Military terms put in perspective

[Calman]

Military rival I guess you'd call it has been going on for years.
I was a 101st Airborne Ranger and was told all time that it takes an Idiot to jump from a perfectly good airplane.I'm sure Hoss and some of y'all here can relate to this. :lol: Every soilder is proud of their branch of the military and that's the way it should be. It takes all to make a great fighting force.

Cal

 

[HOSS]

Military rival I guess you'd call it has been going on for years.
I was a 101st Airborne Ranger and was told all time that it takes an Idiot to jump from a perfectly good airplane.I'm sure Hoss and some of y'all here can relate to this. :lol: Every soilder is proud of their branch of the military and that's the way it should be. It takes all to make a great fighting force.

Cal

Cal, there was plenty of times I told myself that same phrase. Especially on a night jump. I thought I was an idiot for choosing AB the first time I climed the tower at Benning, and the 2nd time, 3rd time and every time after that. I thought I was a bigger idiot learning fastrope techniques with the 101st in Air Assault school. For some reason sliding out of a perfectly good helo on a rope scared me more than bailing out of a C130.

 

[Calman]

Cal, there was plenty of times I told myself that same phrase. Especially on a night jump. I thought I was an idiot for choosing AB the first time I climed the tower at Benning, and the 2nd time, 3rd time and every time after that. I thought I was a bigger idiot learning fastrope techniques with the 101st in Air Assault school. For some reason sliding out of a perfectly good helo on a rope scared me more than bailing out of a C130.[/quote]

:lol: No what ya mean Hoss.There was no sure thing your shute would open.And those towers looked to be 1000ft tall and even taller when looking down. I was scared for about 8to 10 seconds every jump I made.I guess that was the excitement of jumping,the rush when you left the plane.
The real scarey part was being lifted out of the jungle by those ropes when they didn't have a clearing to set the slick down.Puts a whole new meaning to tarzan. :nod: Saved my bacon a couple times though. It would take a whole platoon of men to pry me loose from a plane in flight now. :lol: In jump school our jump Sgt. told us if our shute faled to open ,when we hit the ground,go to sears and get a good one.

Cal

 

[HOSS]

calman, You probably used the STABO rigs for jungle extractions during your time. We used a modified version called the SPIES rig. The scary part is the extraction because of obstacle clearance and then everybody on the line turning loose of the rope in mid-flight to do the old arm spread to help stabilize the group to keep the spinning at a minimum. Flying high over Ft. Campbell on a rope hanging from the bottom of a helo can get your heart rate up.

I agree on the platoon of guys to get me out of a plane now That first few second after the jump when the static line pulls out the chute and you hope it pops without a line tangle is high adrenaline. Then it is relax until the controlled crash happens and hope you hit the DZ. I always agonized over the body and equipment check prior to the jump hoping I didn't have an idiot checking my chute and static line wrap.

 

[Calman]

Hoss seeing as how I only weighed 140lbs I found myself sometimes hiking several meters just to get back to the DZ. Several times jumping when the wind was calm and then when you busted through the clouds it was so wendy it blew you around like a feather.Seems like once we left the runway it didn't matter what the weather changed to you still had to jump.I even had the privilage of landing on top of a barn one time.Now that there was interesting.

Cal

 

[HOSS]

Hoss seeing as how I only weighed 140lbs I found myself sometimes hiking several meters just to get back to the DZ. Several times jumping when the wind was calm and then when you busted through the clouds it was so wendy it blew you around like a feather.Seems like once we left the runway it didn't matter what the weather changed to you still had to jump.I even had the privilage of landing on top of a barn one time.Now that there was interesting.

Cal

I weighed about a buck 80 so when jumping Hollywood (thats what we called jumping without gear) I even floated out of the DZ a few times. Fortunatley not too far away and not onto barns........but in trees once. When jumping with a full combat load of 100 lbs I felt like a rock falling. 280 lbs on a 350lb rated chute. Nothing like a good windy day to drag you around across rough ground and stubble

I'll stick to commercial flights and my pick-up truck these days. My knees and lower back cant take much more abuse.

 

[Calman]

Cal[/quote]
I weighed about a buck 80 so when jumping Hollywood (thats what we called jumping without gear) I even floated out of the DZ a few times. Fortunatley not too far away and not onto barns........but in trees once. When jumping with a full combat load of 100 lbs I felt like a rock falling. 280 lbs on a 350lb rated chute. Nothing like a good windy day to drag you around across rough ground and stubble

I'll stick to commercial flights and my pick-up truck these days. My knees and lower back cant take much more abuse.[/quote]

Know what ya mean Hoss,know the real feeling of being roped and dragged.
I figure while serving I practised punishing this old body enough that I don't aim to do it anymore.
Wishing now I'd have taking better care of it.
I jumped for seven years and now you'd have to put up a convincing fight to just to get me to fly anymore.If I cant get there by driving I don't rekon I need to be there.And I've seen all the far countries that I need to see.Worst part of my serving in the army was 26 days on a troop carrier.
Not counting the two terms in nam that is.
Went to Korea via the south pacific on the USS General Brekinridge.Then I really found out I was glad I didn't join the Navy. :nod:

Cal