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clintonradloff

Military skydivers

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I have done loads of fun jumps out of Army Lynx choppers and Navy Seakings when I was serving in Northern Ireland ( Brit forces )..did 8 jumps one day and it only cost me a crate of beer..only rule was no shitting on the way too altitude!!
If any of these guys read this ( Tomo,Ginge or Pete ) many thanks !!

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From my experience, I would tell you that it will be nearly impossible for you to jump from military aircraft. There have been a few special circumstances where it HAS happened, but they are few and far between.



I haven't yet tried to do this, but as a civilian I have:

Landed my own plane at Fort Knox's Godwin Field
Rapelled the tower "Australian style" at Knox
Sat next to the boom operator during an in-flight refuelling of a C130 by a KC135
Done the water survival training courses at Knox and at NAS Pensacola
Landed on and been catapulted off of the USS Carl Vinson and the USS Eisenhower
"Flown" the C5 simulator at Altus AFB
"Driven" the LCAC simulator at Coronado
"Flown" the heli simulator at Pensacola
Had an airborne tour of Chicago in a Huey.


so - it is often possible for civilians to do cool military stuff if you go about it the right way.
...

The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

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so - it is often possible for civilians to do cool military stuff if you go about it the right way.



The US military is doing this more and more lately. If you are interested, look into it at your nearest military post/base.

Since the US military has gotten significantly smaller in the past decade, the military leadership realized that a smaller proportion of civilians had never served in the military and did not understand what the military did. The military decided to start a program where civilian leaders were invited to take part in different "exercises" to expose them to the military. I had to coordinate one of these when I was in. A lot of unexpected things happened. I couldn't believe that some of the civilian "leaders" couldn't even climb onto and off of a 2 1/2 ton truck because they were so out of shape and over weight. It almost turned into a crisis trying to unload them from trucks and into a few Blackhawks. :)


"Any fool can criticize, condemn and complain and most fools do." Ben Franklin

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so - it is often possible for civilians to do cool military stuff if you go about it the right way.



The US military is doing this more and more lately. If you are interested, look into it at your nearest military post/base.

Since the US military has gotten significantly smaller in the past decade, the military leadership realized that a smaller proportion of civilians had never served in the military and did not understand what the military did. The military decided to start a program where civilian leaders were invited to take part in different "exercises" to expose them to the military. I had to coordinate one of these when I was in. A lot of unexpected things happened. I couldn't believe that some of the civilian "leaders" couldn't even climb onto and off of a 2 1/2 ton truck because they were so out of shape and over weight. It almost turned into a crisis trying to unload them from trucks and into a few Blackhawks. :)


That's basically how I got to do this stuff. I give a lot of time and effort to our local ROTC units, so their C/Os put my name up for these trips. At Pensacola I was told I could only go for the heli flight if I also ran the X-country and the obstacle course and spent 15 minutes in the "spin and puke", so I did all that. Then the clouds rolled in and flight ops were suspended, so I just got to "fly" the simulator instead. :| It was fun anyway, but the carrier trips were the coolest.
...

The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

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the military leadership realized that a smaller proportion of civilians had never served in the military and did not understand what the military did.



I'm glad you were able to decipher my completely screwed up sentence.:)

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At Pensacola I was told I could only go for the heli flight if I also ran the X-country and the obstacle course and spent 15 minutes in the "spin and puke"



Were they making sure you weren't going to get stuck in a deuce and a half?:)


"Any fool can criticize, condemn and complain and most fools do." Ben Franklin

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The 101st club is still in existence but poorly run by current management. They utilize one C-182 and currently have borrowed a Otter from Raeford for a few weeks. They max the lift out at 16 or 18 people.
The SF guys have begun to go out there and jump to get their B license. Then Military Freefall school (HALO) is only 2 weeks. Unfortunately the one AFF instructor does not have the SKYDIVING mentality and is fairly abbrasive. To give youan example of the method of instruction, an SF Captian had 2 cutaways in 10 jumps. They all pack their own without any real oversite. People with less than 10 jumps packing their own, w/o an instructor or rigger watching; not their fault. It's the DZ's.
I've seen worse in my time in the military as far as instructors go. The owner of the DZ ALSO manages the FT Campbell Parachute club (seems a conflict of intrest to me)
Until you've stepped out at 800' in the dead of night with 100 lbs of chute and equipment.. you haven't jumped. AIRBORNE !

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The event your talking about was not an actual club OP.

