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

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.

[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?

[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 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.