Dissection of a confession.

TL;DR, you can scroll to the bottom for my summary of Shag’s Confession or read my work, line by line.

Context is important and I think it’s best to be light on this, as an error put forth in these premises would taint the rest of the logic, yet some clear simple agreed facts to put some context will help.

1. 1. Jeromy worked together at SDT for ’18/’19/’20/’21 seasons acquiring 2000 jumps in those four years. Approximately 1200 video jumps and 300 AFF jumps, the rest mostly belly jumps.
   2. SDT is a northern dz, jumping April-October. Jeromy’s home dz since off student status (20072008.) [ja, errors of fact, stricken removed, italics added, 7/9/2023]
   3. Shaggy as the DZM since ’20 was somewhat familiar with and knowledgeable in regard to Jeromy’s skills & canopy progression.
   4. Shaggy was tagged and notified in all of Jeromy’s posts on Facebook.
   5. Jeromy was not tagged or notified of Shaggy’s posts on Facebook.
   6. Jeromy is known to have a close relationship with his younger son, his then AFF student.

Okay, those are some basic facts, certainly I could go into a thousand more details, yet that is unnecessary. The list above is sufficient and could be easily proven my browsing my Public Facebook profile.

Next, I’ll include for reference, a delineated form of Shaggy’s confession, a screenshot of the original is here. Now I will comment my thoughts and opinions line by each, reading. Reading slowly each of his lines.

