I can sympathize with them. The prime reason I volunteered to become a paratrooper was because at that time a Private got paid something like $67 a MONTH,and paratropers got an extra $55 a month.
Then I got into Special Forces,and couldn't quit jumping because it was a requirement to stay in SF. IIRC,I had something like 58 Parachute jumps when I got out of the army,and never voluteered for a single one. I even refused to volunteer to go to jumpmasters school or put in for senior or master wings,mostly because I knew that as a junior NCO I would end up being a jump master on every jump,and Saturday afternnoons and nights seemed to be the favored SF jump times because it didn't interfer with regular training schedules.
I was made "Safety NCO" on a few jumps in the 18th Abn Corps after being taken off jump status due to physical restrictions that made me leave SF,but that didn't last long. Most of the paratroopers were teens,and not the NCO's typical of SF,so it was pretty easy to freak them out. I would look for the one that looked the most scared,and tell him right after his equipment check that "You bleep is ALL bleeped up,and you are going to die for sure!"
In SF,that would have gotten a laugh. Not so much in a conventional unit.
Only had to do that a couple of times before they took me off safety nco duty. Which REALLY pleased me because I was having to fly for hours so the air crew could get in their monthly flight time,the damn jumps were STILLL done on Saturday's,and not being on jump status anymore meant I wasn't even getting paid extra for it.
