steve1

Shoulda taped it the first time, and saved the fuel. What can I say...We had a woman pilot!

I can remember three, but there may have been another one or two. My memory is shot. The first was on my first jump. We had a C-119 full of army paratroopers. We had sat in a quanset building all afternoon, waiting for the wind to die down. We were all geared up for hours, with even our steel pots on. It was really hot. I remember sweat dripping off my nose. Part of that was from being plumb scared. Finally a black hat announced the wind was going down, and we were gonna jump. I responded with a squeaky "Airborne" when the other troops hollared out. So, we flew around for about an hour with the back doors open. The wind was still too strong to jump. So, back down we came in that old C-119. I made my first one, the next morning, out of a 141, and sprained my ankle bad. A few years later, I had started sport jumping. We had barely taken off, when there was this awful banging sound. WTF?... Our woman pilot noticed that the cowling had come open on the right side of the motor. I volunteered to crawl out there, and close it, but our pilot decided that wouldn't be smart....so we landed. We took off again, and it came loose again. So, again we landed. On the third try, it stayed shut, and we were able to jump... Oh yeah, I just remembered another one. Back when I was still a leg, and a new recruit, I watched our guard unit jump a C-119 in Montana. I was hooked on jumping from that point on....

Stupid is as stupid does ....................................................... Crocodile attacks, hundreds of feet from the water, are rare. Correct me, if I'm wrong. So, maybe they weren't so stupid after all. At least someone was smart enough to bring a gun....I'd let that guy go camping with me any day. Anybody who can save the day, with four well placed rounds, deserves respect.... "... hundreds of feet from the water ...." says who? Got a link? ............................................................. Hell, I can't even remember the name of the show. It had to do with I survived this, or something like that. Maybe someone else on here saw this too. It was my understanding that they were a long way from the water. A Wildlife official said that sometimes crocs do travel inland looking for sea turtles to eat, but that it was very uncommon for this sort of thing to happen, (particularly in the area they were camped). Not all beaches in Australia are teeming with crocodiles. What woke the woman up was the sound of the croc crawling. It would crawl, and then thump it's body down on the sand. The thumping sound woke her. I read another story of an ivory hunter in the old days in Africa. They were camped fairly close to a big pond. After hunting all day, they went for a swim in the pond. After washing up, a bit, they got out. Later that night, they heard a commotion in the water. They turned on a light, and there were several sets, of large crocodile eyes, looking back at them. It sounds like crocs are more active at night....These hunters were lucky the crocs didn't eat them when they were swimming. There are a lot of people eaten each year by crocodiles. Usually they are right on the waters edge, when a big croc pulls them in and drowns them. The larger the crocodile or alligator, the greater the danger. One African hunter said he used to shoot every large crocodile he saw. Those were the ones who could be man eaters....

There's a lot of sand on many beaches....I never said they were right next to the water....The tide was coming in though. But even then it was a long crawl for this croc to reach the tents. They weren't camped in the middle of the Everglades or something like that. They were experienced campers and the safety of their family was on their minds. They were camping in what they thought was a safe area. I imagine this would be comparable to camping in bear country. If you are smart you would take precautions there too....

Stupid is as stupid does ....................................................... Crocodile attacks, hundreds of feet from the water, are rare. Correct me, if I'm wrong. So, maybe they weren't so stupid after all. At least someone was smart enough to bring a gun....I'd let that guy go camping with me any day. Anybody who can save the day, with four well placed rounds, deserves respect....

Hell, I've seen Tarzan take on bigger crocs than that with just a knife, and that was after wrestling around with a lion or two, on the same day. But in real life, I can't imagine much of anything that would scare me more! Maybe I need to toughen up a little. Next time I'm in crocodile country, I'm bringing my ole hog leg (of at least 45 caliber)!

I think I'd have been screaming like a girl, in that situation!...

Is your mother less proud of her son, who is choosing teaching as a career? I was wondering too of your own thoughts on that...I know a ton of people who have a low opinion of educators in America...

