I got to jump out of a Blackhawk for the first time today! (PICS)

[USArmyParatrooper]

(Cross Posted from a comic book nerd website I frequent)

Hello all,

So finally today I got to jump out of a UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter for the first time, and find out why those who've gotten to jump them rave so much about them.

Most of our jumps are from C-130's and C-17's (fixed wing), and to be honest there's not a lot of fun factor there. You go through about 6-8 hours of pre-jump headaches, when you're jumping full combat load wearing your chute and all your gear is literally painful, it's cramped and you're stepping all over each other trying to prepare to exit the aircraft. All of this for about 30 seconds (guessing here) of free fall and a very hard landing.

Jumping the Blackhawks about 75% of the BS goes away. We lined up with 22 different chocks, and three birds making very rapid back and forth runs. Without going into the boring details, you essentially mount the bird, sit on the edge with your feet hanging off and when the jumpmaster says "Go!" just push off and away you go. The jump elevation was (I heard 1000 and someone else said 1250) above ground level. Normal fixed wing training exercises are from 800 feet. Lots and lots of time to enjoy the view.

Some guys have been known to take photos while they're in mid air. I can neither confirm nor deny whether I've ever done it, but if the wrong person catches you you can get in a lot of trouble. It's a safety violation.

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[dionysus]

1. neat.

[Logical]

2. Neat Deal!

[Elric]

3. That looks like a major rush

[ceile]

4. My brother was airborne- 82nd

Always jealous of him.

[TeamsterDem]

5. I liked the jumps but preferred fast roping

Because although rast roping is usually more dangerous it just had that Rambo feel to it. I nearly always wanted to hit the deck and hip fire and whatever. LOL j/k

[siligut]

6. Wow, quite a rush huh?

Thank you for the pictures and glad you had a good jump.

[tosh]

7. Wow - - cool!!!

I would be beside myself just to go up in one of those beasts!

[RebelOne]

8. Fantastic!

I would never have the guts to jump from a helicopter. I have made 6 jumps, but only from a small plane. That was many years ago and I forgot what type of plane. Only that it was a four-engine prop. I stopped jumping when I kept getting lost in the air and couldn't find the drop zone. And then the risers would wrap around my neck. And then when I hit the ground the wind would drag me and the chute and I ended up with rock burns. After all that, my short career as a skydiver ended while I still had unbroken bones.

[ellie]

9. Very cool!

[bluerum]

10. Nice. Congrats. Stay safe.

[mailman82]

11. My son is Airborne!

82nd just left Fort Bragg for Fort Polk! He is a Chief Warrant Officer 4! In his 24th year in the Army! I am very proud of him! Congrats on your jump!

[Scurrilous]

12. Nice.

[bluedigger]

13. I've rappelled out of Hueys and Blackhawks.

I'm curious - when you rappel from a helicopter you go two at a time, left front and right rear, right front and left rear, in order to keep the helicopter in balance. When you jump, do you all go at once?

[USArmyParatrooper]

14. No.

One at a time to try to avoid mid air entanglements.

[bluedigger]

17. That makes sense.

Even with a fast rappel the load remains on the aircraft for a bit, but if you jumped in rapid succession that would probably work. Thanks, and stay safe!

[Botany]

15. stay safe

[Evergreen Emerald]

16. That is so amazing!

Good for you. Was it terrifying? Dang!

[USArmyParatrooper]

22. For me jumping always is.

I volunteered to go airborne to conquer my fear of hights. It didn't work!

For some reason jumping from the Blackhawk was considerably less scary, although I wasn't completely without fear. You would think the opposite since you're sitting on the edge looking down. I don't know what it is, but jumping from fixed wing at night with full combat load is the worst for me.

Since my first jump in Airborne school I got myself through it by thinking of it as fear training. I presumed I would eventually see combat, and I would be expected to be able to think, function and do react when faced with fear. When you're jumping it's very important you follow the right procedures and do the right thing, not only for your own safety but for those around you. It's the same in combat. At the very beginning of my first deployment there were moments when I experienced fear, but I still had to be able to function and do the right thing.

After a couple months in theater things that used to scare me before had considerably less of an affect on me. But no matter how many times I jump, I never get used to it. Go figure.

