ANY PARATROOPERS?

[crazyphil]

I remember an old one, but it's a good one.
A young new paratrooper went up for his first jump.
The jump master told him just count to 3 and pull the cord.
If, for any reason, the chute don't open, pull the reserve chute cord.
When you get to the ground there will be a truck to take you
back to camp.
The young trooper jumped, counted to 3 and pulled the cord
nothing happened. He pulled the reserve chute cord. Again,
nothing happened.
He looked up at the plane and yelled: I'll bet your damn truck
won't be there either.

 

[snuffy51]

Never made sense to me for someone to jump out of a perfectly good airplane anyway.

 

[Jinglebob]

I remember my three weeks at Army Airborne school.

Week one: They separate the men from the boys
Week two: They separate the men from the fools.
Week three: The fools jump.

 

[Arik]

I don't like getting on a commercial airliner let alone jumping out of one. I'm ok as long as they fly tree hight!

Sent from my XT1650 using Tapatalk

 

[Bozz10mm]

The first week of jump school was ground training. The second week was supposed to be tower week when they hoisted you up the 250 foot tower and released you with an open parachute to practice canopy control and a real PLF.

Well, second week was too windy to use the tower, so we went through another week of ground training. I guess it worked out tho. I remember my first training jump very well. All 5 were from a C 119 "Flying Boxcar". Proud moment getting those silver wings. That was 49 years ago last Saturday.

 

[LoboGunLeather]

When I was eighteen years old they somehow convinced me that jumping out of an airplane made sense. After all, nearly all airplane crashes occur during take-off or landing, so by jumping out you would avoid half the danger of the airplane ride.

Several years later (after over 120 jumps) it occurred to me that I could easily have avoided ALL OF THE DANGER OF THE AIRPLANE RIDE by not agreeing to jump out of a perfectly good airplane.

Too soon old, too late smart.

 

[richardw]

After recovering through 1969 from my chest wound received in Hue City I went to recon training. Then decided to get as both underwater swimmer and parachute jumper. I remember my first jump at Benning. I looked out the hatch as it was my turn to go And the only thought that came to mind was 'what the *&#@$ am I doing this for. Since I am here to write this I obviously made it. I was quite amused by the post above were the last line is then the fools jump. Yep, some truth to that one.

 

[Kuglespritz]

I think most paratroopers will agree, the jumping was always fun, however some of the landings were not.

 

[VNK971]

There's no such thing as a perfectly good airplane. And every aircraft landing is a controlled crash.

 

[Steve912]

The first week of jump school was ground training. The second week was supposed to be tower week when they hoisted you up the 250 foot tower and released you with an open parachute to practice canopy control and a real PLF. .

"Oooh, ungowah!
We gonna jump the free towuh!"

All of my jumps were night jumps...

 

[chief38]

The farthest I've ever attempted to jump is from a garage roof!

My Father-in-law was in the 82nd Airborne for 3 years of WWll and parachuted in for The Battle of the Bulge. From what my wife has told me over the years, he actually had a conversation with Gen. G.S. Patton regarding photographing the Nazi Death Camps. He was also his Platoon's Photographer and we have thousands of pictures of the campaign, (many from the Death Camps that would make one's head spin!!!

He was also a "Gun Guy" and I have one of his Smiths. Seems like he and I would have gotten along quite well but the sad part is I never met him; he passed away a few years before I met my wife and after the War had many health issues. The only parts I know about his Paratrooper career is through his photographs and memorabilia he brought back. Apparently he never talked much about the War - from what my wife has told me.

 

[vonn]

Jump pay was good!

 

[DWalt]

I had sort of a friend in high school who met anyone's definition of a fool. He quit HS before graduation, joined the Army, and became a paratrooper. He survived that, and when he got out, he took up skydiving. On one of his skydives, he landed in the Ohio River and drowned. I guess the Army's lessons on how to survive a water landing didn't take.

 

[Ole Joe Clark]

The farthest I've ever attempted to jump is from a garage roof!

"He was also his Platoon's Photographer and we have thousands of pictures of the campaign, (many from the Death Camps that would make one's head spin!!! "

Have you ever thought of donating, (at least a copy) of those photos to a museum or a similar organization that would make them available to society? Lots of people could then enjoy them, or at least see the story he told in his photos. I, for one, would like to see them.

Have a blessed day,

Leon

 

[Kurusu]

Around here those who volunteered to paratroopers spent a week in a unit to make sure they really were up to their choice.

A friend told me that during his week there in one briefing they were told:

You have a main shute and a reserve shute. The main shute is linked to the plane and will open automatically after you jump. If the main shute does not open you can manually open your reserve shute.

Someone from the crowd asked:

How much time do I have to open the reserve shute if the main doesn't open?

The answer was:

You got the rest of your life son.

 

[hoosierone]

While on Okinawa my barracks was next to a unit of the 503rd Airborne. Whenever they did a jump, afterwards there would be several of them walking around on crutches. Where I worked was close enough to see them jumping. Must admit it was impressive. They were hostile to those of us who weren't paratroopers.

 

[chief38]

The farthest I've ever attempted to jump is from a garage roof!

"He was also his Platoon's Photographer and we have thousands of pictures of the campaign, (many from the Death Camps that would make one's head spin!!! "

Have you ever thought of donating, (at least a copy) of those photos to a museum or a similar organization that would make them available to society? Lots of people could then enjoy them, or at least see the story he told in his photos. I, for one, would like to see them.

Have a blessed day,

Leon

That is EXACTLY what we are doing!! We already contacted the 82nd AB and talked to them. After we are gone that's where they will go ( my kids will keep a few of their Grandfather of course ) and my Son has agreed to follow through with that. Thanks for your thoughts though - we are on the same page here.

 

[crazyphil]

I don't know if paratroopers still yell Gerinamo when they jump out,
but they used to. I read something one time about an author who wrote
a story about paratroopers. He wasn't sure of the spelling of Gerinamo,
(neither am I) so he used his spell checker. When the article was
published it said the paratrooper jumped and yelled geranium.

 

[DWalt]

"Geranium" would have served the paratrooper's purpose as well as "Geronimo"

 

[handejector]

I never heard anybody yell Geronimo.
I did hear lots of expletives, particularly on the jump that put me directly and closely above another jumper as our chutes deployed. The lower chute creates a low pressure area above it, so I settled onto his canopy and had to walk off it before my chute collapsed. He was excited, very excited you might say, because I was sinking knee deep into his canopy. I was very motivated myself.