Pardus, you ever hear of anything like this? Stolen from http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/for...view=forum_view_collapsed;;page=unread#unread
It's LALO rather than HALO, but a Rhodesian I once worked with told me of a brother whose unit jumped static line with no reserve. They exited from 500 ft so they didn't need one.
I asked him if they had a belly or back mount container but he didn't know.
They were a unit of the Selous Scouts and 3 or 4 four man teams would be put out quickly along a line and set up counter ambushes.
They didn't use rucksacks but wore a vest sort of like a photographers vest. I got one of the vests and a pair of boots of the same type they wore. The vest ragged out but the boots are still fine. They are made of buffalo hide with antelope skin rolls and tounge and lining. The sole is a steel belted radial tire that is protection against spikes.
Re: static-line jumps during the Rhodesian War.
Four man teams from the Rhodesian Light Infantry often 3 or 4 combat jumps per day from DC-3/C-47 Dakotas.
They would jump ahead of fleeing "terrs" to lay stopper ambushes. Once the terrs were dead, the 4 man teams were helicoptered back to base to prepare for their next mission.
The regimental history of the RLI shows them kitted-up with motorcycle helmets, vest webbing, FN rifles and back-mounted static-line parachutes, but not reserves. Their main canopies were a mixture of T-10s and similar French canopies. Most of their jumps were planned from 500 feet, far too low for reserves to be of any use! A few times pilots mis-read rising terrain and dropped them from 300 feet!
They were tough young men!