I turned on the boob tube last night. A family was camped on a beach in Australia. They had several tents, where Grandma and Grandpa were camped with their grown kids and grand kids. In one of the tents was a man and wife with their baby. About two in the morning, the lady wakes up to see this huge crocodile staring at her. She screams for help, and her husband springs into action. The crocodile grabs the husband by the leg, and starts dragging him toward the water. Then Grandma jumps on his back, and the croc grabs her by the arm. Luckily one of the people had an automatic pistol. He ran outside and shot the croc four times in the head. This killed the beast and saved some people from a horrible death. Aren't you glad that God created guns!

A "rag" would be a Rambler or Studebaker!

I have trouble labelling a para-commander, as just another round canopy. They were way better than the old "rag" canopies. In fact they were considered the hot canopy to own, in the early 70's.

I think anyone who returns home from combat, may have some guilt for what they did. Killing the enemy would be hard enough, but what about the innocent who are killed in the process. Then there is the trauma from watching your own friends killed. Along with the terrors of combat itself. Some survive by stuffing all their feelings. It's hard to turn those feelings back on again, when the war is over. Then to come back to a society, which may not give a rip. It must be really hard to adjust. In Vietnam you were called a baby killer or worse, for serving your country. A huge number of people who are living on the streets now, are Vietnam Vets. They simply weren't able to adapt to life after combat. Many turned to drugs and alcohol. Some could not hold a job. Others killed themselves. Others are now dieing from agent orange. The Vets in WWII faced the same terrors in combat. They stayed with the same unit (usually) and spent weeks coming home together after combat. (that time together helped them adapt). Then they were welcomed home as heroes. Sure there was PTSD back then, but soldiers were better able to adapt with that kind of environment to return to. I know a young man who is an airborne ranger. He will fly home for a couple weeks soon. Then it will be back to Afganistan. I would think that would be very hard to adapt to. One day your life is on the line in combat, the next you are in a city in America. I have a ton of respect for these young men. I don't think the high rate of suicide is because they have been coddled. I don't think the war they are fighting in is right, at all. But I still respect our troops....

Another sound that hunters often hear is the bullet hitting meat. At closer ranges you can't hear this, but at longer ranges you can. My wife killed an elk this past fall. There was a herd of about 12 elk standing on a distant ridge. She layed down, got a good rest, and shot. I listened closely for the sound of that bullet. If it had been a miss their would have probably been little or no sound. Sure enough, you could hear a distant thump of the bullet hitting home. I didn't see the elk go down, but I knew she had hit an elk. I told her to wait before she shot again. We didn't want more than one elk. Neither of us could tell which elk she had just shot at, but I knew one was hit. We hiked over there, and sure enough a big cow was laying dead. When I was a kid, hunting gophers, I could tell a gut shot from a hit somewhere else, just by the sound of the bullet hitting. Being aware of those sounds can make you a better hunter....

.................................................................... We had a guy in our Guard unit, who was activated for missing too many N.G. drills. That was back in the early 70's. Since our Guard unit was Special Forces, he ended up in an S.F. unit in Nam. Luckily he survived all that. Shortly after his return from the war zone, our Sargent Major's barn burned down, with all of his pigs inside. We figured we knew who did it. The main reason, he was activated, was because our Sargent Major was a horse's ass, as well as being a pig farmer. There were some really great army skydiving clubs, back in the 70's. It's too bad that the Green Beret Parachute Club was closed down. They had the coolest bar at Ft. Bragg! I wasn't a skydiver then, but I wish I could have jumped with them...

reply] ................................................................... How many times do I have to tell you? ... You have suffered short-term memory loss! This memory loss problem is getting scary. On some dive plans I was having trouble remembering the first point. I sometimes introduce and old friend, and I can't remember their name. Some old farts have no trouble with that sort of thing. Maybe it's a good thing I'm presently grounded....

This was kind of unnerving for a 16 year old kid. I had thoughts of returning fire, (if bullets started landing close to me). I found out later that this guy was an outcast neighbor of ours. Somebody should have gave him a good ass chewing for that stunt...

