HEY I JUMPED FROM THOSE TOWERS IN THE UNGODLY HOT MONTH OF JULY. 1943 WE WERE STATIONED IN THE AREA CALLED THE FRYING PAN. HAD 1200 TRAINEES TO START WITH & ENDED UP WITH 400. WENT ON TO JOIN THE 503RD PARACHUTE REGIMENT IN THE SOUTH PACIFIC.'YEP I'M 96 YEARS OD AGE & STILL GOING STRONG. --- GERONIMO
So this guy is 96 years old and has his own RU-vid username, and knows how to type out and post a comment on a video. Only thing he did was leave caps lock on so it looks like he’s screaming at everybody... yet most senior citizens at like 75 dont even know how to turn on a computer. Hal sir, you are a legend!
Went in '84. Wind came up and blew me all the way the to hard ball road despite how much I "climbed the risers". Those days were right at the end of "steel pot" days. I got my bell rung so badly that I couldn't control my legs trying to run back to the training area and fell several times. Today we call that a "concussion". Back then we called it ... "Drive on Airborne". Eighty-Deuce On the Loose!
I went through jump school in 1966. We had 6 Seals in our class. They shared our barracks, back then they were two story wooden shacks. On the morning of graduation day the seals claimed the tower and hung sheets that spelled out SEALS.
I got smoked by my Black Hat SSG.Paternostra for going up a couple of more times.He did not want want me to get injured before Jump Week.He still smoked me after my 5 jumps in front of my dad who went through in 1943.Lets just say my father enjoyed it that SSG.Paternostra just showed how much he cared about me.To top it off my dad slammed his fist into my wings and did the good SSG too and thanked him for doing so.This was back in 1986.My dad took me to the NCO club and got me drunk.I miss dad.
Hey, I went through in '86 jan, cold as crap, a group of 36 marines from different outfits, I served in an Anglico unit, paternostro was there, sgt weeb, and that dog geronimo, yikes, it's been 36years for me, still have the airborne "yearbook ?"from those days
I graduated from jump school in 1972. It was 3 jumps from the 250' towers in a week and then Jump week 5 jumps to qualify and get wings. They really feed us good at jump school.
That was one of the first of many tough things I have done ✅............ Undo the safety line from the circular frame. Then , there’s no where else to go but down. I was surprised with the soft landing ......twice !!!!!!! HHC 2/504th Abn Inf Bn 82nd Airborne Division Medic 1973 - 1976 It’s like it was yesterday. Man, time sure passes by, glad I did it.
Joe Trump I would pay to do the tower - perhaps a few dozen times before I could muster the guts to "jump". Sure not going to do a weekend free-fall for $500 with some non-military instructor. USCG Port Security 90-96
rig and run. went thru late spring of 71. of course only 3 of the tower sides were in use due to winds. but on that day there was a shift in its direction, and sent a man into the tower. push ups were intensified for all of us in order to take our minds off the rescue. don't recall how long we were down in the leaning rest before they got him down by the two black hats on repel... but later, word had it he'd suffered a broken leg. navy seals were cycling thru and had spray painted "Seals Rule" on a couple a walls, resulting of course, in a couple of late night runs of seal barking and submarine silent cadences, while we were comfortably bunked out resting. hats off to that spirit, to them. there was rumor of female challengers to the course scheduled later that year. i now understand from research, that the first two successful graduates were soon after i had graduated and they went on from there to rigger school. again, to that spirit, to them, hats off. winter recondo school at bragg had me in it's grip during that very same era. and with a graduated class of of only 29. so i, like old bill clinton would have come later in history to say... ladies i could feel your pain.
I went through jump school at Ft Benning in May of 71. Working the ground crew when you’re not the jumper was the hardest part in the heat. Only the fastest crew got a drink of water. The jump was the best part. Great view of Benning.
