HATTIESBURG, Miss. – A massive, monthlong parachuting exercise was continuing at Camp Shelby on Thursday despite a mishap that injured at least 22 soldiers late Wednesday.

Lt. Col. Deidre Smith, with the Mississippi National Guard, said the troops had jumped from a C-130 in high winds and were blown from their intended drop zone into a group of pine trees.

Seven soldiers were hospitalized, the rest were treated at the scene, she said. None of the injuries were considered life-threatening, Smith said. She added that first responders and a local hospital had been notified of the training in advance, just in case there were injuries.

About 650 soldiers with the 4th Brigade Combat Team 25th Infantry Division out of Anchorage, Alaska, were participating in the 10-day training program. Smith said the exercises were continuing Thursday.

"We have a lot of extremely professional soldiers who are ready to rock and roll," Smith told USA TODAY.

Approximately 180 were in the zone at the time of the incident, and 89 paratroopers made it out of the planes, said Sgt. Alex Skripnichuk, with the 4th Brigade’s public affairs office.

Each plane carries up to 60 people. Emergency responders took some of the injured to local hospitals, where teams of doctors and nurses could be seen walking quickly toward the emergency room.

"Airborne Operations all bear an inherent risk. We strive to mitigate this risk as much as possible," the combat team said in a Facebook post. "Our goal is ultimately to continue training. Despite the challenges that we currently face, soldiers always place the mission first."

The jumps took place on the first day of Exercise Arctic Anvil. Plans called for heavy equipment drops and jumps by more than 900 paratroopers. To make the training more realistic, local soldiers are playing the role of the opposing force.

“This is the largest exercise that Camp Shelby has hosted in conjunction with an active duty brigade combat team,” Ginn said before the accident. He said the training would enhance the brigade's "lethality."

In June 2016, two soldiers were injured when the Humvee they were traveling in hit a median on U.S. 98 just west of the camp's East Gate and overturned. The driver and passenger were taken to Forrest General Hospital with moderate injuries.

Camp Shelby, in operation for more than 100 years, serves as a training site for Army reserve soldiers as well as active duty members of all the Armed Forces. It's the biggest reserve training facility in the country, hosting 100,000 personnel a year, according to MilitaryBases.US.

The site consists of a more than 130,000 acres of state, Department of Defense and U.S. Forest Service lands in the DeSoto National Forest.

Bacon reported from McLean, Va. Contributing: Ellen Ciurczak, Hattiesburg American

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