“Out of the gold and into the black. Once you are there you never go back.”

Commitment, pride and selfless service are some of the guiding principles of the US Army Golden Knights. The group is stationed in Fort Bragg, N.C.. There are two demonstration teams, known as Black and Gold, named for Army colors. There’s also a competition and tandem team.

As a demonstrator, a soldier will perform anywhere from around 350-500 jumps per year. As a competitor, he or she will perform anywhere from 800-1200 jumps per year.

“When you open your parachute and you get into that wind it is exciting but it’s really loud so you have to learn to deal with that but once you open your parachute it’s surreal. It’s very calming,” said Sgt. First Class Brian Sealing from Charleston, S.C..

Sealing is the assistant team leader for the Black Demonstration Team. He’s been a member of the Golden Knights for the past two years. 

“The job that we do is inherently dangerous. You leave the aircraft falling 120 miles per hour but with the training and experience on the team that is passed down to the younger jumpers you really build  a lot of confidence in your team mates and your equipment so you know when you leave that aircraft whatever is planned for the dive is going to happen,” said Sealing.

The story behind the Golden Knights began in 1959, with 13 Army soldiers who loved to parachute. The team was formed directly to compete against the Russians in free fall parachuting and accuracy competitions.  In their first year, they dominated the international competition and the Army designated the group as their official aerial demonstration unit. Shortly after, the team members came up with the nickname the Golden Knights.

Today, the team is comprised of 90 Army soldiers from diverse backgrounds. 

The job is both physically and mentally demanding. Perfection is a requirement. Sgt. First Class Howie Sanborn from New Hampshire is among the elite group, which spends more than 250 days on the road together performing each year.

“All new jumpers know how to narrate shows, be the drop zone safety officer and ground patrol, as well as learn the Golden Knights maneuvers. Everyone gets to experience every part of every job,” said Sanborn.

About an hour before their performance at the Winston-Salem air show, the Black Demonstration Team is preparing for their jump. They form a circle to practice hand placement and they check their equipment.

The Black and Gold C-31 cargo airplane begins its journey climbing to an altitude of 2 ½ miles.

The Golden Knights are known for their accuracy and hitting their target almost every time.

But before they jump, members of the team calculate the distance to their target by throwing out wind drift indicators or 20 feet of crepe paper attached to a metal rod.

“Every single jumper here will land dead center on that target which is the size of a medium pizza where as both of our feet will hit the dead center of that and in order to have that kind of precision, we have to take the weather and the wind into consideration,” said Sgt. David Echeverry.

Sgt. Timothy O’neil of Wilmore, Ky. built the smoke brackets for the team. The equipment leaves a trail of red smoke for spectators below.

“When we get out we launch something called a base. Three jumpers get out at once holding on to each other and they are going to form a base. Everybody flies towards the base and we link up. Two of our guys today are going to be wearing smoke so the crowd on the ground can see us,” said O’neil.

“The best way I can describe my feeling every time I jump out is absolute freedom. You exit the aircraft and look around and you have nothing but the world ahead of you. You can see the curvature of the Earth and the feeling itself is as if you are floating on a column of air with a lot of wind,” said Echeverry.