Comparing army parachute jump styles

[sneakypete]

[Elderberry]

I only jumped three times. I thoroughly enjoyed it though.

[sneakypete]

I only jumped three times. I thoroughly enjoyed it though.

@Elderberry

Did you get injured and have to drop out of jump school?

The absolute coolest jump I ever made was my first jump out of Jump School. It was a night equipment jump over Neighmagen (spelling) drop zone on Bragg,and we were jumping out of C-47's,just like the paratroopers that jumped into France during WW-2. The only down side was I was stuck with jumping with a spare 50 caliber barrel,and those SOB's WILL break your legs if you are not careful. Plus it was a simulated combat jump with all the equipment you would be jumping into a real war zone with,and all that crap without the 50 cal barrel probably weighed more than I did.

The upside was I was a brand new trooper,and that night equipment jump taught me everything I needed to know about being a SF heavy weapons man. I would snarl at you if you even mentioned it.

EVERYBODY loved shooting Ma Deuce,but nobody like carrying her,her bipod,or her ammo can's around.

When Ma Deuce speaks,EVERYBODY listens!

[Elderberry]

@sneakypete

No. I jumped with 3 of my Navy shipmates at a private airfield. Most of the jumpers were marines, but anyone could jump after taking a 1/2 day class. I turned my ankle landing in a cornfield on my first jump. I jumped two more times lacing up my boots as tight as I could get them. One of my buds screwed up on every jump, so we just decided to give it up. It took me almost a year for the color to leave my ankle. I remember in their class they said we would hit like jumping off a 5 foot step ladder. Well with that small chute they gave me with the gores cut out of the back to make it steerable, I hit more like jumping outta a 2nd floor window. They had young teenagers packing chutes. On one jump, whoever packed my chute made sure to put a lot of twists in it, cause when my chute opened I was twirling around and around, back and forth for quite a while. It was scareyer to me flying in the plane with only a seat for the pilot and one whole side of the plane gone, than it was jumping out. Even blowing my ankle out, I had a blast.

[sneakypete]

@sneakypete

No. I jumped with 3 of my Navy shipmates at a private airfield. Most of the jumpers were marines, but anyone could jump after taking a 1/2 day class. I turned my ankle landing in a cornfield on my first jump. I jumped two more times lacing up my boots as tight as I could get them. One of my buds screwed up on every jump, so we just decided to give it up. It took me almost a year for the color to leave my ankle. I remember in their class they said we would hit like jumping off a 5 foot step ladder. Well with that small chute they gave me with the gores cut out of the back to make it steerable, I hit more like jumping outta a 2nd floor window. They had young teenagers packing chutes. On one jump, whoever packed my chute made sure to put a lot of twists in it, cause when my chute opened I was twirling around and around, back and forth for quite a while. It was scareyer to me flying in the plane with only a seat for the pilot and one whole side of the plane gone, than it was jumping out. Even blowing my ankle out, I had a blast.

@Elderberry

They were letting rookies just a maneuverable sport parachute with next to no training. It is possible to pull up on the risers to fill the chute with air just as you land,and land standing up as light as a feather. Obviously nobody told you how to manipulate the risers.

[Elderberry]

@sneakypete

They weren't sport chutes. They were too cheap to give us sport chutes. This was around 76. They were modified military chutes. We were so jealous watching the jumpers land with their sport chutes, pulling the toggles and just stepping onto the ground. They told us to keep our hands OFF the toggles when we landed. One lady didn't listen. I watched as she was landing, she pulled both toggles and her legs were swept out from under her and she landed right on her ample ass.

I saw one jumper who was committed to hitting right on the spot. He was using one of those wing type(parasail?) chutes. He was too high. He stalled out his chute and went straight down. He hit the spot all right. I could feel the impact thru my feet. A whole crowd of jumpers ran out to him. He didn't even fall over. He was fine.

On one jump, I was the first jumper after the lunch break. Well the wind must have stopped after they dropped a streamer to judge it, cause they dropped me right over the adjoining tree farm. I made it back to that damn plowed corn field where I turned my ankle before. My feet were just a few feel above the tops of the last of those trees though. I gathered my chute in time to watch Kelly, the jumper behind me coming down. He came down in the trees but didn't touch a single tree. He stopped about 3 feet off the ground and then the tree tops slowly bent and slowly brought him down to the ground. Jumpers came out and we started pulling on that chute and brought the tops of around 3 of those pine trees down to where we could get all the lines cleared. I gained respect for how strong those lines are. Kelly told me later that he was watching me thinking I'm going into the trees, I'm going into the trees. It wasn't until I cleared the trees and landed that he realized that He was the one going into the trees.