RAW VIDEO: See paratrooper's POV as he steps into the air 

Imagine doing this in a war, your a target while your floating down and still a target until you find cover

Graduated jump school in 1973. November will be 50 years ago. Served in the 82nd Airborne. Other than the new gear, helmets, and square chutes this jump is just as I remember. Now I'm old and fat. But even after all these years, when I see the 82nd being reported - my reaction is that this is MY unit. Those are MY boys.

1. the balls of the feet 2. the side of the calf 3. the side of the thigh 4. the side of the hip, or buttocks 5. the side of the back These are the five points of contact for a good PLF (Parachute Landing Fall), as taught at Army Airborne School. Sometimes, you get only three points of contact as demonstrated in this video: feet, ass, head. But, as any jumper will tell you: any jump you walk away from is a good jump.

Jumping is the most violent, noisiest thing ,,,, followed by the most peaceful and calming thing till hitting the ground................

Like our platoon sergeant use to say: you jump out out the right way, and you let the Almighty to the rest.

It's been about 34 years since my last jump with the 82nd. I smile and get a bit of that feeling back whenever I watch these videos. Thanks for the ride. AATW.

Both my dad and I are Airborne. My dad’s first time to ever fly on an airplane was during Jump Week.

To think those brave men jumped off those planes over 70 years ago in complete darkness with flak rounds and bullets whizzing by. Thank you to both past and present soldiers for all you have done to keep the world save.

As a german paratrooper i did this 20x. In snow, by night, with 25 kg epuipment and in desert. Never regret it. Now i'm a papertiger.😅

Well, at least I’ve flown paratroopers, SEALs, various other Special Ops forces, and more equipment than I could possibly recount, to and from various theaters. But jumping out? These guys are braver than I am.

Oh, man, this takes me back. My first jump onto Fryar Army Airfield, I did just about everything wrong. Luckily during Jump Week all you had to do to get a GO for each jump was to be able to walk away from it. My first landing, I got dragged by my chute nearly a hundred feet, the wind was so strong. I screwed up and popped BOTH my canopy release assemblies when I should have just popped one, and I had to go chasing after my canopy 🤣. I also remember limping for about a week, but I'd never felt better or happier in my life except for having my two kids. My second jump, upon landing, I just laid there and laughed. The jumpmasters and the medic on the LZ looked at me funny and I heard one of them say I was delirious, and I straight-up said "No, I'm not!". I said something else to prove I was lucid and I was just happy as a pig in slop at having experienced not only a parachute jump, but one that went right, meaning I remembered to pop only one canopy release assembly and collapse my chute. The other three jumps went as smooth as they were expected to, and I eventually graduated from Jump School and reported to my unit at Fort Bragg.

This is impressive to see. Not only the POV of the jumper, but seeing all those other parachutes in the sky.

All my military jumps have been long before GoPro was invented... Nice to see other people living those strong emotions I will never forget.

My last jump was in 1981 and this brought me right back to my last hump!

Brings back great memories for me….19 years old, Canadian Airborne training, the number 1 jumper on my side of the C130, 1000 feet AGL, watching the countryside go by, waiting for the green jump light! What a rush!!

ive been retired for 20 years and havent jumped in 25 yet i STILL miss jumping from a perfectly good airplane more then anything else i did. For those still in the harness ...despite the agony of prejump ...packed in a plane for hours ... and bouncing around with tons of gear on.....enjoy the time you have...FEW on planet earth can do what we did and are still doing

I find it profoundly easier in a psychological sense to walk off the plane instead of having to jump out.

Takes me back some. First time I went on vacation with my wife she couldn't understand why I was excited to be going on a plane. She said "You have flown hundreds of times". I replied "Yeah but I have never landed in one" It's not as much fun though.

I've always had an extreme fear of heights (still do). Jump school taught me to rely on training, and trust my equipment. Every jump I made at Bragg I "looked at the horizon" and went!

My father was in the 82nd in WWII and was a part of this. "Devils In Baggy Pants," is what a German soldier called them. There's a book by that name about the 82nd and my dad is mentioned by name in it.

I love seeing that full color 82nd patch. ❤ It reminds me of the paratroopers of WWII. My Dad and I both wore that patch about 30 years apart. I was a Combat Engineer and he was a Pathfinder.

I get vertigo standing next to a cliff or building edge but strangely, I fly (Private and Aerobatic Licence) and have made a few jumps with no problems at all. Before I landed on my first jump, I was already shouting down to the ground crew to arrange an immediate second jump. Hats off to the “Paras” for their skill and courage - thank you all for what you do on behalf of the rest of us 👍🇦🇺

After 9 years of being an airborne cavalryman, this brought me back. The best times of my life were at 20,000 feet and falling.

Exit, descent, landing. Fear, relief, panic. Will never forget the ground rush.

