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For you airborne guys

frenchman

frenchman

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How many jumps?
Me? 178, static line only, all between 400 and 700 meters. Some water landings, only a dozen or so helicopter jumps, the rest was transal. 2 malfunctions with reserve chute pull. Zip, zilch, zero combat jumps.

What about you guys?
 
Ha!

27, all static line, most 800’ AGL, but I’d need to check; I believe I manifested for four more, but didn’t get out the door for some reason. Not that many, but probably about average for a full tour at Bragg, plus a couple at Ranger School. Those were white-knuckle, with trashed equipment and lax jumpmasters.

VAST majority were night mass-tac exits out of C17s. I only remember about eight daytime exits, including airborne school. No malfunctions requiring a reserve, but plenty of partial collapses as idiots above me ran into my chute. Lower jumper has the right of way, people!

Good times.
 
I was an "airborne qualified" Marine, but not a Paratrooper.
13 military static line jumps. (Several civilian free fall jumps, but I never went far enough to get my A license.)
All training.
Zero malfunctions.
Exits from; C-130, C-141, CH-53E, CH-46, and UH-1N.
I don't think I ever did anything other than a rear PLF (ouch!).

One landing involved a DZ that was at 6764' ASL and was strewn with large rocks and a few cows. Once we were on the ground the curious cows started to move towards us to check us out. We were quickly outnumbered!

Number 13 was probably the most memorable.
Myself and a couple of other guys from my unit were "strap hangers" for 2nd Force Recon. Being a strap hanger meant you weren't a part of their unit, but you could get your quarterly proficiency jumps in and their jump masters could get more practice time JMing. Usually, but not always the strap hangers got the junior or newly minted JMs. We had done a jump or two prior that day. For the final jump I was in a stick with two guys who were inserting for a "full mission profile"; meaning that once they were safely on the DZ, they would immediately conduct a ground mission without involvement or interference from the support staff. They were jumping with combat equipment and would leave their parachutes on the DZ for others to recover. The fourth member of the stick was a "cherry jumper"; meaning it was his first jump after school. He and I were both jumping "Hollywood"; with no extra equipment.

We loaded on the left side the Huey so that the mission guys would exit first, then me, and finally the cherry. All went well until the exit. After my seven second count (helicopters move away from you slower than airplanes do) I looked around and realized that something wasn't right. I didn't have large amount of jump experience, but I did do two prior jumps that day into the same DZ. We were out over the water and the DZ was further away than it had been on the prior jumps. The less experienced JM had misjudged the wind and the release spot! I immediately began to run with the wind and headed for the DZ. I looked over at the mission guys; they were to my left and below me, already running. I looked over to the cherry who was holding with the wind and yelled for him to start running.

Looking back at the DZ, I though, "F**k, I don't want to do a water landing." We had gone over the water landing procedures during the jump brief, I had my UDT vest on and I could see the safety boat circling, but I still wasn't keen on landing in the water. What a PITA that would be! The DZ still looked a long way off even though I was running with the wind. After a few moments it became clear that I wasn't going to land in the water. My next thought was, "F**k, I don't want to do a tree landing either." I was trained to recover pilots (and other parachutists) from tree landings, but I definitely didn't want to be on the other side of that task. Still running, I looked over at the mission guys; because of the weight of their rucksacks they were well below me and definitely going into the trees. More and more it was looking like I was going to miss the trees and make the DZ, but there was one more obstacle - the power lines that ran along the road at the edge of the DZ.

There weren't many choices and they weren't getting any better; turn and hold, resulting in a tree landing -or- keep running to make the DZ and risk hitting the power lines. After a quick (very quick) risk/reward assessment with myself, I felt I could make the DZ without hitting the wires. Still running with the wind, and getting closer to landing, as soon as I approached the wires I pulled up my legs so that my knees were up under the reserve as far as I could get them. I didn't think I was really that close, but I just wanted to be sure. As soon as I cleared the wires I pulled the right toggle down as far as I could. I was hoping to get turned around and hold to bleed off some speed before landing. I was able to make a 180* turn and caught a glimpse of the cherry as he cleared the wires. I don't remember what the forward speed of the MC1-1B parachute was, but I didn't get turned around fast enough to bleed of any speed before hitting the ground. So I did a rear PLF at that speed plus whatever the wind speed was. I saw a few stars, but was not injured. I was able to pop one of the risers before getting dragged too far.