It was SF GRP OP that allowed the Club to "strap hang".
The CPT in question was USPA licensed. He was also in charge of the OP.

The Former Club manager tried to make do by providing his plane FREE of charge to the Club. He just wanted to get people, who wanted to, to jump.

Unfortunatly it is closed fore ever due to a lack of cutomers. There is a want and need for it but the rotation cycle over seas and back just can't keep it running.[:/]
An Instructors first concern is student safety.
So, start being safe, first!!!

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Canadian Armed Forces retired.
I did 100 paid jumps while in uniform, plus another 700 on weekends.

While in uniform, I jumped: C-130 Hercules, CH-47 Chinook, C-47 Dakota, Twin Otter and a West German Army Huey helicopter.
We static-lined out of C-130 and the Huey, but the rest of the jumps were freefalls with the Skyhawks. Finally stepping out the door - at 1,200 feet - with rucksack, rifle and snowshoes was a relief: from loud, obnoxious jump masters!
Hee!
Hee!

It is extremely difficult for civilians to jump out of Canadian military aircraft.
My only "civilian" jumps from a military Buffalo were coach dives with instructors from the Search and Rescue School so they could earn CSPA Coach ratings. The only reason I was invited was because of my CSPA Coach 2, PFF Instructor, etc. ratings.
Now the Skyhawks take civilian TV announcers for tandem jumps.

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Just a word to everyone here "clintonradloff" has been "trolling" other boards for a long time. He really does not have ANYTHING to contribute and is a waste of time to reply to. Just from my experiences.

Kurt
We're not fucking flying airplanes are we, no we're flying a glorified kite with no power and it should be flown like one! - Stratostar

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Marines Vietnam era. Came home started jumping civilian. Graduated and entered Navy. Was not allowed to jump while going thru flight school. Tried to get permission to go to jump school so I could wear a second pair of wings. (that went nowhere) Jumped off and on for many years depending on command climate. Out of the active military now. Military and skydivers still have the tightest camaraderie I have experienced.

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Just a word to everyone here "clintonradloff" has been "trolling" other boards for a long time. He really does not have ANYTHING to contribute and is a waste of time to reply to. Just from my experiences.

Kurt




***

http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=52706#52706


I 'thought' that name looked familiar!
;)










~ If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn? ~

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I am US ARMY active duty. I jump outside of the military. Still working on the possibility to jump for the ARMY, but that would be something for down the road a little...

A man will do anything for the right woman,
and when that woman destroys him,
that man will become a hunk of meat with the common sense of a rodeo clown! ~ Christopher Titus

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I can thank the GB club at good old Bragg. Along with my old unit for there support of aircraft.

You just cant jump out of UH-60's/ UH1's and of course those C-5's and 130's.

Now I am stuck with the 182's and otters.

But do miss the real birds.


As far as the military rigs being bad,

I must disagree since these things are well built, somehat overbuilt...... but what do I know I not only pack them I own one as well....

Just my two cents,.
Kenneth Potter
FAA Senior Parachute Rigger
Tactical Delivery Instructor (Jeddah, KSA)
FFL Gunsmith

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I was on active duty from 1987-94 and my last three years were with the 82nd at Ft Bragg. Unfortunately I didn't learn to skydive until 5 months before I got out. I learned to skydive at the GB Club at Bragg. What a great club that was. We could rent civilian rigs for the weekend (various containers and canopies) cheap. Discounts at Raeford and Military aircraft to jump once a month with sport rigs, for FREE. It cost me $300.00 instruction and gear to get my A license. Oh, we did have to buy pizza for the pilots. Ramp jumps with civilian rigs off the ramp at 13,500 for free..Priceless.

Anyone still jump with the GB Club? Do they still get Military aircraft?
Kevin

Muff Brother #4041
Team Dirty Sanchez #467

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What "was" the GB club is now the consolidated Fort Bragg Sport Parachute Activity. They jump at Raeford and, no, they don't get any military air support. They operate out of the building the GB club moved to in 1998 (or early 1999). Greg Offhaus is still the rigger and Charles McBride runs the club.

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Greg Offhaus, there is a name I haven't heard in about 12 years. Why did they decide to consolidate?

That sucks about no Military aircraft. They had just lost helicopter support when I was there. The Aviation unit commander considered letting his helicopters to be used for sport parachuteing like letting HUMVs be used for hunting trips. We were able to get Arkansas National Guard C-130s and the Moore County Airport for skydiving though.
Kevin

Muff Brother #4041
Team Dirty Sanchez #467

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