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I am an origonal member of the Cherry Point Skydivers which started in 61. We teamed up with the Lejune skydivers and did a lot of jumping at civilian areas nearby, noteably Fountain & Washington. Had a neat clubhouse at Geiger. We later formed a demo team & went around the country. I was president of the Cherry Point club when I got out in 63 and I don't recall having any official ties to the base. We did have a real hot shit Lt. who could move mountains and later retired as a Major after being wounded in the land of bad things. Anyway he got the CO of New River to give us the use of a helicopter, but he wouldn't assign pilots, so for three bottles of Scotch we bribed them, and they flew us from Fountain, which was of course civilian owned. He also convinced HQMC to allow us to go to demos TAD. This sort of petered out with Nam. We also used civilian AC a lot. Not sure how things are with the military now, but I imagine that they have tightened up a lot. My guess would be to have as few ties to the military as possible & use a civilian field with private AC. My friend is still Gung Ho, & could possibly give you some ideas. I would want to get his OK prior to putting you in touch. By the way, I have a grandson who is presently at Lejune, waiting to head for the big sandbox. He is interested in jumping & I lurked his 1st tandem last year.

Back in the day I always wanted a pair of those French Paraboots but it was either that or beer, so we all took our combat boots to a cobbler who glued on crepe soles & still had beer.

a case of stuff no one will drink I have never seen something no one will drink. Years ago I got called on a new pilot chute which I thot was a real cheap call. So I went to the store & bought the rottenest beer I could find. It didn't go the 1st nite but it did go when the refrigator had nothing else in it.

Try Southwest. I just brought 2 cats from Phoenix to New Hampshire nonstop. You can carry two in one container or 2 in two containers for $75 per container. I have a very large male & a smaller female. They both fit in the one container which goes at your feet. I got some pills from a vet & they were a bit dopey & slept all the way - no problem. SW sells the pet transport cases for $45 which you buy at the check in. We bought ours beforehand so we arrived with the cats in the bag. You must still go the check in to pay for the cats beforehand. Each pet container counts for your carry on. I found it to be very reasonable with a minimum of hassle. If you have to change planes it would be a bit more of an effort but still worth it.

I came back to the sport in 92 after a short layoff of 28 years (1964 for those of you trying to figure that out). I checked at two dropzones. One said just do a hop & pop & I would be ok. I really didn't want that route (never saw a square before) so I checked with another. The DZO suggested a FJC, do a level 1 & see what the JM's think. That's the one I wanted. Did a total of 4-5 jumps with JM, was turned loose & all felt comfortable. That was the responsible way to handle my situation. So how do we write a reg to cover that? I certainly don't know, but I know that my route at the time was the correct one to take & would be today, but how do we handle the guy who has been away for 1-2 years? I guess we need responsible people making the decisions, but we know that everyone isn't (responsibel that is).

Buy lots of beer.

Dead ants.

To go over your list at Perris, where the incident that spawned this thread occurred: I did not mean to imply that this was the situation at Perris on the day in question or at any time.

Here's what goes on. All the swoopers want to land 1. Where everyone will see them & go ooohh. 2. DZO's want the same so they can keep their tandem students entertained while waiting. 3. Everyone wants to land close to the hanger where packing is available & they don't have to walk so they can make the next load. 4. Camera flyers & AFF instructors who get out last swoop down thru the belly & freeflyers who have gotten out earlier, so they can capture the landing & get inside to prepare for the next load. 5. S&TA's don't say anything as the DZO sets the rules, despite any agreement he has made with USPA, because he wants things to move fast as fast means more loads & more loads means more money. 6. Regional Directors, when they show up don't want to rock the boat as they want to get elected again. Anyone who doesn't realize this has his head in his ass. Now thats not to say there are DZ's that are exceptions & try to operate as safely as they can. From what I know of this incident, it appears that these issues generally didn't apply as I am speaking about swooping in general, however someone flew into someone. My condolences to family & friends.Quote

Go back to where you bought it & ask for connector links and risers for your parachute or Google it. But for your purposes, I would suggest something different. The easiest way would be to untangle the lines & lay the canopy out flat so you have a big circle. There is an inside & outside to the canopy. The outside is determined by looking at the skirt, (bottom) where the lines are sewn & it should be obvious which is the outside as lines are sewn to add strength to the parachute & hold it together in the air. With me so far? Now lay the outside of the canopy on the floor & spread it out. Untangle the lines & spread them out evenly off the big circle of the canopy. Now find a big solid circle to attach the end of the lines to, a bicycle rim comes to mind. Get your fans ready & turn em on.