1. I believe this is true, the biggest boldest truth that he told. I believe that Shaggy “REALLY” tried to just let this blow over by having everyone tell me that he wasn’t even there and hoped that my injuries would prevent me from being able to debrief and figure out what happened to me.
2. “fully admit” seems like he’s trying to add power to this statement, yet then retracts that sureness in the with “a day or two” in the clause. To note, I have not found one single person that says they DID see Shaggy on the day he said he was there- then again, he didn’t say what day he was there. His recollection could be wrong (as could be mine) so what do we take from this? Well how about we reduce it to. See reduction is based on how much we agree. From my statements, and sentence his sentence #2, we can all agree when Shaggy says “I admit meeting with Jeromy”.
3. The line hurt. It’s the only time he says he’s sorry for anything, and what? He’s sorry he can not remember being there a day or two before. He cannot remember an alibi, that makes him sorry. Thousands of other people across the Internet are sorry, many have apologized to me “I’m sorry you got hurt”, etc.. Not Shaggy. At no point since my incident has he expressed any sorrow that I was hurt.
4. This is true. And begs a question, if I had already been “not invited back as a contractor” what was the purpose of his new meeting with me? What was discussed? His statement refers to a series of emails we had at the end of the season, a finished conversation. What new information spawned this meeting if not the topics I’ve already stated in my first post to USFunJumpers.
5. This is true, yet begs a question, so logically false. Also to note, it singles out the blame of “very difficult to get along” to only me, also, this sentence could be considered derogatory towards Jeromy and implies the inverse to himself being not “difficult to get along” with. A more accurate and non-weaponized statement might be “we did not get along well”, however, one might say he was avoiding that more true statement as that would also more directly indicate his motive.
6. As he was DZM, his word is final here in a narrow context, yet wider, other managers might manage a team differently.
7. In a conversation at the end of two years working together, he was “surprised” to find me eager to work on myself. One might wonder why Shaggy had not previously noticed.
8. This is a well written sentence, a direct answer “yes” then “I” (owning his words) followed by another confirmation of my statement paraphrased in his own words. It is important to hear the implication though by his attempt to force me to leave, he was preventing me from skydiving with my sons for that next season, the specific reason I was in Florida, to do my son’s AFF (and I did stamp him from my hospital bed.)
9. OBJECTION! When in this statement did “the meeting went well”? Yet now he assumes it as a fact in evidence, and hopes the reader will as well. The truth of his whole statement could hinge on this fact. What has he told us so far? We had a meeting, talked about reasons Jeromy couldn’t come back, he said I was difficult to get along with, he was surprised I was eager to work on myself and that his decision to fire me would not effect my children. Well, that’s great, and what do we conclude? Shaggy says he just told me that I would not be able to skydive with my children anymore back at home. I was there doing my younger son’s AFF progression, I did grant his license, it is a life goal of mine to work and skydive with my children. So based on what he has told us of the meeting (not to mention my own description of it, where I threatened to become best friends with the FCC and drop every TI-Cloud-busting video I had,) even in his story, how did that meeting end “well”? The final clause is a direct statement, starting with “I”, however, it also implies a lack of knowledge on his part. Why? Why was he trying to communicate a lack of knowledge about my skydiving goals- he had just managed me for two years. Yet, as a story element, he needed to change to topic of his rant from my general shortcomings (in his opinion) to my skydiving shortcomings (in his opinion.) Why did he need to make this negative about me at all?
10. Now with the “meeting” over and the topic changed to skydiving, he begins with “He brought up..” I think here he is shifting blame by not using an “I” statement.
11. This was new information for me, I would swear that is how he was introduced to me, yet I cannot find that email now.. or it might have been an SDT forum post. In any case, this clearly indicates to me at least one of the reasons he might have been compelled to write this post. In one of the comment threads, a previous student gave a vigorous defense of his canopy coaching skills. I had replied and agreed with her description of Shaggy’s talents and even conceded that he was a national champion. Perhaps I was wrong (well I was, if he wasn’t; yet I’m pretty sure I was told that at some point in time, by someone) which is fine- just a possible thread to explain his confession.
12. This is true.
13. This is true, only if you read the whole sentence. “He did show me how to do a left 270 on the pond.” I already knew how to land a 270, I did not know how to set it up over this pond in a new dz. Here I think he tries to minimize what he did, trying to shift from “specific advice” to “general advice”. Taking out the part we both knew I already knew, we have “I did show him a pattern to fly on the pond.”
14. This is true. Yet the added information in parenthesis is interesting. Who is his audience (USFunJumper, experienced skydivers) and what message is he delivering? I think with enthusiasm (!!!) he making sure everyone knows that I am a very inexperienced swooper and that I did not know the common rules there. This is also true. In the fashion of his delivery, I think this is intended with a negative connotation, playing on the hope to have his audience side with him based on his superior skill and experience compared to my idiocy, especially as I wrote my first piece.
15. This is true, I had just verbally detailed to him my two-week jump history, including landing a 270 right next to Cam (him a 90 of course) and having had the opportunity to add his Instructor voice to head. I may have that landing and Cam’s reaction to it on video. Calm and tall as the day is long, “Who gave you your dropzone briefing?”
16. This is true, yet is also presented as a truism. Something that most readers will identify as a fact and hence he requests them to attest to his further truthfulness. Essentially he’s trying too hard to show that he can say something, anything true.
17. That line is a solid disclaimer. I can’t say I remember it being “his line” so to speak and I also don’t spec. He may have said that, but I cannot recall the whole conversation word for word and he likely did, it was a good canopy lesson that I received- I thought. I was taught by my coach (also an AFFI himself,) to ignore the wind as I was not to veer side to side- just follow the pattern and come out of the turn with both hands up.
