The Price of Freedom: What are Mustangs?

“Mustang” Means to go from the military enlisted ranks to the officer ranks programs. Different branches have different names for this program. 

Not many folks do this, but let me tell you guys about one who did. Let me introduce to you, and tell you about Max, or Colonel Max H. Krupp. 

Having spent some time around and talking to Max, it seems to me that Max may like to do things “the hard way.” At least, he did so while he was in the Army/National Guard. Max has a great story to tell. 

He’s done things that most all of us, in the military or civilian world cannot, or would not do. He is not your typical National Guard and Army type guy. Sounds to me, as if he had to push it a little harder and a little farther, all of the time. He pushed hard all the way through his Army life. 

Krupp is a newer hometown guy. He moved into the Graham area in 2019. He’s a Texas Boy. Born in El Paso. He, like most military guys and gals, has been all over the world doing the stuff that keeps all of you folks in the United States living free. 

“Out of every 100 men, 10 shouldn’t even be there, 80 are just targets, nine are the real fighters, and we are lucky to have them, for they make the battle. Ah, but the one, one is a warrior and he will bring the others back,” - Heraclitus 6th Century B.C. 

Max has been to too many places for me to tell you about in just this one column. How do you put 28 years of Military service down on paper? Twenty-eight years of military service to this country. 

He started his career like most all of us, at the bottom of the enlisted world as an E-1. As an E-4, he was accepted into ROTC in college. ROTC is three to four years of what we enlisted called “Knife and Fork school.” Meaning “how to be an officer” Max did his college requirements in just three years.

He asked for and went to air assault school. This includes learning how to rappel out of helicopters while in flight to land in areas with dense vegetation or denied areas. After his time in ROTC, he went back into the Army National Guard as an O-1. The bottom of the heap again, but as an officer. 

Trust me, no matter where you start, officer or enlisted, you start at the bottom of the pile of military life. Then you get to work your way back up the chain of command.

Even as an officer in the guard, you have to qualify for every school and rating badge you ever get. Max was an Army Ranger/Special Forces for 20-plus years. He went through and passed Army Ranger School, Path Finder School, Military Mountaineer School with ice climbing jump master and free fall jump master school. 

Max did 440-plus parachute jumps (static-line and freefall). He did 200-plus static-line jumps. Then over 200 of these freefall jumps were HALO. HALO means High Altitude, Low Opening jumps, often on supplemental oxygen. 

When you jump out at 13,000 feet or higher, you need oxygen because at that altitude there is not enough oxygen for humans. Humans require at least 20% oxygen to survive. These jumps can last one to three minutes of freefall time depending on the altitude. 

Max has done up to four HALO jumps in one day for practice. His highest jump was from 24,999 feet. He said he was mad that they couldn’t just give him one more foot higher to make 25,000 feet.

Guys who do this type of training sometimes have to pack their own parachutes, Max said he did this about 50 times or so during his jump career. He has had two parachutes fail to open, and had to pull his reserve parachutes. 

Max claimed he didn’t pack those parachutes. I wouldn’t claim that fact either. 

Max’s lowest jump opening was 800 feet or so, just enough time for the chute to open before you hit the ground or the water. This type of jumping is to get in the country under the radar, unannounced. 

I saw this type of jump while onboard my last ship by Navy Seals. It was jump, count to four and you’re down. Just so you know, these guys are not right. Just saying. Not right. It takes a different kind of person to do this. 

Max said he has jumped out of every kind of bird in the U.S. fleet of birds and helicopters, plus a few dozen or so foreign birds. 

During his time in Afghanistan, while serving as a combat advisor with the good guys, he was the only American with 35 foreign national troops and his interpreter when they came under fire. 

During the firefight his interpreter was wounded in the leg and Max had to carry him out. 

While doing this, he also was taking command of the Afghan soldiers. Max kept them under control and covered. They fought their way out. 

A few Afghan soldiers were killed in this action, but all of the bad guys were wiped out. There’s way more to the story, but you get the idea. 

Max was awarded the Bronze Star with a ”V” for valor for this action. Max also has two “Legion of Merits.” This medal is reserved for O-6’s and above. He also has a CIB, Combat Infantryman Badge having been in Combat, and an EIB, Expert Infantryman Badge. The EIB is another rare medal. It is earned by a lot of different testing alongside, in conjunction with the CIB. 

The requirements for the EIB include physical fitness, weapons proficiency, land navigation, medical tasks and full ruck march of 12 miles within a certain time frame. It is only for MOS’ of 11s and 18s, being infantry and special forces. 

The pass rate for this is only between 10-14%, so it is not an easy thing to acquire. This medal is seen as a stepping stone for advancement and promotion. 

Max is an 18A (Special Forces) Retired and was an infantry officer prior to that. Max served from 1994 until 2022. Max is married and has two children, a 15 year old daughter and a 12 year old son.

Max is now doing his, “the hard way,” while ranching and the cattle business. He runs Halo K Cattle that can provide all-natural Black Angus direct to consumers. 

“Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children’s children what it was once like in the United States where men were free.” - Ronald Reagan