I was in the Netherlands for the 50th anniversary of Operation Market Garden! Had just made my E5 and was put in charge of a burial detail of a glider pilot who died in the war. We(82nd) never jumped though. Winds were too high. The 101st did jump however. A couple soldiers received souvenir broken legs. Amazing trip though.

C-130 jumps. The exhaust, cramped, standing on the seats, small jump platform. Fun!

When you first jump out, do you feel a “belly drop” like a rollercoaster?

I just want to thank the people that have done things like this in the name of my safety and liberty. Any good society needs brave and patriotic people to function.

I love how you can see the other plane with other soldiers jumping right after he steps out... the shot itself looked like it could have come from a movie. Awesome.

Thank you for this great video!

As a recreational skydiver, I love the soft landings we get with ram air (rectangular) parachutes!

Always was a dream of mine to do this. I know it’ll never happen, but that’s how it goes sometimes. Wonderful to watch and admire for sure

My son is in 82nd. Can not believe it. He was to scared using a roller coaster or even a skateboeard as a kid. Not bad for a german born in Tuscaloosa 🤣

Thanks so much! Brought me right back to July 1993..

The waiting isn’t pleasant, the jumpy out bit sh!ts you up, the floaty down bit is brilliant, the landy bit you never get used to. Then you spend the day working out if you enjoyed it or if you never want to do it again.

Old paratrooper here. Charlie Battery, 1 BN (ABN) 319th FA. It's been more than 40 years since my last door check. Well done, jumpmaster!

That was awesome, thank you

My grandfather spent his whole career in the 101st. I'll never understand why he enjoyed it so much. He literally signed up for it. Just watching this made my stomach turn

Way cool -- Thank you for sharing and THANK YOU for your service!

You’ll never forget your first jump, it’s still very fresh in my mind

Hats off to the heroes who did this over Normandy we will never see their like again

My Grandfather jumped in to Normandy the night before D-Day with the 82nd Airborne. Trying to imagine jumping at night and under fire and not being able to see anything below until you run into it. That's real courage, God bless them.

Is it weird that my heart still races when I hear “1 minute!” It’s been 10 years..

I have so much respect for all our military personnel!!!! God bless all them!!!!

Their parachutes are sooo clean...

My dad and I were both jumpers here in Canada, with the Canadian Armed Forces. 43 years ago now for me (he did his jump course in 1950). I still dream of what it felt like to stand in the door and jump some nights (it felt great). Now I wonder how the hell I ever did it! Glad I did though.

I wish I could experience this. If only I wasn’t so deeply scared of heights. Awesome video!

Watching this made my legs feel like they were filled with lead. Mad respect to these guys.

That was a horrible PLF. I'm glad you didn't get hurt but God damn

These men have true grit. Absolutely commendable.

Outstanding video !!!!

Those were the days! I miss it, but my knees don't! Great video though. Like doing it all over again. Thanks!!

I got to my unit at the 82d in Dec '88 (Charlie Co. 2/325 AIR). I was immediately assigned to carry the M60. We flew to Wisconsin on C141s out of Pope AFB in January and did a night jump. My assistant gunner was Arthur Luna from San Antonio, was the first time he'd ever seen the snow. We landed about the same time prob 50 feet apart. He jumped up like he never hit the ground, all tangled in his risers, freaking out in the light of the moon. I laughed so hard and still do. Been a long time Luna, where you at? I'd love to touch base someday.

Nothing more relieving than to look up and see that beautiful canopy open big and wide.

Man I miss this!!!!! Loved pulling PJ/AJ duties.....

I was with the 3/504 PIR back in 90s miss doing this.

A trip down memory lane.

Friday of my first week at airborne school, nervous but so excited for jump week

I went to jump school at 19 years old in the late 90s and ended up in the 82nd for 6 years. In my mid 40s now and I can't say that I miss it.

My heart is thumping and I'm not the one jumping.

“We’re gonna stand up, hook up, shuffle to the door!” Great video, thanks for sharing! 👍👍

Remember doing a jump like this in 1984,just had the Saturday training,then Sunday up we went to 3250ft and climbed out onto the landing gear,two hands on the wing strut, thumbs up from instructor and away! Loved it

Some of the best times of my life!

I do miss this.

I'm no jumpmaster, but that single slip into no plf landing was something else

I am very thankful for you cats who do this, but I'm not sure I could even if the plane was on fire. Thank you from my heart for your service.

Wow, it’s been a long time! 👍🏽 Semper Fi to ALL Special Forces!🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸

Now imagine how the skies looked back in DDay. Unreal.

OUTSTANDING. Thanks.

Held my breath the whole time but was calm until he had to escape and gather his parachute! Loved it! The next best thing to stepping out myself.