After gathering up my parachute and stowing it into the bag I looked up to see the next stick drifting down into the DZ. I'm not sure if their spot was any better, but they were all running with the wind. The jumper closest to me cleared the wires, but didn't turn to hold. He ended up doing a front PLF at full speed with full wind. After he landed, I noticed that he was getting dragged by the parachute, but not making any attempt to release one of his risers - he was unconscious! As I ran over to collapse his canopy, I was joined by one of the DZ safety staff. As we approached the suspension lines I noticed he was making a feeble half-conscious attempt to release a riser by pawing at the buckle. We spilled the air out of the parachute by pulling the suspension lines on one side and he came to a stop. A Corpsman arrived quickly as well as the DZ staff, so I got out of the way. After a quick check and a little rest he walked off the DZ on his own.

Good times!
(Me, second from right. Power lines in the background.)

Jumpers.jpg
 
22 in two years with 82nd, from C-130's, 140's, Hueys, Chinook and Blackhawks. (Plus the 5 in jump school)
And a few with the Germans to earn my German Parachutist Badge.
They used our gear from the 70's and we did tailgate jumps out Sea Stallion copters...Sketchy. One our guys had a total malfunction and had to pop his reserve. The German commander awarded him the rip handle from the reserve that night at a big beer dinner.........(In total I saw four guys over time with major malfunctions, mostly while working dropzone in Graf.)
I liked the tailgate helo jumps the best.
Had a entanglement the night of my last jump one week before I ETS'd......."Slip away you dumbass Mofo...!!" I hit hard but lived to tell the tale.
Good times...I was in Vicenza with the 3/325th ABCT, 87-89.
 
26 not including jump school. No mustard stain for me. C130, C141, C47 (hollywood fun jump), C17 (test jumper for the C17).

Two midair entaglements both were during mass tacs. One of those I rode down with the other jumper as my canopy was deflated and draped over his. We entagled under the cargo bay door under the C130 before we even had the opening shock due to the JM effing up the stagger. He was not happy about this whatsoever and screamed at me the whole way down. His suspension line flayed my hand open to the tendons after an impromptu fast rope down it. Never really understood what a death grip was until that night.

15 civilian skydives before the wife asked me to quit.
 
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H-minus said:
15 civilian skydives before the wife asked me to quit.
Click to expand...

Yes I did some freefall after the Army but didn't have the money to really commit. I did quite a bit of hang gliding though and more recently have owned several experimental aircraft/ultralights.

I'm going to doxx myself here but WTH.

Low Res - Copy.jpg
 
Last edited:
H-minus said:
26 not including jump school. No mustard stain for me. C130, C141, C47 (hollywood fun jump), C17 (test jumper for the C17).

Two midair entaglements both were during mass tacs. One of those I rode down with the other jumper as my canopy was deflated and draped over his. We entagled under the cargo bay door under the C130 before we even had the opening shock due to the JM effing up the stagger. He was not happy about this whatsoever and screamed at me the whole way down. His suspension line flayed my hand open to the tendons after an impromptu fast rope down it. Never really understood what a death grip was until that night.

15 civilian skydives before the wife asked me to quit.
Click to expand...

Ughhh. Those C17 test jumps.

I showed up at Bragg right around the time they were figuring out the proper length of the static line in a C17. Guys would board the birds and half would have yellow lines, the other half white, and they’d be different lengths.

I remember really rough exits with the white static lines.
 
44 Jumps....A lot of strap hangers. Had two malfunctions.....ripped MC1-1B Hole in the front........Leap frog over Sicily DZ coming back from Canadian Jump School. Only water landing was that little creek in jump school, its was the night jump. Water was three feet deep. C-123, C-130, C141, C-141B, Huey, Blackhawks & C7A Caribou.
2/505 H Minus and 3rd Bde staff 82d Abn
 
My log books are all downstairs, somewhere in storage.

I made my first jump on Monday, June 23, 1969 onto Fryar Field, AL. Last jump was postponed until Thursday so that we could jump from a C-141.

IIRC I have somewhere around 800 jumps. Maybe 50 or 60 some-odd S/L, the rest sport parachute freefall and somewhere around 50 or more were Military Freefall. Highest jump was a HAHO from 25,000'.

One of my most memorable jumps actually involved a jump I made followed by a jump by another guy. It was Mule Day in Benson, NC, in I think 1976 or 77. About 8 of us from one of the Ft Bragg parachute clubs participated, making two separate jumps from an Army Huey, 4 jumping and the rest on the ground crew, then reversing places. I was in the first jump and had a malfunction. Did a cut-away and deployed my reserve, landing safely. The narrator, Rod B, announced the jump and calmly described my malfunction to the crowd. We then switched places and I announced the second jump. Well, Rod also had a malfunction and I did the same narration for him. He landed about 200 yards or so from us and a bunch of people went out to help him, including many of the crowd. Well, they all started walking back. As they got closer and closer I noticed that Rod was in the middle of a crowd and there was no one closer than about 25' to him. No one would get close to him.

