"For me, skydiving is an absolute sensory overload and major stress reliever. My favorite part of the jump is just before the door opens. The anticipation gets my adrenaline pumped," said Sirucek.

"I especially enjoy jumping with the members of Sky Tandem and Southside Base because they want us to be here and some of them are Soldiers like myself who have been downrange. We understand each other," he added.

Sirucek met the Sky Tandem owner, Alexander Boesel and his wife, Susanne, and daughter Isabel about two years ago.

"They welcome Soldiers to come take their first tandem jump and continue on to be licensed if they choose to do so," said Sirucek.

Boesel, who has approximately 3,400 jumps, is a licensed skydive instructor, tandem master and has also competed with the World Team in 2007.

"Skydiving is a family affair," said Susanne Boesel. "I stopped skydiving for several years when my daughter was born and recently I decided to try again to see if the thrill was still there for me. The freefall was so great I started skydiving again."

Also along for the thrill of his first tandem skydive was David P. Chamberlain, an Army contractor, who met Sirucek here in Ansbach.

"Skydiving is a sport I thought I would never do until I met Sirucek. We talked about it and I decided I would give it a try," said Chamberlain. "It is a once in a lifetime experience and I don’t want to look back and asked myself why I didn’t try it."

After making his tandem jump, Chamberlain emphatically said, "It is like being suspended. The sound of rushing down is amazing. You don’t realize how fast you’re going. It’s like what people say about the Grand Canyon. You can look at a photo of it, but until you stand on the edge and experience it for yourself…well, it’s just not the same. I am completely awestruck."

Members and owners of the Southside Base group, Andy Boss, Patrick Meier, Nina Seiter, and Sepp Bunk also take sport in base jumping, deep scuba diving, cave scuba diving and recreational and competitive skydiving.

Boss, Meier and Sepp are the 2008 German Wing Suit Champions and will compete next month in the upcoming 2009 competition in Saarlouis, Germany.

A German skydive instructor must be licensed both by American and German standards, said Meier.

"In Germany, everything in air space, including a jumper, must have a pilot’s license," he said. "It is much different that the United States."

Meier, who has over 4,500 jumps, explained that a skydiver drops from the airplane and reaches 120-130 miles an hour depending on their individual weight and the freefall lasts about 40-50 seconds.

The aircraft is a PC-6 Pilatus Porter and fits 10 people plus the pilot, said Meier.

"It is especially made for the Swiss Army and the surrounding landscape of Switzerland. It has the capacity to take off and land on a short landing strip," he said.

For Sirucek, it is the entire experience, from being in the aircraft, getting the initial rush of adrenaline, exiting into the free fall and the serenity of the parachute ride.

"I have a large parachute on purpose. I like the time underneath the parachute because it is quiet and I don’t think about anything. I’m just hanging out," he said. "I love everything about it - being here among a community of people, interacting with the Germans and enjoying a sport I love."

1st Lt. Kevin D. Sirucek, Executive Officer with Echo Company, 5th Battalion, 158th Aviation Regiment, 12th Combat Aviation Brigade, took his 101st recreational skydive jump on the 4th of July in Schlierstadt, Germany. (Photo by Pfc. Sonya McNair)