Oh golly! I just had another thought from the past. Maybe that was a stylemaster reserve rather than a pioneer chest pack??? My memory truly is messed up. I've had one concussion too many!....

My picture shows that gear. That is a pioneer (chest pack) reserve. The super pro container is on my back. I had two cut-aways on the old gear, with shot and a half capewells. My para-commander was somewhat tangled with my sleeve. Too short of a retainer line probably caused both those entanglements. Actually they weren't bad malfunctions. I could have rode both of them in...probably? I was taught, "When in doubt, Whip it out!" I had a terrrible body position after cutting away, both times. The reserve openned fine both times.

In the old days I had a Super Pro main container. My reserve was a pioneer container but not a Super Pro. They were two different manufacturers, around 1974. Correct me if I am wrong. At least I never heard of a pioneer, Super Pro. I bought that Pioneer reserve from B.J. Worth. It had a 24 ft. round, with pilot chute, and kicker plate.....Man was it hard to close up! You had to really fight and wrestle with it to get it closed. I don't think I ever had the official packing instructions that went with it. It seemed like most chest packs were all packed the same back then. But that was 35 years ago. I've lost a lot of memory cells since then.... On my last cut away with it, the rip cord seemed to even pull hard, but it did save my bacon!

I'm guessing on this, but I'd say you could probably hear a high powered bullet at even sixty feet over head. When I was a kid I was out shooting at targets. A truck stopped on the road behind me. I might add that this guy was an idiot....He started shooting at my targets. I guess he thought this was a joke or something. He was shooting well over my head. I'd say the bullets were whizzing over, at least 60 feet overhead. I could hear them clearly, (followed by the boom of his rifle). I might add that this dip-stick missed all my targets, but I assume that is what he was shooting at.

In the army we practiced hearing the sound of the bullet whiz over head and then counting the seconds to the sound of the boom. For example if it was three seconds between the whiz and the boom you would multiply the speed of sound (per second) times three. You could then calculate about how far away the shooter is. You could then call in fire support to blow up the sniper. Most grunts, during Vietnam era, got this training.

Probably the worst helmet I jumped with, was a steel pot in the army. They were VERY heavy and not padded much at all. I visited more than one friend in the hospital after they attempted a rear PLF on a windy day. Their trusty steel pot didn't help much at all. I'd bet the new kevlar helmets are a lot better. I like my Z-1, but just a thin layer of plastic and a little foam is all there is between your noggin and something hard. It is a vast improvement over a frapp hat, but I wouldn't mind a little more protection. I quit wearing my protec because I wanted to look cool. If I was smart I'd go back to that. Mad John was wearing a pro-tec last time I saw him. You don't survive thousands of jumps without being smart and tough. I remember one jump when we hit some rough air on exit. One guy was wearing a frap hat. When he got on the ground, and took it off, the entire top of his head was red with blood. He'd hit his head on something hard during exit. I'm glad frap hats are no longer in style...

A protec helmet may not look cool, but it will offer more protection than most other helmets. I wore a motorcycle helmet for hundreds of jumps. They old ones were lighter weight than the big helmets that motorcycle riders wear now. I know one old jumper who still jumps with an old motorcycle helmet. He doesn't care if he looks cool or not, and he likes the extra protection. I know another guy who wears a ski helmet. It isn't in style, but it may offer a little more protection. So far, I like my z-1 helmet. I'd like a little more protection though....

That's a funny one Jerry. I remember jumping at Sheridan when they were hanging the sheetrock for that addition. Jack Christopher was one of the jumpers I jumped with, back then. Elevator was flying the Beech. What a great place to jump!

That Bin Laden was unarmed may well be B.S. But it is a new twist to the story. It is something that will sell more newspapers, and many people are hungry to read it, (B.S. or not). I wonder why they were so quick to dispose of his body? You'd think they'd keep it around (for a while) to prove that they really did get him....