The rest of the story: Rod had lost a leg at the knee, I think in VN but I am not positive on that. The Army fitted him with an artificial leg and foot and for some reason allowed him to stay on active duty, maybe pending medical retirement, or as a test. Upon landing he broke his artificial foot about mid-arch. But it did not separate, it was still attached somehow. He had taken off his boot and as he was walking back as he picked up that foot the broken part would flap down. So he was walking "walk, flap, walk, flap, walk, flap" all the way back.

We all packed up to leave and Rod drove me back to Fayetteville in his car, a big ole convertible, with a case of beer between us drinking and laughing about it all. First and LAST time I've ever had an open container in a car.
 
Picton said:
Ughhh. Those C17 test jumps.

I showed up at Bragg right around the time they were figuring out the proper length of the static line in a C17. Guys would board the birds and half would have yellow lines, the other half white, and they’d be different lengths.

I remember really rough exits with the white static lines.
Click to expand...

I think it was around 96 when I was voluntold to try out for the C17 trials. All I remember was the opening shock felt like God himself dropkicked me. I was sore for a week. However, it got me out of parachute shakeout and heavy drop detail for a few months so I had that going for me.
 
TrashcanDan said:
5 jump-chump here.
Click to expand...
Me too. 1986. After all the warnings by the Black Hats that "blood wings" were not allowed and we shouldn't even ask, I got blood-pinned on the DZ by the school commandant, LTC Leonard B. "Charlie Mike" Scott.

We had a three day weekend between Tower Week and Jump Week, and we spent Saturday 4 July on the white sands of Fort Walton Beach, and watched the fireworks from the upper deck of the original Shorty Fuddpucker's.

Because it was summer at the dividing line between Eastern and Central time zones, even our night drop was in broad daylight.

First drop, I executed a dynamite PLF and jumped up thinking that wasn't so bad. Second drop, I did everything the same and hit like a burlap sack full of bricks.

I was First Stick leader, so I went out halfway through. Third Stick leader in my platoon was a tiny little female USAF captain who might have weighed 110 pounds without gear (darn cute little blonde, too). Our entire flight was on the ground with chutes packed and walking off the DZ, and she was still up there floating around.
 
Our class leader in summer 1996 (D Co) was a Navy O-5 on his way to become some sort of attache in Europe. They sent him to airborne school because the Navy had slots and couldn't find anyone willing to go! He said sure.

Nice guy, but he must have been 45 years old going through. It was tough for him.
 
I was just a "7 Jump Chump."[laugh][laugh][laugh][laugh]

5 from a C-130 during Jump School in April, 1967.

1 "Cherry Jump" with the 101st at Fort Campbell around June of 1967.
1 "Deuce and a Half" Jump at Campbell in Sep, 1967. (I know, some of your going to ask WTF that is, but that is a whole other story!)[rofl]

We didn't jump a lot that summer at Campbell, because we were busy getting ready to move the whole Brigade to Vietnam, and it was hard
to get planes freed up for qualification jumps. The Airport was busy as hell all day with equipment and the Advance Parties moving out. And we were also busy getting shots and doing a lot of crash courses in jungle warfare.

Went to Nam in Dec. of 67, and was back at Campbell by the 1st of Mar., 68 because I was wounded during Tet.

After 6 months in the hospital, They told me I could never jump again......which was OK, because I got offered a new School at Fort Monmouth
which turned out to be an excellent education in Electronics. (26V20)

Sometimes I think of myself as barely a Paratrooper......but at least I got a chance to enjoy the thrill.

My two proudest treasures are my Wings, and my CIB.

"AIRBORNE!.....ALL THE WAY!"
 
This thread reminds me of another thread years ago on another Forum.

We had a Member name "Kilted Heathen" and he was a Ranger Instructor at Ft. Benning.

Some young kid showed up on the forum who was a civilian, and said he was also a "Paratrooper" because he did blah-blah...skydiving jumps.

Kilted Heathens response was epic, and went something like this.....

"YOU ARE NOT A F***ING PARATROOPER! WHEN YOU JOIN THE MILITARY, AND JUMP OUT AN AIRCRAFT AT 800 FT., WITH A FULL LOAD OF COMBAT
EQUIPMENT,INTO THE DARK OF NIGHT....THEN YOU CAN CALL YOUSELF A DAMN PARATROOPER!"
 
