Three members of the U.S. Army's elite Golden Knights parachute team were injured during training early Tuesday morning.
Two soldiers are in very serious condition, while one is in serious condition, U.S. Army Recruiting Command spokeswoman Kelli Bland told Military.com.
The accident occurred as the team conducted routine training for a night demonstration at Homestead Air Reserve Base, Florida, around 4 a.m., according to a release.
The Golden Knights often perform such demonstrations at airshows and major sporting events. They were "doing a training exercise to prepare for events like that," Bland said in a phone call.
All three soldiers were medically evacuated to Jackson Memorial Hospital's Ryder Trauma Center in Miami, she said.
Between January and March, the team trains at Homestead because the weather at its home station at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, is "not conducive or consistent" for the type of training members of the team need to perform, Bland said. "They'll train new members [at Homestead] and prepare for the upcoming season."
The team is scheduled to perform its first show of the season at the "Wings Over Solano" event at Travis Air Force Base, California, in March.
-- Oriana Pawlyk can be reached at oriana.pawlyk@military.com. Follow her on Twitter at @Oriana0214.
