Getting my Airborne Wings

[spyderkiller]

Just wanted to say hi from Ft. Benning, GA. Started last week here at airborne school, and in 2 weeks I'll have my wings. It's pretty miserable because of the 210% humidity, but it's pretty fun overall. Not jumping out planes yet, just out of towers and such, but soon enough I'll be jumping out of the real thing. Take it easy guys.

[Eagle]

You know, people look at me as a submariner and think I'm nuts. Why would anyone want to jump out of a perfectly good airplane?. Good luck ya groundpounder!

[SoldierzHonor]

Great! Now you can change your screenname to lawn dart lol j/k

Good luck on getting your wings. :)

[Jakedubbleya]

nice. hope the black hats are doin a good job with ya:)

[TheDuelist]

God speed and try not to earn the nickname "Dirt Dart."

[Army]

Then again, why would you want to be on a perfectly good floating boat....and sink it on purpose :rofl:

Hey Airbor.......wait, can't call you that yet.

Hey straphanger! HOOAH!

[RFLMN1]

Ive seen how they keep them in the air, there is no such thing as a perfectly good airplane. Keep your feet and knees together! And every single one of them will be night jumps if you dont open your eyes. Good luck and make us proud. Rememer you dont want to be what holds up a chickens butt.

Jason

[spyderkiller]

Haha, actually my platoon's black hats aren't too bad at all. They all have great senses of humor and don't smoke us too often. Yeah, the feet and knees thing is annoying the heck out of me right about now...I'm PLF'd to death. Oh, and Army...calling me airborne is alright. That's what the black hats call us (among other things).

Pretty interesting group we have in my platoon though. Navy Seals, Marine Recon, and a ton of guys who just went through selection together and are heading to Q course next month. Great group of guys. I'll keep you guys posted, and when I get home I'll post some pictures of me getting my wings pinned on.

[Thordic]

Congrats, and good luck with the rest of the course :)

[spyderkiller]

Ok so I finally reserved a half hour of internet time here at the library, so I'll explain a little more about what I've been doing and what I will be doing for those of you who care.

The first week is ground week. We started out by taking a PT test, which cut our class size from 432 down to about 360. Apparently a lot of people have trouble doing a few push ups and sit ups and little run. Those that pass the PT test start right into training while those who failed are recycled into the next training company. After breakfast we headed right over to the training area and were put into full size mock parachutes, in which we practiced how to exit the aircraft, using mock doors on the ground. The next day we practiced the door exits from 34 foot towers, which then sent you flying down a zip line that brought me back to the good ole days of summer camp. The third day was more of the tower, and Thursday we did PLFs (parachute landing falls) which teaches you how to hit the ground without breaking something. Friday we got off early for the weekend after we finished up PLFs and practiced releasing the canopy and risers from our harness when being dragged across a field.

This upcoming week is called tower week, where they swing us back and forth and drop us from a few feet off the ground to practice our PLFs more, and then we practice max exits out of mock doors, and finally jump from the 34 foot towers again with a combat load which includes ruck sack, M4, and whatever else they feel like attaching to us.

Then finally the last seek is jump week. Four day jumps and one night jump later and I'll have my airborne wings. So far it hasn't been too mentally or physically demanding, and I hear that the second week is actually easier, so there should be no worries as long as I don't break something.

AAAIRBORNE!

[luke]

Yeah, the feet and knees thing is annoying the heck out of me right about now...I'm PLF'd to death.


The PLF should be obsolete with modern technology. I’m not sure why they (the military) are still using the parachutes they do; technology has advanced leaps and bounds over the years. There is no good reason (that I know of) for you guys to have to jump those chutes.

I haven’t jumped in 8 years or so, so I’m not sure of the advancements in the sport but even then (8 years ago) I didn’t understand why the military still used the round chutes.
You have next to no control of where you come down and the landings can be hell. Using modern ram air chutes you can control landings within fractions of an inch of your target (literally). The landings can be as soft as stepping off a step.