Skysoldier said:
"YOU ARE NOT A F***ING PARATROOPER! WHEN YOU JOIN THE MILITARY, AND JUMP OUT AN AIRCRAFT AT 800 FT., WITH A FULL LOAD OF COMBAT
EQUIPMENT,INTO THE DARK OF NIGHT....THEN YOU CAN CALL YOUSELF A DAMN PARATROOPER!"
Click to expand...

....added in for fun.... a Battalion Mass Tac with heavy drop vehicles. Thinking back to jumping a M60 or a KY38 secure radio, that was humping.

Thanks to Frenchman for kicking off the thread. Found some other members of my regiment.
 
Skysoldier said:
Sometimes I think of myself as barely a Paratrooper......but at least I got a chance to enjoy the thrill.

My two proudest treasures are my Wings, and my CIB.

"AIRBORNE!.....ALL THE WAY!"
Click to expand...

One added benefit. No one can ever call you a "leg" without suffering the appropriate consequences. [thumbsup]
 
Best thread in years. It’s bringing back all kinds of fun memories.

I broke an ankle once landing on the furthest Bragg DZ, Holland, a gulley-strewn mess with lots of rocks. I knew something was up right away, but you know how it is: you hobble around making sure about accountability, sensitive items and all that, so it was about 2 hours before I got medevacked.

The big things I remember from the next couple months were FRANTICALLY trying to get healthy enough to jump, jump ahead, and jump behind within three months so the battalion wouldn’t have to report me as a pay loss. That, and taking advantage of my convalescent leave to take a drive to Washington and New York. I met my wife on that trip, so thanks, Holland DZ.
 
I wish I had 1/2 of the money I spent on Miller Lite and Guinness Stout from the airborne PX, the Flaming Mug as well as tips given to the dancers at the Cue & Ale. I could probably buy a house on Maui today had I invested it.
 
Picton said:
I broke an ankle once landing on the furthest Bragg DZ, Holland, a gulley-strewn mess with lots of rocks. I knew something was up right away, but you know how it is: you hobble around making sure about accountability, sensitive items and all that, so it was about 2 hours before I got medevacked.
Click to expand...

Doing a night jump on Salisbury Plain a senior NCO in another company landed with one foot on his container, one foot off. He broke the ball off his femur. He seemed like quite an old man to me at the time, he was probably all of 32 or so. I visited him daily in hospital as duty officer, that injury was no fun at all in 1978. Poor guy, I hope he made a good recovery.

The funnest/easiest jumping I did was on the Queen's Parade, right behind Browning Barracks in Aldershot. The RAF would bring in a barrage balloon and we'd do currency jumps. I remember one golden summer afternoon where there were a bunch of packed chutes left after everybody had jumped and a small group of us jumped one chute after another until they were all gone.

...called the Queen's Parade btw because Queen Victoria reviewed the Aldershot Garrison there every year in the late 19th Century.
 
We did a couple jumps on Holland DZ back in the day. I got dragged there one night in high winds and swear I found every thornbush on it for the 50 yards or so I got dragged. Blackstone DZ in Ft Pickett VA was probably the worst DZ I ever had the pleasure of jumping. It was an old concrete airstrip that someone had the bright idea of turning into a DZ. Nothing but broken chunks of concrete strewn all over it. Another unit lost a soldier on that jump when he landed on an old rusty hangar at the leading edge of the DZ. Evidently a loose piece of sheet metal slit the guys throat as he slid down the side of it. I was a medic and landed uneventfully on that jump but worked half the night on wounded jumpers with broken ankles, legs and lacerations from landing on all the broken concrete.
 
I was a non-traditional Army ROTC student. I was non-scholarship, and signed up at the end of my college sophomore year.

My ROTC classmate and dorm roommate was part of the Early Commissioning Program. He had joined USAR at 17, and was Airborne and Air Assault qualified when we were commissioned in May 1985. I graduated the next semester, and was the only non-scholarship member of our class to get active duty.

Shawn still had two more years until graduation. There were no active duty slots available for lieutenants at that time, so he kept his reserve commission and went active duty as an E-4. He had also earned his Pathfinder badge in the meantime.

I was nearing my ETS in Germany when I got a call from my mother: Shawn was killed in a night jump double chute failure. He'd been married just two months.

First chance I had after getting back home, I laid my own 5-jump wings on his stone at the Fort Smith National Cemetery.

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/1066087/brendan-shawn-paxton
 

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