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| Ernie Torres did karate while skydiving to raise money for the Wounded Warrior Project charity |
Jason Frank, a martial artist and actor who plays the green Power Ranger in the famous TV series, broke seven boards in January, 2013. Later in the year, Navy service member Ernie Torries chopped twelve.
Around 70 seconds and 12,000 feet (some 3,6 kilometers) of free fall, and the team work of other skydivers holding the boards, was what Ernie had to work with.
The strange but extreme world record attempt was performed to raise awareness of a US charity for wounded soldiers.InterviewsThatMatter: What’s the hardest thing about punching boards while free-falling?
Ernie Torres: The hardest thing about punching the boards was probably keeping the proper alignment with the board. On the ground, you’re stationary. You don’t have to worry about sliding in every direction while still focusing on breaking the board. On the other side of things, the board you’re focusing on isn’t moving around either. The board flyers and I had to be on our “A” game otherwise it would have just been a bunch of bodies floating around out there with boards and me trying to chase them down.
ITM: Did you break the record?
ET: ”Un-officially”, as Jason Frank will make abundantly clear if you ask him. I’ve just completed gathering all the statements and video releases from everyone that helped me. I’m assembling the evidence package to send off to Guinness for their answer.
ITM: If it passes, which I guess it will by the looks of it, congratulations! But if it doesn’t, will you try again?
ET: The video and all the evidence seems pretty cut and dry to me. But, if for some reason Guinness doesn’t like something about it, I don’t think I’ll get another shot. I’m not a famous person with a cult following like Jason Frank. Sponsors don’t see much benefit in throwing the money at what they might consider and “average joe”. If, however, my record does get the approval I have a few others that I plan to go after all in the name of The Wounded Warrior Project.
CI: Speaking of that… what is the Wounded Warrior Project, and have you reached your fundraising goal yet?
ET: I set a pretty high goal of $10K but have just over $1500 on my donation page. My hope is that more have donated to the WWP through their main site as a result of the publicity of my jump. I wouldn’t know about or see any record of those donations.
They’re a pretty incredible organization that have done so many great things for wounded service members.CI: What are some of the other records you wanted to try breaking?
ET: I’d kind of like to keep them a secret for now so no one steals my ideas but I can tell you that there are at least four other records I’d like to pursue. Two are already established and two are original ideas of my own.
Money is the biggest obstacle I have in completing any of the attempts. The right financial backers would take a huge load off of my personal wallet and increase coverage of the attempts. In turn, the increased coverage of the events would hopefully bring in more donations to the charity.
ITM: If the Green Power Ranger would have been in the Navy like yourself, which one of you would have kicked the most ass?
ET: While he’s been putting on his tights and fighting fake bad guys with a director to scream “CUT”, if he was in any real danger, I’ve been serving the US Military. I don’t think it would be fair to him to compare his life to mine. Jason is ranked higher as martial artist but I believe I’m the better skydiver and ranked higher as far as service to society goes. He’s better at providing the service of entertainment to America’s public. Kind of like the chorus girls or pin-up calendar girls of the old USO shows with Bob Hope. Fun to look at but don’t serve any real practical purpose.
The other big factors are the plan and the team to execute it. I had some of the worlds best skydivers supporting me. A dream team if you will. He’s going to be hard pressed to find people that can fly as well as they did. Some of his faithful worshippers are whining that I went higher and had more time. It’s not my fault he didn’t have a better plan. Also, if you watch the videos, I broke more boards in the same time he took to break seven. I just took the extra time I had to put icing on the cake.
Spending half your life living off of a legacy of kicking the ass of fictional characters on a TV screen can’t compare to standing guard on a gate overseas wondering if the person approaching is there to shoot, stab, or blow you up. You be the judge.
ITM: Will Jason Frank try to claim his title back?
ET: He was the third to claim the record, making me the fourth to attempt. He has already stated to his fans that he’ll come back and do 15 easily if my attempt becomes the official record. I’m not sure if he’s the only challenger but he seems to be the most determined to keep it.</div>
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