Paratroopers from the 82nd and 101st Airborne Division perform static line jumps from C-17 Globemaster III aircraft over Sicily Drop Zone at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
VIDEO HERE (7 minutes)
Paratroopers from the 82nd and 101st Airborne Division perform static line jumps from C-17 Globemaster III aircraft over Sicily Drop Zone at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
VIDEO HERE (7 minutes)
Been there, done that (from a C-160), got the t-shirt ... and the wings.
ReplyDeleteHowever, that was more than 40 years ago.
Fighting soldiers from the sky.....Proud man.
ReplyDeleteI was a tester for the first C-17 jumps. One of the first 100 or so dummies to do it. Parachute Rigger 82nd Airborne. We had to go with 5 more feet of static line and ordered them in blue to keep separate from common stock.
ReplyDeleteThey are a big nice plane that floats pretty steady at jump speeds compared to a shaky C130. Way more comfortable jump seats for the ride also.
!/509th Airborne out of Vicenza Italy. We flew on C-130's adn C-141's from Aviano Italy to the training areas in Germany. Not as much room as in a C-17. Our knees were hitting the guy across from you. Winter storms over the Alps. Guys puking their C ration spaghetti breakfast all over themselves. Nothing to look at, and smell, for the next 4 hours but the guy and his puke 3 feet in front of me. Then the another guy blows, then another. The aircraft crew chief had to get from one end of the plane to the other. He would walk on top of our reserve parachutes and rucksacks, hanging on to the cable for out static lines. Along the way, he would blow chunks on whoever was below him and keep moving. I guess that was why paratroopers got the extra $55 per month! We were given puke bags getting on the plane. We used to pass them down the line and they would be thrown out the door. Then they changed that, we were supposed to take it out with us! Hell with that! The floor was covered with puke. I guess that is how they get young men to jump out of a perfectly good airplane!!
ReplyDeleteKenny, that last story about puking in the plane is from Don the trigger guy.
ReplyDeleteWhen it comes to puking on airplanes, "There's them that has and them that will."
DeletePersonally, I'm a "has".
Expect to call Ft Bragg something else in the near future thanks to our current administration. Made that trip at least 150 times but never did get a C-17 jump. Dudes still rock.
ReplyDelete-Tarheel
Awesome! Especially at 54 seconds when the jumper is updating his Facebook status!
ReplyDeleteSorry Wirecutter but nobody from the one hundred and worst made that jump. At the 53 seconds mark, you can see the paratrooper has an 82nd patch on his left arm (which is his parent unit) while his right arm has the screaming (for help!!) eagle patch. Which means he deployed with the one hundred and worst. You can also see 25th ID patch as well as 4th ID patch on the right arm of other paratroopers later on the video...later on in the video, you can also see a Staff Sergeant without a combat patch. You can also see that there were more blank right arm than there are right arms with patches. Which is really weird for me as when I was in, almost everyone has a combat patch and an empty right sleeve was the rarity. Thank you for posting. Brings back memories for this former Black Falcon.
ReplyDeleteWas with 2/505th PIR 82nd AB DIV from 83-86 and 3/11th SFG from 87-89. Jumped C-130's, C-141Bs, CH-47 and the UH-60. From 89-2016 I was a Airdrop Loadmaster on the C-141B for 9 years and the mighty C-17A for 18 years. Dropped more Paratroopers over those years than I can count.
ReplyDeleteI combat airdropped 22 times over Afghanistan from 01-10. Fun Times.
Best of the best!
ReplyDeleteAwesome stuff. I must been there the same time as Jay in OK cause I remember all the testing. 153 for me. Best days of my life ... up until I got to give my son his blood wings. Got a little Benning dust in my eyes that day.
ReplyDelete