sure about how many branches use the same gear and equipment - if the whole military is supplied by Alford or only partially). For more technical information of the Plastic Explosives PE8 I found the data sheet of Chemring Energetics UK. Stay tuned people, I was stupid enough to start making Soap's PowerPoint for the Demolitions Training. I will record it as video and post it here as soon as it is finished!
โโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโ The specifications for the mentioned Chameleon 1-21 exercise will be detailed in the next Chapter of Qui Audet Adipiscitur but if you are curious, you can check out the source prior.