When you jump out of the 182, you are just sitting there & bang, the door opens & you get a lot of wind in your face. You have lots of time to stare down at the ground & think as the JM checks/adjusts the spot & waits for the exit point. In the Otter, you are busy, watching others go out, getting last minute instructions from your JM, walking to the door, watching the JM check the spot and concentrating on getting set up in the door, none of which requires you to look down. I other words, you have other things to concentrate on. Don't worry, I and most others have been there & we got over it. Some quicker than others. That's just my take on it. Good luck.

Free - circa 1961 I belonger to a Marine Corps club & we had outdated rigs to the roof, some having spent their entire shelf life in their original shipping container. B-12 with a 28' double L. Reserves 24', were free also, as was the altimiter as we had obtained a bunch of surplus ones. It was modified by a rigger friend for little or nothing. Later a buddy & I, both riggers, modified them for the new guys. For the outlandish fee of $15 we modified the main, container & made the sleeve & handed it to the student along with a reserve, all packed and an altimiter. We could make 2 in 3-4 nights after work. We were rolling in dough. Club members could have as many rigs as they used as determined by club officers. I had 7 at one time. Other "oldtimers" had similar amounts & we never packed in the field. There was much excitement in the clubhouse on Sat. nites as we all vied for the two packing tables which were of course covered with beer cans. All reserves in the club were packed for free. Beer was cheap. Life was good.

I was going to ship one & later decided against it. Be very careful who you get. There are a lot of bad compinies out there. Somehow during my search I found a site that gave history reports on these guys & it really opened my eyes. There are some good ones also. Don't just use price in your selection as you will find that the cheapest are the ones who have many of the problems. I was going to ship from NH to AZ & the prices I got were from $800 nto $1200. If someone recommends one to you, that's probably a good place to start

I listen to Beck...Olbermann...Limbaugh...Maddow...Cooper, and O'Reilly. Yeah, Limbaugh. There's another stand up guy. He avoided the draft during Nam because he had a pimple on his ass. He will now say that it's because of injured knees from football, although his coach doesn't recatt that.

I started jumping in 61 & believe the ban was in place then.

I recall dead ants, but what is shoe?

Saw him at the Pioneers reunion May 09.

I made 300 or so on 2 shots & once landed a line over rather than use them. The best bet is to pray hard.

How about If you ain't got any "rag gore" jumps you ain't got shit. For you newbies "rag gore's" were 28' military surplus canopies with portions cut out with scissors, for turning & foreward drive. They were used way way way back in the day.

USMC 59-63

I have been back & forth across the country many times pulling large 5th wheels. For years I thot I needed the extra fuel & carried a 50 gal tank with an electric pump. It's true you can extend your range, however it makes a long day & you usually have to fill up once each day. The best part is that you can plan your fillups in states that are cheaper, but think of the extra fuel you use as you lug that weight around. I got rid of the tank a few years ago & secured a couple of plastic 5 gal jugs in the bed for emergencies. Guess what, I never had to use them. From my experience fooling with deisel fuel with anything but an auto pump is dirty & smelly. If you plan to use a siphon, it is also slow. Check out Flying J truck stops along your route. There are many in the east (until you pass N.J.) and the southwest, and they cater to RVers. Having said all that I don't travel with young kids, so good luck.

1961 = 5

Great rates on auto and home ins.

The below DZ's were all used by the Lejune and Cherry Point Marines along with any civilians who came along in the early to mid 60's. Oak Grove NC Washington NC Fountain NC