Earlier in June, Skydive Suffolk continued its support of those who serve by giving combat-wounded veterans an opportunity to skydive.
Working with both the United Service Organization (USO) and Veteran Athletes United (VAU), SS worked to take 33 veterans and Gold Star family members out to skydive the vast blue skies on Saturday, June 1. Skydive Suffolk General Manager Mike Manthey says that they work with USO and Virginia Beach every year to give 30 to 60 U.S. and foreign military veterans skydive opportunities on the beach. Manthey reflected on a wheelchair-based veteran who skydived that day.
“We’ve jumped with him in the past few years too … but he’s a marine triple amputee and stepped on an IED while in Afghanistan and just came back and thought his life was over. Once he came out and we fitted him with a special harness, he was able to really feel alive again,” Manthey said. “…It’s such a neat thing to see their reaction to the skydive. You know, jumping out of an airplane, you’re over the ocean and you’re coming in to land on the strip of beach and you see the whole city, the whole coastal area of Virginia Beach and for those guys, it’s just a really cool wake up call to see them land and just be like ‘Wow! I just jumped out of a plane.’”