[Alley]

I was at an airshow put on by the 911th air unit out of Pittsburgh PA they had some military jumpers and they where using the regular controllable chutes to jump they all landed in the exact same spot. Do only the "show" jumpers get to use these? I would have though the military to have switched everyone over to them as well.

After all that i forgot to say good luck to spyder, silly me! .... Most of all good luck and be safe, hopefully all the training won't ever be necessary but, if you have to use it I hope for a safe return. For all the defenders of our nation you are truly appreciated.

[Jakedubbleya]

so whats ur MOS anyway? :D

[luke]

I was at an airshow put on by the 911th air unit out of Pittsburgh PA they had some military jumpers and they where using the regular controllable chutes to jump they all landed in the exact same spot.

It may have been the Armys "Golden Knights", they are an 8 way skydiving team. The parachute systems the G.K. use are not what the Military uses for military operations....

[Army]

We still use the "old" round canopy's for the very fact that they AREN'T fully controllable. Round canopies have a good military habit of falling fairly straight down, assuring that the chalk all fall into the same DZ.

If everyone used a ram-air, they would be all over the place, looking for the best place to hit....thing is, EVERYONE would pick the SAME best spot:D Also, your position in the air can seriously mess up a chalk when your ram-air opens in the opposite direction. This would immediately force you into a spin, or into a fellow jumper. Round canopies simply open the same, regardless of your position in the air. Ram-air also take a slight longer to deploy, which would be a bad thing at minimum combat drop altitude. There are a few things ya gotta do on the way down, BEFORE you grab the risers and start to steer (round cans are steerable to quite a degree). Ram-airs do not give you that leeway, as they must be steered right away.

Special applications demand ram-air, but general combat drops need the control over mass personel drops provided by round chutes.

[RFLMN1]

PLFs are beat to death because they are the most important part. I couldnt imagine doing a mass tactical jump if everyone had steerables, easily 100 other sharks out there stealing my air, making me fall faster so they can get the ideal spot on the ground to land. You guys are lucky when I went through if you failed anything you where set home not recycled.

Jason

[luke]

We still use the "old" round canopy's for the very fact that they AREN'T fully controllable. Round canopies have a good military habit of falling fairly straight down, assuring that the chalk all fall into the same DZ.

Thanks for the answers, I've wonder for years why they chose those canopies.


If everyone used a ram-air, they would be all over the place, looking for the best place to hit....thing is, EVERYONE would pick the SAME best spot:D Also, your position in the air can seriously mess up a chalk when your ram-air opens in the opposite direction. This would immediately force you into a spin, or into a fellow jumper.

You can put a large amount of people in a very small area, BUT generally these are very high skilled jumpers with 10s of thousands of jumps logged. I understand that the military can not devote the amount of time it would take to train them though.


Round canopies simply open the same, regardless of your position in the air. Ram-air also take a slight longer to deploy, which would be a bad thing at minimum combat drop altitude.

Ram air systems can open slower because of how they are packed. If you "roll" the nose you can get a slower opening which is prefered at 1500' or higher. If you're at 300' you need a quick opening! Reserves are packed to open quickly (nose not rolled), talk about a neck jerker! You're crusing at no less than 120 mph and you deploy your reserve, your reserve inflates in approx 1 second, that is one heavy brake! I've been in several "hairy" situations but only 1 reserve ride.


There are a few things ya gotta do on the way down, BEFORE you grab the risers and start to steer (round cans are steerable to quite a degree). Ram-airs do not give you that leeway, as they must be steered right away.

At low alt. I can see where that would be a problem.


Special applications demand ram-air, but general combat drops need the control over mass personel drops provided by round chutes.

