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Skydiver achieves longtime goal

BC graduate joins Army Golden Knights

By Kim Zollman Rendfeld, Journal and Courier

Jared Zell saw the Army's Golden Knights parachute team when he was 9 years old and wanted to join.

Now 20, Zell is a demonstrator for the Golden Knights, which travels the country 250 days a year. He is one of the youngest members.

"I couldn't imagine myself being anywhere else right now," he said.

Army Pvt. 1st Class Zell is a member of the Golden Knights' gold demonstration team, which supports public relations and recruiting. The Golden Knights, based at Fort Bragg, N.C., have two demonstration teams, a competition team, an aviation team and a tandem team, which jumped with former President George H.W. Bush.

"I've always been an adventurous kind of person," he said.

When he jumps, Zell concentrates on the formation. His favorite is one in which some people have their bellies toward the earth and the other jumpers have their feet pointing down. Smoke comes out of their feet.

"After you have so many jumps, it's like second nature," he said. "You don't think of how scared or how nervous you are."

Zell claims West Lafayette as his hometown, where his parents, Eddie and Shirley Zell, live.

Shirley Zell said she is proud of her son.

"He always wanted to be a Golden Knight, ..." she said. "He didn't tell me he wanted to be president. He did not want to be a firefighter. He wanted to be a Golden Knight."

Zell, who has three sisters, started skydiving at 16. His father taught him. Eddie has been skydiving for more than 25 years, Shirley said.

"We've all jumped out of a plane," she said.

The family spent many days packing up the car, including lunch, driving to jump sites, and not returning until 8 or 9 p.m.

"My kids, when they were young, grew up on the drop zone," she said.

Jared Zell graduated from Benton Central High School on June 4, 2003. Two days later, he left for the Army. He signed up as a parachute maintenance technician and tried out for the Golden Knights last fall.

After jumps, he answers questions such as what type of parachute he uses, what it's like to land and how old he was when he decided to try out for the parachute team.

Zell enlisted in the delayed entry program before he graduated from high school. Sgt. 1st Class Darrell Spears, a recruiter, worked with Zell on Army basics during Zell's senior year.

"The cool thing is he joined the Army," Spears said. "It's one of the best ways to get paid for jumping out of planes."

Spears said he expected Zell to reach his goal.

"He's a great kid," he said. "I'm proud to be associated with him."

Upcoming jumps

Here are a few jumps the Golden Knights have scheduled:

July 16-17: Gary

Aug. 6-7: Elkhart

Aug. 20-21: Chicago

Sept. 17-18: Notre Dame vs. Michigan game, South Bend

On the Net

Golden Knights: wwwarmygoldenknights.com

Source: www.lafayettejc.com