JUMP SCHOOL

At Ft.Benning the towers, 250 ft. tall, loom over the Post. The same as the Parachute Falls at Coney Island these are at first, very imposing. The type that is like the Coney jobs have cables connected that maintain the ‘chute within its boundaries and prevent floating away. Officers start out using this tower to build their confidence. The real men use towers with only one cable. Benning is the home of jump-training and there are signs of this everywhere. Mock models of airplanes dot the area so anyone who cares to can practice the art of exiting an aircraft. These wooden frames had benches and the sergeant would stand them in there and repeat what was to be heard many, many times. "Both sticks get ready." This alerts all jumpers in the aircraft that they are nearing the DZ. "Stand Up" all stand and face the rear doors. "Hook Up" they now hook their static line to the anchor cables in the plane. "Check Your Equipment," "Sound Off for Equipment Check," "Shuffle and Stand in the Door." Click below to see what a JumpSchool instructor has to say to coincide with Jack's impressions.

http://home.hiwaay.net/~magro/jumpsch.html

Those commands, words Jack said and heard thousands of times. Early PT, early morning running around in the sand beneath the tall towers, such was the daily routine. Running in the sand was extremely tiring. The NCO running with them would command "Cadence,Cadence, Cadence Count!" and they'd start counting aloud. One, Two and so on, after running under these conditions for quite awhile, Jack was exhausted. Like Dawson, he was caught. Only he had his mouth open and nothing coming out. The DI called Jack to him while they were double-timing. He told Jack to run along side him and to drop whenever he told him to. After dropping Jack four or five times and having to catch him up with the platoon, he told Jack now to begin push-ups each time Jack dropped. On rubbery arms and spaghetti legs he completed as many push-ups as he could. After between 100 and 200 push-ups and all this running to catch his group, "ol' city- slick" decided to cheat. Yelling at the top of his lungs now, he called numbers for the push-ups but didn't do the actual push-ups. How could this guy possibly see him? He couldn't, he didn't. But lo and behold, another DI running his platoon did!

The process started all over again. At 17 and 130 lbs. of solidness Jack could have easily buckled but determination and guts kept him going. This instructor had him do the same thing. Up and down pushing, this time Georgia, but it mattered none to him. He didn't cheat this time and when they caught up with Jack's platoon the DI said to his instructor, "Hey Bill, I caught one of your troops cheating on your push-ups, but I don't think he'll be doing that again." How correct that statement was, never again did Jack cheat on push-ups. "Ole City-Slick "had learned his lesson.

The 34 feet tower. Another training aid that was at the time exclusive to Ft. Benning. Climbing to the top of the tower draped in a harness much like the toddlers' restraint used to keep youngsters from walking away. At the top they'd wait in line for their turn to leap into space. A tower this tall appears like a five-story building. Try to picture jumping from a building and you can get the feeling of one of these jumps. The top of your harness is attached to a pulley which trolleys the jumper to a large mound where he is stopped and removed from the harness. Back to the base of the tower to await a grade on the last attempt. One stands at Parade Rest waiting to jump to Attention the moment the DI looks at you. This game of cat and mouse continues with the Drill Instructor almost looking toward you. Meanwhile you continue twitching trying to anticipate when he will finally turn his attention toward you. With the statement, "Don't anticipate the command" echoing around Ft. Benning, push-ups would surely follow the mistake.

One day in a mass formation Jack, again paid for a goof-up. In any large military formation the tallest men are at the left front and in descending order the shorter bring up the rear. Being short, he has to stay at or near the rear of any formation. With his Corcoran boots( no self-respecting trooper wears army issue) shining like new money, the command to Dress Right caused the formation to shift backwards and put Jack's mirrors indanger of being stepped on. With his out strecthed arm holding off the man in front of him, Jack stepped out of line for a split-second. From the raised platform in front of the formation, the movement stood out like a sore thumb. The next voice he heard was beckoning him to the front of the group. With orders to run around this massive crowd, he had to reply to the instructors' bullhorn. Around and round went Jack, hearing many of his buddies snidely whispered remarks, happy it was him and not them. Mix would yell and Jack would scream back his answer to him. "I'm a bird with a broken wing" Again embarrassed and bent, but proud and unbroken his desire to be a Trooper sustained him.

Swing Landing Trainer was a piece of equipment that an instructor could really get even more even for something that you had done. When you left the platform he was holding the line that was attached to your harness. At any point he could release his grip and let you land in an awkward position.

From the picture you can see what could have happened, fortunately it wasn't often that instructors let their grip slip.

"Suspended Agony" the most aptly named apparatus in jump school. With risers attached to a pivoting ring in the ceiling and two straps from around the buttocks between the legs and connecting to "D" rings at the chest the two testes had no place to go! The more one weighed the more the torment. To practice the art of slipping (maneuvering the ‘chute) they spent countless hours pulling first the front, side or rear risers. No push-ups here, hell you did not need them. After a few hours in these harnesses the "Family Jewels" are really sore. So sore in fact that walking ain't easy.

Other set of platforms used in Benning are four feet high. Here one stands on the edge of the platform, facing any of the four directions. With arms above the head and looking toward the horizon you use the five points of contact. The contact points are, toes,heels calves, thighs and lats. After showing us these points we were then told that this was why so much exercise was necessary. Running built up the calves, thighs and buttocks. Push-ups build up the lats and toes. So now they tell us. Anyway Jack felt a lot better about running and enjoyed it much more.

