WESTOVER AIR RESERVE BASE, Mass. -- -- When Master Sgt. Daniel Lawlor stepped out of a plane at 13,000 feet above Homestead Air Reserve Base, Fla., he said a strange sensation came over him.
"I never felt the sensation of falling," said the first-time free-faller about his Feb. 15 experience. "I had no apprehension whatsoever."
Sergeant Lawlor deployed to Florida in support of Haiti relief missions with 15 other Westover Airmen. All had a chance to fly with the U.S. Army Parachute Team the Golden Knights, who were also in Florida conducting their winter practice drills.
Sergeant Lawlor, who works as a network technician for the University of Massachusetts College of Engineering at Amherst in the civilian world, is a material handling equipment training manager for the 42nd Aerial Port Squadron at Westover.
He and the other Patriot Wing Airmen who deployed, included three other members who got to jump with the Golden Knights: Chief Master Sgt. Donald Martel, Staff Sgt. Michael Schweitzer, and Senior Airman Ryan Hockertlotz.
During his time there, Sergeant Lawlor said the Golden Knights reported to the same landing area and were preparing to begin their winter drills.
"When they arrived, I just happened to be driving by with my forklift," he said, adding that the Golden Knights were having difficulty moving some of their larger and heavy equipment.
"I offered to help," Sergeant Lawlor said. "They immediately took me up on the offer."
After assisting the Golden Knights on several occasions, Sergeant Lawlor said the soldiers returned the favor and gave rides to dozens of volunteers.
"Everybody from the aerial port got a chance to go for a ride and watch the Golden Knights jump out of the plane at 13,000 feet," he said.
After volunteering days before, Sergeant Lawlor said he received the call to duty on the morning of Jan. 17.
"By 5 p.m. we were on a C-5 bound for Homestead," he said. Before the trip that would last until late February would be over, Sergeant Lawlor and other Airman and service member volunteers would befriend the Army's Golden Knights and some of them would get to jump with the accomplished aerial acrobats.
Sergeant Lawlor said the aerial port he helped support grew to more than 100 volunteer Airmen from different duty stations across the country. They converged on Homestead, set up as a major humanitarian relief effort hub.
"We supported the humanitarian airlift of water, food and medical supplies, and of course, people," Sergeant Lawlor said of the month-long mission.
The Golden Knights, who have existed since 1959 and celebrated their 50th anniversary in 2009, visited Westover in 2004 for an air show that saw thousands of visitors. The team uses two types of aircraft, including two Fokker C-31A Troopships and two De Havilland Canada UV-18A Twin Otters.
Sergeant Lawlor said while everyone got a chance to fly in the aircraft and to watch the soldiers jump through an open door high above Florida, only a select few followed the soldiers out of the door.
After free-falling for about 40 seconds and hurtling toward Earth at 120 miles per hour, Sergeant Lawlor's parachute deployed and it was all but over -- although the sensation would remain with him for the rest of his life.
"It was my first time jumping out of an airplane," he said. "When you get up to the edge of the door, you're looking down. It's the strangest feeling when you first exit the airplane and see it moving away."
The best way to he describe the sensation: What he didn't feel.
"The thought crossed my mind that I was just in that airplane a second ago. It didn't feel like I was falling."