HAN RIVER, South Korea — Standing under a Chinook helicopter while it hovers a few yards overhead feels like going outside in a hurricane. Soldiers from 2nd Infantry Division’s 50th Engineer Battalion got to experience that feeling Tuesday while attaching floating bridge bays to a Chinook during a field exercise on the Han River.

The helicopters picked up 14 heavy bays from a loading area on shore, then dropped them in the river, where crews using jet boats assembled them into rafts.

The soldiers whose job it was to attach the bays to the bottom of the Chinooks climbed on top of a bay each time a helicopter approached.

When it drew near, the downdraft from the rotors created hurricane-force winds, strong enough to knock people off their feet, sending dust and vegetation flying.

Once the soldiers, working in three-man teams, attached a bay to the bottom of a helicopter using steel cables, they leapt to the ground and sprinted away through the long grass and mud.

Pvt. Cory Duvall, 19, of Lake City, Mich., got his first taste of loading Chinooks during the exercise.

“When they come in, that first gust takes your breath away. I have never experienced anything like that, but it was a great rush,” he said. “When the sand (blown up by the rotors) hit my face it reminded me of winter in Michigan when it is hailing.”

Another member of the 50th Engineers, Sgt. Alexander Campillo, 31, of New York City said he also enjoyed the rush.

“If you are a fragile person it will blow you a lot. It blew me a lot. It is a little dangerous because you have to watch your step and you can’t really see in all the dust,” he said.

Soldiers were exhausted from running through the long grass and mud and had to take turns loading the bays, he said.

Nearby, other soldiers from the 50th Engineers tested a pair of dry support bridges by using them to cross a wide ditch.

One of the engineers overseeing the bridging operation, Sgt. James Hayes, 37, of Spring Valley, Calif., said the bridges, which are carried on a dozen trucks and launched by special vehicles, can span up to 120 feet.

Pfc. Jerry Clark, 27, of Stillwater, Minn., was working as a primary slinger during the operation.

“We attach ropes to each of the bridge bays and control them while they are suspended by the crane,” he said.

After four months with the 50th Engineers, Clark is relishing his job, he said.

“There is a real sense of accomplishment at the end. You are building something that is real, that is useful,” he said.

Clark enjoyed playing with Legos and Erector sets as a child and said military bridge construction “is Lego with power behind it.”

Another soldier involved in the dry bridge construction, Staff Sgt. Andrew Hixenbaugh, 31, of Littleton, Colo., said his unit, 2nd Platoon (known as the Filthy Animals), 1st Section, won a competition Monday building a floating bridge raft fastest.

Hixenbaugh and his men assembled a five-bay, two ramp raft in 15 minutes, 34 seconds, he said. Racing to assemble rafts proves a crew’s training and teamwork, Hixenbaugh said.

“The faster you get it done in a war situation, the faster you get traffic across to the other side,” he said.