Squat jumps was still another method, thought up to both harass and punish. Squatting with hands clasped on head and one leg stretched out in front, one jumps straight up and exchanges the extended leg for the other leg. Try this with the two ‘chutes on. On the 250` ft towers there used to be a problem with wind. Of the four arms, one was always dirty. This meant that on release the wind could blow you into the steel tower. The instructor therefore announces "number sixty-nine you have the dirty arm and you must slip toward your left." The first time Jack thought, oh shit, why me.

It was tricky because you didn't want to pull too hard on the riser and maybe cause the parachute to pull out of its mount prematurely and rightly so didn't savor a trip into that daunting steel. After release the ride down became an exhilarating descent toward terra firma. Down and down he goes until suddenly the ground, so passive and non -life-threatening just scant moments ago now is rushing toward you. By now you've been drilled thousands of times in practice to totally relax and look ahead at the horizon. You try to, but that damned persistent ground keeps coming. Your natural reaction is to brace yourself for the shock but finally you decide to go with what they told you and relax and voila, it isn't so bad after all! After twenty or thirty parachute falls you are finally ready for the big one. Anyway, they thought so. Week Three and they almost have their silver wings.

All the men, are relaxed, trim, fit and rarin' to go. A great deal more respect is afforded them now that they've arrived at this stage of their training. They get to skip the daily PT and sleep an extra hour. After breakfast they load into 2 ½ ton trucks, these are the normal mode of transportation for army personnel, to what is known as the marshaling area. Here they are shown a sand table replica of the Drop Zone. They're told the direction they'll be flying, and landmarks to look for after landing. On the mock-up are depicted high-tension wires, telephone wires, wooded areas as other hazards they might encounter. At about this juncture they are told this time-worn joke . . . Once there was a kid who wanted so much to become a paratrooper.

Following all the rules, he listens as they tell him that after leaving the plane to count, one thousand, two thousand, three thousand and the chute will open and he'll float safely to the ground where he'll find the trucks waiting to transport him back to the barracks. He was also reminded that in the unlikely event that the main ‘chute didn't open he should pull his reserve parachute. Full of piss and vinegar the soldier faithfully exited the aircraft at 1200 ft. Yelling Geronimo at the top of his lungs he jumped mightily into space. In perfect form, he counted, hup thousand, two thousand, three thousand. He waited, nothing happened so he pulled his trusty reserve and again nothing happened. With only a slight bit of anger the recruit said to himself " I bet those fuckin' trucks won't be there either." At just about now they all join in a hardy laugh but many of them are thinking about the seriousness of their present endeavor. But they feel it's too late to turn back now. From a mound of thousands of pre- packed parachutes they try to choose a working model. A form of quality check is performed often by the parachute riggers who at random have to, like everybody else, pick from the same pile a chute for themselves. This assures no sabotage or hanky-panky by a rigger.

The T-7 parachute, was a 24-foot diameter, camouflaged rayon relic. When this thing deployed, the Opening Shock would rattle your timbers, loosen your dentures and to prevent this they would tighten the harness so much they could barely walk. Boarding the airplane was a problem with the tightness of the chute. After the plane took flight, they noticed a German Shepard, a dummy and an Air Force pathfinder. Having no idea what was happening and with nobody telling them anything they sat and watched. Jack's first apprehension came when the Jumpmaster stuck his head out of the open door, Jack winced when he saw what happened next. The prop blast caused the Jumpmaster's face to contort and wrinkle like a paperbag. Jack's breakfast started up from his stomach. Next he pushed out the dummy and the dog shortly after.

The plane banked again and now the Pathfinder stood in the door. After a while he left and nobody was left to jump but the squad. They found out that the pathfinder uses the dummy, who can't control his direction to determine wind movement. He contacts the plane and tells the pilot which direction is best. There was no hearing through the roar of the engines so the Jumpmaster signaled them to stand up. This was the moment of truth, the moment Jack been waiting for. The rest of the familiar hand signals came and they screamed an eardrum bustin'Everybody OK. "Shuffle and stand in the door." Because of the relatively short DZs in Ft.Benning thet could only drop half a stick on one pass. One definite advantage of this was a better chance to obtain a correct exit, the one that they were taught and soon to abandon as unnecessary and time consuming. Finally Jack's time came and he did all the right things, at least he thinks so. To celebrate and commemorate this event Jack went to the Post movie that evening. The Movietone News picked that night to show these headlines . . .

Fifteen Paratroopers Killed at FT. BRAGG! Most never gave it a thought. They were there and Jack was here. Who knew, who cared? On their third jump they issued the first of the new ‘chutes, T10's. What a lovely difference. Opening shock was now a forgotten thing of the past. Anyway, who cares, tomorrow Jack'll receive his coveted silver wings. Pride gushed from all of them as they marched while the band played. When the commander said "Eyes Right," you could hear their eyeballs click. After Jump School the group was scattered to the four corners of the world. Some fellows never saw each other again. The flight to Ft. Bragg made stops in other camps dropping off guys for special assignments.  Fort Bragg here we come!

Bill Kellerher

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THIS SILVER IS

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