Edward DiCecco .... I probably saw your group when you went through. We had a good ground view of the towers from our barracks. I was across the street from the towers going through Infantry NCOCS from March through June '71 with 70th Company. We ran on the big track often enough to qualify for the Ft. Benning 50 Mile Run Club during the Candidate Academy, and right before graduation we were informed that we still had 12 miles to go to complete the 50 miles. After evening chow a few days before graduation, we ran the entire 12, non stop, allowed short periods of time to walk off cramps. Non finishers did not graduate, 12 weeks of training and not graduating, not really wasted, but because they couldn't finish a run?? That's like finishing your fourth jump and walking away from Airborne... I did jump school right after that in July and yes, it was a great view from the towers. I could see down at my old barracks and the outside steps where I would lace and blouse my boots on every morning before formation. ( we had to spit shine the damn floors every morning and I would be one of the ones to finish them up, then run down and carry my socks and boots outside and put them on, sitting on the outside stairs so as to not scratch the mirror finish on the floors and stairwells, prior to inspection. In contrast, those old jump school wooden barracks weren't half bad compared to the NCO School concrete ones that we had to keep spotless.) Hell yes it was hot. In July, we had several black flag days in ground week and tower week that kept running down to a bare minimum. Water buffalos and salt tablets, white salt sweat leaching through our boots. Good times. Airborne all the way.
@marcusos1111 you wont regret going airbone trust me.i was scared and so was 200 other men that went thru with me in 1974.you will cherish the memory of becoming a paratrooper its worth the small risk.BELEIVE ME.
I went to Jump School at Fort Benning in 87. Running, towers or the actual jumps only produced normal fear and anxiety. After the 3rd jump I removed my shock pad from my steel pot because it was eating the back of my neck raw. Little did I know when a jump master sticks his thumbs in the back of your helmet , he is checking for your pad. When he pushed that pot forward on my head looking for that pad I knew I had screwed up like no other. He screamed in my ear where the f*** is your shock pad private. I said I took it out because it hurt my neck. When I tell you that Black Hat drug me in full combat gear by my chin strap all the way to the equipment table and snatched that pot off my head with my head partially in it. He had me beat my boots until he installed a new pad. Every time I stopped because of exhaustion that dude would scream in my ear so damn loud BEAT YO BOOTS OR GO TO THE WHITE HOUSE AND GET YOU SOME MILK AND COOKIES.(out processing for people that flunked the course). I literally thought I was going to die . As I'm typing this I can't stop laughing. Would do it all over again if I had to. All except removing the shock pad.
I went to Airborne School in April 2006. We didn't do the 250 ft towers or even a night jump. It was great going through with a CIB though. The black hats largely left me alone.
"Feet and knees together!" I heard that enough times to make me sick. Unfortunately, my class didn't get to use the 250' towers. We had 500 trainees, and this was after turning away all the guardsmen, reservists, and those who were not assigned to Airborne units. During jump week we had bad weather from Monday to Wednesday, and had to pack in our 5 jumps into Thursday and Friday, and get our wings pinned on in the field. No graduation ceremony, people were running to catch buses and flights an hour after their last jump, at least the lucky ones were. All that were left over were those of us who were going to RIP.
Graduated in January of '79. Did 4 jumps out of a C-123 and 1 out of a C-130. We still used T-10 parachutes. Spent the next 20 years on jump status. AATW! RLTW!
I went through Jump School in November, 1969. Did the towers and then first jump from a C-141 Star Lifter. Four more from a C-119 "Flying Boxcar" Thought I was tough as nails and God's gift to women. Then I checked into OCS and the REAL fun began. Six months in those days and it was pure hell. Ended up in the Cavalry and then 11th SF (reserve). Five more jumps from UH-1s and Chinooks. Proud days to look back on. Hanging from the tower at 250 feet, the Black-Hat yelled, "Can you see Columbus?" I'm afraid of heights but I managed to yell back, " I can see Miami! Get me down!!"
Also got in trouble telling people to "get down and give me 20" when coming out of the barracks . They would drop then realize I was only E2 LOLOL then and E5 caught me and I did push ups till he got tired.
Brings back so many memories as I jumped from these in 1969 at Benning and still can't figure out why I wanted to go Airborne except for the better food, and the patches to wear. The military uses the youth because we simply don't know any better.
