Virtually everyone was looking up. Area hotels filled to capacity.
Cars crowded the highways as thousands of sightseers crowded into the Midlands to see the "Great American Eclipse" of 2017 under fairly clear skies.
But Fort Jackson was like the character from a well-known comic strip -- a dark rain cloud hung directly over Hilton Field where throngs had gathered to watch the natural phenomenon blotting out the best views of the eclipse, but allowed them to witness what others could not -- the U.S. Army's Golden Knights Parachute Demonstration Team's jump.
"It was pretty wonderful especially when they incorporated the Golden Knights to get some photo ops," said Corbin Skerrit, a facilitator at Fort Jackson's Master Resiliency School. The parachute team was on Fort Jackson to use the eclipse as a back drop for publicity photos and meet their youngest fans.
Even though his view was dampened Skerrit remained positive.
"The weather is what the weather is," he said. "I mean, Mother Nature is going to throw things at us and we have to adapt and overcome."
The parachutists had a special view of the eclipse, thousands of feet in the air, but they had a show to put on.
"It was really cool, I mean we are touring and we want to see it, but at the same time you want to put on a good show," said the Golden Knight's Master Sgt. Jen Davidson. "It was a really awesome opportunity."
Even though they had a sky view of the eclipse the parachutists passed around a pair of glasses.
"When we were circling around one of the guys had a pair of glasses so when the plane banked the right way we could see it," she added. "It was really cool to see it while we were circling above."
While some across the Midlands experienced total darkness for over two minutes, Hilton Field only got as dark as "late evening" due to the cloud cover.
"To see it go to darkness and come back was, like, wow!" said Dale Austin, one of Fort Jackson's safety officers, after the rains ceased and the sun peaked out from behind the clouds the moon still partially blocking it.
Elsewhere on Fort Jackson Soldiers and drill sergeants of Bravo Company, 4th Battalion, 39th Infantry Regiment paused for a moment to prepare for and watch the eclipse, but cloud cover and rain hid the eclipse from sight.
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