Airborne

Might of been mine! I handed a few static lines off with a bag puke bundled in there. Lol, good times.

 

I was in Bco 1/508 during the mid eighties. Can't think of any fatalities. We did have a suicide, some guy named Mc Nealy. Also, quite a few cherries go awol, or flat out desert. One guy faked his own death. rented some scuba gear, dumped it in the ocean and let it drift ashore. Almost got away with it, till he was pulled over for a traffic citation.

 

I remember stories about up till the early 1980's if you didn't have wings and got caught any were near Ardennes St. you subject to a beatdown.

 

Ha! It sounds like a lot of us did that! My jumpmaster wouldn't take it so I had to throw it out in front of me first. My major mistake was leaving my second bag (I know....don't judge me monkey....two puke bags) on the seat. I felt it might be unsafe for me to jump out with two bags. Anyway, it rolled around and broke open. The scene was horrific when I arrived back to the airplane as the grunts who were being transported to Ft Ord (when it was still open) offloading were all lined up to drop off their barf bags to the dumpster. That crew chief had me doing body builders for a long time under the wing! Ahhhh memories.

 

USMC Gold winger, 68 jumps, jump school 1985, 42d Company Fort Benning.

SECOND BEST THING IN LIFE...

 

Charlie 2/504 82nd ABN '06-'12

 

Casa Jump, VIRS, 1250 AGL, Night, Combat Light, Winds at altitude 38 knots, Lift 1 Pass 1.....can we say tree landing

 

VIRS and night are not always a winning combination.

 

Tell me about it. Neither is doing GMRS at night. My PWAC in JM School was done with GMRS... Not a winning combo

 

That's the price you pay for being a cool guy.

CARP is nice and simple for me.

 

Whats up all you Airborne studs, now drop and knock out 20! I was a five-jump chump when I showed up at the Ranger Course in '91. First jumps at Benning weren't bad, but then I learned the meaning of 'in-flight rigging.' We jumped in the mountain phase into some backwoods DZ that looked like a postage stamp when I exited the AC. Winds and the DZ hung up about 12 jumpers IIRC; the locals had set up lawn chairs in pickups, with coolers of beer to watch. Swamp phase in FL was all soft landings. During our last phase in Dugway one of our cadre burned in and died, he was not hooked up before exiting UH-60.

After the RC I hung around Benning and got assigned to 1/507 as my orders got sorted out. Got 8 more jumps in with the school, including one from a C-23 with USMC recon who were evaluating the airframe.

 

That picture is gayer than a cherry and a catholic priest together in a closet.

 

You sound like you've had some experience with that.

 

Marine jump school graduate and actual jump billet holder (I was in a Battalion with a reconnaissance platoon - jump school is rare for Marines).

Didn't happen to me, but I saw it...Super Bowl Sunday, Hawaii (why we jumped on Super Bowl Sunday? Reservist C-130 crew was on-island). Big winds...strong, gusty ones, but we are Marines, and off we go. Worked out for almost all of us. Save one. He went through the roof of an on-base house and landed in the cheese dip of a young family watching the pre-game.

 

I am currently serving but do not jump anymore. I taught airborne school from 2008-2011 in A co 1-507. A lot of good memories there. I loved to jump but at the same time I don't really miss it. I am sure I will when I retire but that's how it goes. If anyone was in 4th platoon during that time frame I was probably teaching you. Happy jumping.

 

Is it bad that I had to dig up my ERB to remember which company I was in when I went to the basic airborne course?

 

Not really. The only reason I remember all the airborne stuff is because of the groundhogs day effect of teaching there for so long. I can't forget it even if I wanted too.

 

Broke my tailbone during a night jump in January in Alaska. C-23 was a turbulent piece of garbage, ramp opening is only about 4 feet tall. I bounced off the ceiling and floor before falling out and catching my back on the ramp. Pretty sure I flipped through my risers, it was pitch black. Couldn't see. Felt like I dropped free, then before I could release my combat load I hit the ground. Never occurred to me I should have deployed reserve just in case. Didn't hit terribly hard though. Didn't have glow sticks of course. Walked off the DZ and found a medic. Said yep, broke your ass bone. Have fun for the next few months.

Shortly after, the C-23 was retired and I reclassed. Now I'm a leg. I've never seen a T-11 in person. I jumped T-10 and MC1-1.

 

That was my first MOS.