Nice. Those were quite rare jump conditions. Zero wind makes it hard to do a proper PLF and then you have the fun of the canopy and lines just collapsing on top of you and wrapping themselves around every bit of kit you're wearing😅

My granddaddy was in the army and he says "that was the first and last time I jump out of perfectly good airplane". Then he switched jobs. Gunboat in Korea if I remember correctly.

“He was just a rookie trooper and he surely shook with fright, he checked on his equipment and made sure his pack was tight”

They always told us in jump school - use the parachute landing fall (PLF) technique - they said almost everyone just does “feet, ass, head” landings. My first jump was that - clobbered my tail bone. For the remaining 4 jumps i pulled my front risers like crazy so i would not hit my butt again - but I kept going forward and hitting my chest and face - ha!! Good video - thanks.

I'll never forget the sound of those doors opening and you know for sure you're going out the door. Although after sitting for hours in those jump seats with the bars digging into the back of your knees and the risers crushing your collarbones, getting out of that bird is the only thing you want to do.

I served in the Navy and the Army National Guard in a Combat Engineer unit. But if I had to do it all over again I'd go Army Airborne in a heartbeat despite being afraid of heights! Who-uh!

I remember watching this video before I attended airborne school and wondered “I wonder how I’ll react when it’s my turn”. Graduated with my five jumps. A couple went smooth, a couple did not. The worst part is the fear you have on the plane beforehand. After you jump it’s basically just all muscle memory and focusing on landing. Jumping from an airplane is an experience. One I will never forget.

That descent can be so quiet and calm, so serene that you can forget to pay attention to the ground coming up at you. AIRBORNE ALL THE WAY!!

"Oh man, I'm going backwards again!" I feel you buddy and my neck does to!!! I liked that little post jump adrenaline laugh as well, I always have a little chuckle after I land and realise I'm still in one piece!

I served on ships that sink, rather be closer to the ground. Thank God for men like you who do what other can’t.

👍👍👍 .. brings back memories. Qualified in 1968. Our Hanger / Jump Training Chief Instructor, S'Major Kieser would have classified that as a 'poor performance'. Feet apart during the exit. Did not see any in-flight drills. Landing was a HGK (hake, gat, kop) aka Heels, Backside, Head (back of) 😁. That said, a landing that one could walk away from so, not too bad. My first was a HGK. Afternoon, strong wind, came in backwards swinging back to front. Lost a tooth on impact. The 2nd the following morning .. not a breath of air .. didn't even feel the impact on landing .. perfect! Thanks for bringing back the memory.

Pretty cool pov. Even for a daytime no ruck Hollywood jump lol well done Airborne! 👍

Just did my first jump onto fryar dz the scariest and most fun thing I've done in my life, also the smoothest landing imaginable here's to many more

That shot of him looking up and seeing the other chutes opening was awesome

I like the non subdued unit patches. Looks sharp.

im paratrooper vet myself. jumped hundreds of battles in arma2 and arma3. best days of my life! Big respect to you my brothers! unfortunately needed to retire because to much work in office hahaha :D

Im former Spec Ops.... was a master blaster...of all the years and all the jumps never got a scratch. I prayed to the Lord b4 every jump...the day I left the service..I was offered jumps from civilian and other military exhibitions...I turned them all down...he lord kept me safe...time to walk away.....

When my father was in the 82nd and stationed in the panama canal zone in the late 70s. He told me he was on reactionary and he had to do an unexpected jump but he had taken LSD and aparently was tripping balls when he jumped. Ill never amount to the man that he was, boomers were built different. Absolute madlad.

Was a great time of my life then. Nowadays everything hurts and it's largely attributed to my Jump days. Would still recommend.

My first blast on Fryar I landed like a feather. In fact I had to throw myself into a PLF just to keep the Blackhats from screaming at me through the bull horns. I thought to myself, wow is that it? First and last time that ever happened. The rest I always landed like a sack of cement and discovered the real PLF, Feet, Ass, Head.

I wanna be a marine because the recruiter was nicer to me than the army recruiter was but i wanna do the cool jumping out of planes stuff

That actually took less time than I thought to meet the ground, looks really fun though

Jumping out of a plane, whether static line or free fall, has got to be equal parts the ultimate rush and downright terrifying the first time you do it.

So many "experts" in the comment section..

Fuck that! I would never do a rear or front PLF. 😳🙄

Apart from the fact that you're pretty much standing on a skyscraper minus the standing on a skyscraper, this parachute jump actually looked pretty chill

Being the last one out means you have the furthest to walk to get to the rallying point

A. that slip was useless and B. this is how i got 90% disability folks

So how does it feels when you are doing a parachute drop with a heavy load vs a normal load? I'd think you run a far greater risk of breaking your legs with a heavier load.

Beautiful view to see them parachutes in the sky. And that silence during the drop.