It makes more sense now. :cheers:

With all that said I would still hate to do a PLF with 100lbs of gear straped to my body! :eek:

PS don't take any statements as an arguement, that's not my intention. ;)

[spyderkiller]

so whats ur MOS anyway? :D

No MOS as of yet. Disclaimer: No Spamming please, if you don't understand something about what I'm about to say, just ask.
I'm an ROTC cadet, and airborne training is optional during the summer, along with other army schools. The better ROTC programs in the country are given a certain number of slots to airborne, air assault, sapper, etc. schools. Obviously they only send cadets who they feel will be able to complete the training without a problem. I am receiving a certain amount of flack here from some of the enlisted guys, mostly specialists it seems, who hate the idea that in a couple of years I"ll be an officer. The ones they should really get mad at are the West Pointers though...they're the ones who seem to think they're God's gift to the Army (some of them, not all). Well i'll try to reply in a more timely fassion from now on, seeing as how I have nothing else to do here at night than go to the library.

[Eagle]

Well buddy, I just finished 5 years in the Navy, and any officer had to prove his worth to earn my respect. And any that came from 'Canoe U' didn't stand a chance. All the academies make their people feel that way.

[spyderkiller]

Well buddy, I just finished 5 years in the Navy, and any officer had to prove his worth to earn my respect. And any that came from 'Canoe U' didn't stand a chance. All the academies make their people feel that way.

I'm confused...how do all academies make their people feel? I know full well that respect is something you have to earn, but it's pretty sad that most enlisted guys view cadets in a negative light until proven otherwise. A clean state would be appreciated is all I'm saying. And trust me, on more than one occassion while here, cadets (either myself or another) have proven to NCOs, Officers, and Joe that we're more than competent enough to be airborne (which doesn't actually say a lot) and future officers.

Anyway, another update...just finishing up tower week here and our first jump is Monday, scheduled for 1200. I'll let you know how it goes and if I still have both legs in tact.

[Eagle]

well, part of it is precidence. The rest is just that most academy grads, while not incompetent, seem to think that those of us guys on the deck plates seem to think that we are incompetent, but still good enough to do 95% of the commands work, including all the dirty work. Where on the other hand, those who got their commisions from other sources tend to have a little more respect for us blue shirts, and often time aren't afraid to role up their sleeves either.

[Jakedubbleya]

id just apply for officer training after finishing school in the army's programs, taking a few years off and geting a decent graduate degree. id come back after having been an NCO (hopefully lol), get my silver bar, then work up from there.

but of course not everybody wants to be a lifer and ROTC is great if u just want ur schooling paid for.

anyway its still a toss up from the docs whether im even joining or not. piece of advice for future applicants: dont say you ever went to a psycologist on ur forms, for any reason, lol. my parents made me go when i was ten, i wasnt diagnosed with anything, and they are STILL making me get a waiver.

apparently honesty doesnt pay in the army, i was sickened when my recruiters told me to lie about everything. just because im the only guy with enough intergrity to be honest about my history, leaves me a target for the PITA beurocracy.

sorry for getting so off topic spyder, have fun on monday.

[Eagle]

apparently honesty doesnt pay in the army, i was sickened when my recruiters told me to lie about everything. just because im the only guy with enough intergrity to be honest about my history, leaves me a target for the PITA beurocracy.


Welcome to Club Beurocracy, been there done that. Half my sub school class was held up in training because of similar reasons. Me, I knew already by that time to BWB-Baffle 'em With Bull!@#$ on the psych forms.

[spyderkiller]

Eagle, I can see where you're coming from there, and I think you're totally correct. A lot of new officers think they're too good to get down and dirty with their men. I don't plan on being one of those officers. I'm not trying to generalize, but it seems that those who graduate from the academies, such as West Point think they know everything. I know I don't know everything and realize that the NCOs in my platoon will be the ones I will be relying on because they've been there and know how things work. Like I already said though, that doesn't mean that I'm going to rely on them to do all of the dirty work as well. After all I am still supposed to be the leader of the platoon, and plan on leading by example.

[kosmo]

The reason youre getting a lot of flak from specialists is because theyve generally been around long enough to see stupid lieutennants, but they arent disciplined sergeants yet who dont talk about the boss in front of other people. And as far as academy nutcases, they think theyre king of the hill, that they know everything, and that as a commissioned officer they are better people than everyone else. Until they go to jail for sleeping with a privates wife while hes deployed anyway, but thats neither here nor there.