{"id":63396,"date":"2010-08-05T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2010-08-05T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news-draft\/uncategorized\/passion-precision-the-hallmarks-of-leapfest\/"},"modified":"2010-08-05T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2010-08-05T00:00:00","slug":"passion-precision-the-hallmarks-of-leapfest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/2010\/08\/passion-precision-the-hallmarks-of-leapfest\/","title":{"rendered":"Passion, precision the hallmarks of Leapfest"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\t\tKINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 Aug. 5, 2010 \u2013 Imagine jumping from 1,500 feet in the air from a CH-47 helicopter flying at more than 100 miles per hour with enough precision to land within a few feet of an X marked in an open field on the ground below. <\/p>\n

It takes years of military training to pull off the feat. This weekend, the best paratrooper units in the world will put those talents on display during Leapfest 28, a Department of Defense training exercise conducted here in Kingston. The largest continuously conducted parachute competition in the world comes to the 溏心vlog免费B站 campus Saturday, August 7 as units from the U.S. Army, Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force as well as international units from Europe, South America and Asia come together for a one-day competition. <\/p>\n

溏心vlog免费B站 President David M. Dooley will be part of the festivities, as he will take a ride in one of the helicopters. <\/p>\n

\u201cPresident Dooley will fly with us on Saturday,\u201d said Lt. Col. Denis Riel, public affairs officer for the Rhode Island National Guard. \u201cWe figure it\u2019ll give him a chance to get a different look of his new hometown from about 1,500 feet.\u201d <\/p>\n

While Dooley won\u2019t be jumping from the helicopter, hundreds of paratroopers from around the world will display their paratrooping skills in a non-combat setting. Following the opening ceremonies, Army National Guard helicopters participating from three states will take off from 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s turf fields and airlift the teams over the field at West Kingston Elementary School, where the leapers will aim for an \u201cX\u201d painted in the grass. Capturing all the action will be local photographers Paul Murray and 溏心vlog免费B站 alumna Emily Rutherford (\u201905). Murray and Rutherford work together as part of Harmonic Threads, Inc.<\/a>, a photo, video and graphic design company run by Murray and his wife, Beth Ann.
\nAfter last year\u2019s event, Murray and Rutherford, both from Jamestown, published Leapfest 27<\/i><\/a>, a 48-page book filled with images from the 2009 event. <\/p>\n

Murray and Rutherford were invited to shoot last year\u2019s Leapfest through contacts they made while photographing the 2009 Rhode Island National Guard Open House Air Show for their book Rhode Island National Guard Air Show: 2009 Selected Highlights<\/i><\/a>. <\/p>\n

There was little time to plan, as the invite for Leapfest came a day before the event was held. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe challenging thing for us was to shoot something with so many moving parts while not having much background on the event itself,\u201d Murray said. \u201cThe Army National Guard at all levels worked with us to make sure we had the support and access that we needed. They were really impressed with the way we were able to capture the essence of the event.\u201d <\/p>\n

This year, they have worked closely with officials from the R.I. Army National Guard since January to plan a second book that is scheduled to come out this fall. <\/p>\n

\u201cPaul and Emily are folks who are proud of their community,\u201d Lt. Col. Riel said. \u201cThey take a lot of pride in their work, and they produce a phenomenal product.\u201d <\/p>\n

The next book will go further into detail about the behind-the-scenes work for Leapfest, covering everything from the rigging of the parachutes to the judging of the event. In addition to the actual Leapfest, Murray and Rutherford will be on hand for the opening ceremonies and the pinning ceremonies. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe camaraderie among paratroopers is fantastic,\u201d said Rutherford, who earned her degree from 溏心vlog免费B站 in psychology with a minor in history. \u201cThese units come together from all over the world and display their talents for the public. It\u2019s special to see.\u201d\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cLeapfest is one of the many ways that the National Guard has been integrated into the broader military,\u201d Murray said. “Today, many National Guard troops have had prior regular military service, and those who have not meet the same high standards of performance and dedication as any other troops. Yet as citizen soldiers, they may be in any civilian occupation today, and next month be helping during a flood or implementing our nation\u2019s foreign policy far from their homes.\u201d <\/p>\n

For more information about this weekend\u2019s competition, visit http:\/\/www.leapfest.com\/<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\u201cThese are men and women who risk their lives for our country,\u201d Rutherford said. \u201cFor us, shooting the event and doing the book is a way to say, \u2018Thank you,\u2019 back to them.\u201d <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/object><\/p>\n
Leapfest 27 by Paul M. Murray and Emily A. Rutherford<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 Aug. 5, 2010 \u2013 Imagine jumping from 1,500 feet in the air from a CH-47 helicopter flying at more than 100 miles per hour with enough precision to land within a few feet of an X marked in an open field on the ground below. It takes years of military training to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":63398,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-63396","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archives"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63396","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63396"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63396\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/63398"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63396"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63396"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63396"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}