The Coney Island "PARACHUTE JUMP" ride (originally at the 1939 World's Fair) provided the more or less the same experience. Though the chutes, 12 perches in total on a beautiful circular & graceful tower, were kept into position using guide wires, they were nonetheless REAL and were the only thing slowing your free falling descent back to earth. Instead of a harness, a light board like seat was used that could hold 2 people with just a seatbelt. A bungee system was in place at the ground to cushion the fall and secure the chute for the next jump. There was simply nothing like it, the versions you see today at Six Flags & etc are FAKE controlled descents with makeshift chutes.
Just graduated airborne school A co, they are bringing the towers back apparently next year because they designed a parachute that falls straight down making it a lot safer they shut them down because the winds blew people into the tower and injured too many not so airborne soldiers
December 1969. Honestly, most enjoyable 3 weeks of training during my enlistment. Never were we allowed to walk from point A to B, always run! NEVER piss off a Black Hat! A private did and an E-5 and I were ordered to have him dig a hole 6' deep in front of Hq starting at 9 pm in December. When he started giving us schitt at midnight we told him if he didn't shut up he'd be digging to 8'. After he got to 6' he then had to fill the hole up. Finished at 3 am. Don't think they discipline now like they did back in the 60's and before. Three months with the 82nd, then on 173rd for a tour in the tropical paradise. AIRBORNE!!!
I was caught standing without two feet squarely planted on the ground. I had to clean the COs office every night for week, plus threatened with an article 15, that made me glad to get the extra duty. This was March 1966, went to the 82nd, managed to stay away from Nam.
The 250 foot tower wasn’t bad. Doing the 34 foot tower was an experience. I must have done it 12 or 14 times. I lost track after awhile. Went through in December 1967. The only thing that was worse was the swing landing trainer. The ground was plenty stiff. And if the black hat was not in a good mood He would swing you off the platform. Give your orientation and let go. Saw a guy break his leg that way. 13 weeks later I went to the 101st. Lucky missed Dak to by 2 months Now that is what I call luck. You can do a lot of things but jumping from airplanes ruins all the carnival rides and you have to want to do it
I remember the ungawa free tower - the black hat under me was incoherent to begin with, and imagine him talking thru a bull horn... I couldn't understand a word he said. I pissed him off real bad I guess, he PT'ed me for a good 15-20 minutes. Ahhhh, memories!
YEA I RAISED MY VOICE ONCE AND SAID "YES SERGENT" TOO LOUD TO A OLD BLACK HAT. HE MADE ME RUN AROUND THE TRACK WITH BOTH MY CHUTES ON. AFTER A MILE A CAPTAIN CAME OUT AND TOLD ME TO STOP. THE BLACK HAT WOULD HAVE HAD ME DROP FROM EXHAUSTION HAD NOT THE CAPTAIN INTERFERED.
Hard to believe it was 30 years ago, that I completed jump school before shipping off to Korea. Alpha company Sept 1986, much respect to the black hats, seals, recon and ranger brothers.
"The Mighty Ungawa" as we called it back in the sweltering hot summer of 1990 when I was in jump school. From there, I was sent to the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, NC for about a year and a half. Then after a year in Korea, I went back to Bragg to finish my active-duty enlistment as part of a Special Operations (not to be confused with Special Forces) unit. AIRBORNE ALL THE WAY!!!!!
@Ravenguard100 We chanted the same thing back in 2004. I agree about the towers, they are more scary than the plane. I figure the plane is so high up that your mind can't really process it... but 34 feet seems a lot more real. I didn't do the 250ft tower, it was too windy for us to do it.
Now they usually do not do the towers, however to be an instructer you have to have certain criteria met one is instructing this tower. I did not have to go through the tower but we had a few instructors that needed this so about half the class i was in did jump.
woohoo, brings back a lot of memories and my best years of my life. My Battalion deactivated years ago. Anyone from the 307th Combat Engineer Bn back in 80 thru 82? Awhoa
I REMEMBER WE WERE TOLD WE WERE GOING TO MAKE 2 DROPS FROM THESE TOWERS. HOWEVER DUE TO SO MANY GUYS IN OUR CLASS WE ONLY DID ONE TOWER DROP. "PUT THE POLE IN THE HOLE TROOP!" CLASS OF 3 APRIL 1971.