18. This is not true. The wind and how I should not “veer” into or out of it was the main competent taught. The entire lesson had to do with the wind. In his statement #13 he said he showed me a pattern for a left hand 270. How did he do that without evaluating the wind? Don’t patterns change for an upwind or downwind swoop? What pattern did he show me? Based on what wind conditions if not the conditions at that moment, that moment I described him putting his arm over my shoulder as he said he walked me out to the pond #12. Also, again speaking to his audience, leading them with “as someone with 2500 jumps” building the stage for a ‘everything is his fault’ defense, he follows with “if it is too windy for them”. That statement, directed towards an AFFI with 2500 jumps, is clearly derogatory. That isn’t even a polite statement when he makes it to the local news when fun jumpers get hurt.For him to imply that I, a four-year company employee that I have in his writing (emails for later..) that there were no flaws in my skill set– I only needed the nod from the guys– I was instructed to call Kody and beg for my job. I did not comply and was fired, in writing. This shows I believe SDT management ceding control of the company decisions to another outside company, that represented the collective opinion of another group of companies. All of which occurred under the direction and control of the DZO.I am absolutely familiar with my wind limits on the canopies I choose to fly, and thanks to SDT have had to fly my canopy through an active thunderstorm on at least one occasion. Not to mention with over 1200 video jumps and TI’s that don’t always care about my spot (and they shouldn’t, they pull when they need to for their jump, not my job, not my student, I’m just there to watch.. and I would also like enough height to fly home and that is still secondary to their jump. I’ve got probably a hundred off-landings more or less- ask my dz, I know all of my outs in my area, and all of the time I know where I’m going, I am a heads-up student, so to speak with quite a bit of experience. I have lived in my County, basically my entire life- when I spot I can’t see a lake I don’t know and remember a fishing story or two from my grandpa or my first stepdad, from my high school to my hometown, I know every bit of my playground and have thousands of stories yet to tell.I also know my canopy limits and my skills. If the plane can fly, I will be on it, I just never land downwind, because I could always prevent it. Other than intentional down winders for canopy practice- done on the lightest just over no wind days- I’ve only been stuck in an actual downwind situation maybe two or three times. (Twice I know of — once my dueling landing with Justin (different one) before he became a local badass-Franz and I ‘spoke’ that day.. Another when Stew called a landing direction wrong on some accident, and I was so proud- to see the whole load go downwind- just as he called it on the ground.) Just like I tell my students, plan the jump, jump the plan. at my home dz we call landing direction on the ground and we expect everyone to follow it. I am not a “big swooper” and I have never intentionally swooped downwind.
19. This is roughly truly, I don’t recall a specific fist bump when we finally did part after the setup line lesson, though yes I would attest to a “fist bump” feeling, I left feeling good about the lesson.
20. I sure hope he has lot more stories to explain his lapse of time in the statement: “Fast forward a day or two later” as only I have been affected by a TBI. “I am in North Carolina” sounds like a precise statement, then “I get the news” Why did Shaggy get the news? From who? Who called Shaggy and why? My story wasn’t online/Facebook until the next day or the day after. Why was Shag notified? “that on his 4th or 5th jump of the day”, that is pretty specific information for a death notice (as was my initial predicted outcome). Here it seems he is injecting data to push the timeline of my jump later in the day, and this is not the first time someone has done this to me. I have just recently discovered my original Facebook post of Update #2 which shows the original timestamp of my moment of impact 11:34:51 seconds am– I had painstaking calculated from the start time of my film to the moment of impact, counting from the file’s created date. Weeks later, after I had copied that update to this website, a person told me- when I was in a very susceptible state that my timestamp was wrong because of my timezone difference, and I changed the second copy of the log to 3:34:51 (as I’ll leave incorrect as I changed it then.) “he pulled a 270 in the main landing area” again very specific information he was given on my death notice, implying nothing to do with the pond and his coaching.
21. It is reprehensible that he would pull my children to testify against their own father and the truth.
22. Hidden truths. “I feel bad for him”. Not sorry at all, nor does he feel care, concern, or worry. “Shaggy -> bad -> Jeromy” compared to “Jeromy -> respect -> Shaggy”.
23. An obvious truth that he had to try to account for, I do really believe it because it really happened and I remember it fully as this has been the most important debrief of my life. Again with the parentheses, to talk to his audience: Now, usually in the “social” world this would become fact, more people like shaggy, and that’s all it takes. However, carefully think: Not one person can swear a fact that “Shaggy Wasn’t there”, each person only has one point of view, they can only say that they personally didn’t see them. Most important though, not one person- not even Shaggy himself (#3) can remember him being there day or two before. (His missing “day or two later” from #20.)
24. Granted he does not know what is or is not affecting my mind, yet he should be aware of his own factors. Also, if I am “losing time” specifically a “day or two” (from #20) perhaps he can tell us all a few more stories to help me fill in my missing gaps.
25. This begins by sounding very firm- I use this technique often myself- set up a conditional statement, and you can slam down the consequence. Yet, he goes soft as says “I may need” and then “a slander suit against him”. I have been bold and direct in my public accusations against him and have indicated I have no intent to stop. If he had any confidence that he was being truthful and that he had already setup a conditional, there is no good reason for him not to be firm with his consequence: this is a man that manages skydivers.
26. “I WILL NOT”, that is clear, specific, and emphasized, I believe it. “internet war” sadly, very sadly Shaggy has drastically underestimated the consequences of his actions. “this will be my only comment on the matter” for the first time, I hear his voice soft and calm. Whatever voice was in his head when he wrote this was probably trying to tell him “No Comment”, I just don’t think that Shag has learned to listen to or discipline those little voices in his head yet.
27. Thank you. At this moment of “everyone” Shag finally included me in his confession, as it was not addressed to me, I was not tagged in or notified in any way. He had just previously “unfriended” me on Facebook, affecting my algorithm and I did almost miss it. It was a fun and chaotic week trying to keep up with all of the USFunJumpers!

Whew, that was a lot, twenty-eight hundred more words so far! TL;DR I know I know, no one is going to read all that… Since this was Shaggy’s letter, and he swears by every word, how about I take out just the parts that don’t sit well with me and see if it makes his letter easier to read:

1. Ok, I REALLY tried to just let this blow over (#1)
2. I fully admit meeting with Jeromy (#2)
3. I did walk him out to the pond. (#12)
4. I did show him a pattern to fly. (#13)
5. I did tell him to go west. (#14)
6. He actually really believes that I was there. (#23)
7. He has a TBI and I can’t remember two days. (#24, #20)
8. I WILL NOT get into an internet war with him (#26)
9. Blue skies everyone!!!! (#27)

Okay, there is my response to Shaggy, since he is no longer my friend on Facebook, can someone please share and tag him? I want him to have the full opportunity to read everything I am saying.

Done, exhausted.. good writing, hard to be so critical and precise.. til tomorrow!

Whew, I just went to post and had to chase down a database error.. two hours later.. it was just a disk full issue, upgraded my server and we are back online!

Time to rest.