Parachutes
some would say there are two kinds of people in the army...you can be airborne, or a leg (somebody who can't jump and therefore has to walk to get to his destination) last weekend was my first jump since Airborne School. that was 3 and a half years ago. i wouldn't call myself a leg seeing as how im not, but i sure felt like it. not only had i not jumped in 3 and a half years, i had never jumped ramp (out the back, which turned out to be quite easy actually), i have never jumped night, (in jump school you do, but its not really that dark and they light the ground up a bit. not last weekend, it was pitch black), and i jumped a chute i hadn't seen or used before (not much different, but when it was still in the back of my mind) all that to say, it was a bit of a rush.
like everything else in the military, there is some type of tradition that goes way back to ancient times that must be upheld or the army gods just might have to intervene or something. well on your first jump out of school you're considered a "cherry jumper" for obvious reasons. well to make sure you and EVERYBODY ELSE around you knows, they do something like this to your helmet. this was actually one of the other PVTs but you get the point.
well lucky me, not only did i get my helmet
taped up in red, but just before getting on the
bird to go jump, chief (the guy who's been
jumping forever and knows anything and
everything there is to know about falling out
of a plane) walks up to me and says,
"hey Krishnan, take this, a cherry candy. if you make it to the drop zone alive, open it up and eat it in celebration." he walks off...
gotta love chief.
in typical army style, somebody's three Ps of planning left us without dinner. (a 19 hour day, 12 of which we went hungry.) but i guess if its not a good time, its a good story so starving probably just added to the memories. either way, after spending 6 hours sitting on the runway freezing and hungry we got on the plane.
as far as the jump, i guess i couldn't have been that nervous because all i remember was taking off and i was out like a light. i woke up to my friend knocking on my helmet as the first chalk was about to jump. right as i woke up the ramp dropped and i all the sudden i started to think, "i really hope i remember to do it all right and that i don't get my head stuck in a static line or something stupid" i'm pretty good at dealing with stuff like this, i just don't think, i just do. and usually by the time you should be getting scared, you're already done. but i couldn't do that because you can't exactly just up and go. so i just sat there bouncing my legs like i usually do to release energy when i'm not allowed to move. well the time came soon enough and all i remember was running out the door yelling "what the hell am i doing?!" to my SGT.
I came out like a top and by the time i got all un-spun, i was a little disoriented and didn't know which way to go so i just sat back and enjoyed the ride. as far as rides go, it was the most relaxing and peaceful thing i've done in a LONG time. its so quiet its almost eerie. and you can't really see much except lights off in the distance and the plane trailing off. the parachutes blend in with the black ground so the only people i could see were the two behind me. it was a pretty cool jump. and my landing was actually really smooth. if it weren't for the fact that i already bruised my butt on my practice jumps off the tailgate of a truck, it would have been a painless landing! i also landed about 2 and a half miles from the check in point. but i didn't mind. the walk was nice. so all in all, not too bad for my cherry jump.
and for those of you who want to live the airborne dream through youtube,
here are some good ones for you.
and this is just another funny one
for those of you who know, this is like the hangover after a good party. and they were nasty. the DZ was covered in stickers, tumble weeds, goat heads, and every other plague weed you can think of.
in other news, a couple of our medics taught a couple
of us how to suture. we went out and bought some
pig feet, cut the open, and practiced putting them back
together.
this is a shout out to you pete. next time you slice
your foot open, i got your back.