SORRY BROTHER YOU DON'T JUMP OUT OF A C-141 JET YOU WALK OUT THE DOOR .DO TO THE JET BLAST.I GOT 20 WALK OUTS FROM THE C-141 WAS IN THE 82ND AIRBORNE 68 TO 71 WALK RIGHT OUT AND COUNT TO 4
They were up-and-running again in November of 1992, which I know from personal experience. Not that I jumped from them, November is a bad weather month, and after two trainees got their parachutes stuck in the towers, they decided to call it a day, and we spent the rest of tower week in the nutcracker and the 30 foot towers.
Yes it is worth it. During in processing at Ft. Bragg back in 82 I saw what happened during gallant eagle. 25 jumps and the Canadian parachute. Glad I didn't puss-out. B-Btry 1/320 f.A. 82nd. Divarty. ALL THE WAY.
In Jesus' name you're healed. As the men learning confidence in there equipment, practice, and procedure; is a walk and step in the wisdom and lead of Jesus. It just takes the smallest amount of faith to see Him. Ask the Holy Spirit into your heart and walk with a Divine, loving Father.
I will not dive into this convo, but there is a saying in the Rangers. You either were one, or you are one. There is no gonna be, would of, should of, or could of. I personally do not get torn up about people talking shit about the Ranger family, This le-way is only given online. I have personally never had someone walk up to me and have a brain fart and address me with anything other than respect. There are many course plans at Airborne school. One group may not follow the same plan.
+Roughrider Gatlinghammer "Look before you leap" 250 ft. Towers are still alive and kickin. Google... Basic Training: US Army's Airborne School -gilpin 9-4-15
+William Gilpin the towers are still there but they barely if ever use them. The army finally realized how pointless they are. Same thing as just jumping out of a damn plane
The Royal Artillery Museum in Shilo is looking for jump tower film footage for a temporary exhibition about the Airborne Gunners. Would you be able to share?
I'm just going infantry, not even rangers, trust me, I'll be shaking in my boots over the needles. I've always hated getting blood drawn and needles, no clue why, it's just always made me edgy. But, it's probably nothing compared to combat, so I'll keep my mouth shut.
While i was at this point in airborne phase we had an e-6 that said she didn't want to jump from the towers so they made her go first.... what happened she pulled her slip into the wind causing her to slam into the track and knocking herself out.
Los mandos militares mexicanos deberían de preocuparse porque ahunque fuera una torre como estás estuviera en la brigada de paracaidistas y en el batallón de la marina. Ya que se practicaría el contacto a tierra bajando en gran cantidad los incidentes.
With this said, the comment from grgspunk "Only dipshits like Rangers", is Odd at best. I assure you this Leg has never meet a Ranger, more or less should have the priviledge to wear wings. At ease that shit. SGM Jack Welch (ret) 2009 3rd 75th
You have missed the point. Respect is not a scroll, tab, or patch. It is how you carry yourself. I have had talks with A-holes who wanted a shot at that title. Mostly they were wanna be's who thought they would talk shit. In uniform they kept their mouths shut, but after hours i had no problem correcting their malfunction when it came to respect. 5 jumps of 600 jumps is not what earns respect.
Yes, people got injured. lol As a matter of fact the day we got there...the platoon across from us at the barracks were all hanging out in casts. Even a dog! It was a mascot they put into a rucksack..We asked "What happened!?!" One of them replied: "The winds were high, but the Jumpmaster said 'F-IT!'".
Aslo. There was a bunch of Crazy Marines in my class. They love to act wild to make the Army guys look timid....On the Jump Towers, they all immediately steered directly into the tower and came bouncing and crashing all the way to the ground. Their Captain broke his arm. Then, when we finally did our real jump, they all steered into each other. They all got into a big tangled mess of Marines and parachutes. Many deployed their reserve chutes. One of them landed on the ground on his head. Amazingly, no broken bones or deaths on that one! lol
Best of luck to you! Remember this the parachute opens about 99% of the time. And you have a reserve if it does not. People usually get hurt by landing incorrectly. Just follow the training and you'll be fine. I knew guys with hundreds of jumps and no injuries. I had about 60, and never got more than a bruised hip. AIRBORNE!
