Watching his dad parachute from helicopters and planes shaped Sgt. Dylan Burns career goals from an early age.
“We would have the binoculars out, and we’d be looking at them, trying to spot him, and if he could tell us which jumper he was, we’d try to count them out,” said Burns, of the XVIII Airborne Corps, who took part in a jump Aug. 18 at Fort Gordon as part of a Joint Communications Support Element TechNet Airborne Operation, which brought together Signal Paratroopers from across the Army, Joint and Special Operations communities.
Cheering Sgt. Burns on was his dad, Command Sgt. Maj. David Burns, who is stationed in Hawaii with the 516th Signal Brigade, but was in attendance for Tuesday’s event.
“This isn’t the first time that I got to see my son jump out of an airplane. I actually got to jump out of an airplane twice with him at airborne school. I was a guest speaker at his graduation as well,” said Command Sgt. Maj. Burns, who has served in the Army for almost 26 years. “Then in 2023, I was a primary jumpmaster for this event and invited his organization to come and jump.”
Although he’s received plenty of military jump training, Sgt. Burns has also gotten a few pointers from good ole dad.
On his first jump with a MC-6, steerable parachute, Command Sgt. Maj. Burns gave his son a heads-up.
“It’s a little bit different than what the normal, conventional, airborne forces jump. They jump with the t11 parachute, which isn’t steerable. So, this steerable parachute is a little bit different because you have to turn into the wind, and land with the wind. If you don’t do that, you could run with the wind and increase your speed, hitting the ground. You don’t want to do that,” Command Sgt. Maj. Burns explained.
Being able to advise young soldiers is one of the reasons Command Sgt. Maj. Burns is still in the military even though he could retire.
“I love to meet soldiers and help them through their careers,” he said.
Sgt. Burns said there are big shoes to follow in while navigating his own military career.
“As the years go by, he keeps making those shoes bigger,” said Sgt. Burns.
And Command Sgt. Maj. Burns has great admiration for his son.
“To see my son jump again, it’s absolutely outstanding. It’s one of the best things ever,” he said.
There were several jumps on Tuesday.
One was a military free fall from 10,000 feet out of the CH 47 Chinook helicopter while the others were military static line jumps from 1,200 to 1,500 feet, according to Col. Merlin Kynaston, commander of the Joint Communications Support Element.
TechNet is an annual three-day event that s”erves as a vital forum for military, government, academia, and industry professionals to examine the complexities of the cyber, signal, and information domains,” accorrding to a news release.
Charmain Z. Brackett, the publisher of Augusta Good News and Inspiring: Women of Augusta, has covered Augusta’s news for more than 35 years. She’s won multiple Georgia Press Association awards, is the recipient of the 2018 Greater Augusta Arts Council’s media award and was named best local writer by readers of Augusta Magazine in 2024 and 2025. Reach her at charmain@augustagoodnews.com. Sign up for the newsletter here