[pecwae]

37. My recruiter way back,

5SFG, was scared silly if he had to get on his roof to make a repair. He was deathly afraid of heights of 30 feet or so. Put him in aircraft with thousands of feet between him and the ground, no troubles.

Something happened one year that was so strange. A SF LTC streamered in on his very last jump. All those years, all those jumps, no fear, no injuries. His retirement jump really was the last thing he ever did.

[pinboy3niner]

18. Good thing you didn't make a safety violation (lol)

I've only rappelled out of Hueys (a long time ago), and only got to see Blackhawks up close once, when we did a 101st reunion at Campbell.

Congratulations on your jump--and wishing you many more (w/o safety violations, of course )!

[denbot]

19. Cool Beans dude.

"I wanna be an Airborne Ranger,
I wanna live a life of danger"..

On second thought, no. I'm to old, fat, and gravity challenged.

[pinboy3niner]

20. Tell me about it, lol!

[rustydog]

21. A high school buddy of mine joined special forces because you had to jump from copters

he wanted to get over his fearof heights!

[chrisa]

23. I know someone who did tons of jumps out of a plane

With the 82nd Airborne, I believe. I prefer the ground, personally. lol

[DisgustipatedinCA]

24. Neat shots. Why does the Army use round parachutes?

I don't skydive, but I'm given to understand that square chutes offer more control than round ones. So I'm wondering why the Army uses round parachutes.

Thanks.

[USArmyParatrooper]

27. It's the T10D

It slows your decent just enough that if you land correctly you'll likely avoid injury, but you do fall faster than commercial chutes. The idea is to get to the ground as quickly as possible so you're not a target. Also, the design is very, very reliable. So much so that if the parachute rigger completely botches it when he packs it, it's still very improbable that it will fail to open.

To reduce injury the 82nd began using a new square design, the T-11. You have more control and your rate if decent is slower. The problem, they unfortunately learned, is that the chutes aren't idiot proof. Fairly recently a Paratrooper "burned in" during a training exercise.

I haven't seen them used since. Personally I would rather land a bit harder and use the chute that has stood the test of decades of use.

[DisgustipatedinCA]

29. Thank you. N/t

[pecwae]

35. Things have changed; and changed back (Army SOP).

I only ever saw the square chutes used by the SF jump team for Gabriel demos or special events. They glide so slowly and easily that the jumpers usually just walked out of their rig. Idiot proof they are not.

Those photos remind me of good times on the DZs.

[Johnny Rico]

25. Great pictures...and thank you for your service!

[Better Believe It]

26. I and my spouse will be doing the "zipline" in downtown Las Vegas on Fremont Street in May but ....

I won't be carrying a gun and shooting at anyone I might consider an insurgent, subversive or terriorist.

&feature=fvst

[UnrepentantLiberal]

28. Great pics.

I would love that.

[quinnox]

30. oh so you are really in the Army

that explains a lot from posting I've seen by you re: the Afghan murderer.

[USArmyParatrooper]

34. Que?

splain.

[Bigmack]

31. Buzzkill Alert!

I did all that shit... jumping and fast-roping and general grabass.

Loved it!

Now I have fake knees, cervical discs that look like tortillas, and an ankle that complains whenever the weather changes.

I came by all that honestly!

Remember all that fun when you are my age.

[Arctic Dave]

32. Hop & pops

Fun

[mmonk]

33. What's a little safety violation among friends?

Two buddies of mine busted their legs by not rolling correctly when they hit earth. Me, I trained to be a marksman. I like my legs.

[HappyMe]

36. Holy crap!

Makes my palms sweaty just reading about it.

Thanks for your service, dude.

[Marrah_G]

38. Awesome pictures !!!!!!!!!

I would never have the guts to jump. You guys are amazing

[trumad]

39. 2/504 here...

Jumped out of Hueys....Chinooks, 130's---141's---17's..

Just about everything the Military had in it's fleet.

Use to love the Hueys because they'd take us up to 3000 feet and more....

Oh--on edit: AIRBORNE!

[FogerRox]

56. Poked my head into a AH-1 bout 12 yrs ago @ airshow

build date was Oct '71, Musta been 1st Air Cav, asked the pilot if that was so, his face lite up with a big smile. Ended up with a 1 on 1 open door tour after the crowd left.

[ZenLefty]

40. What was wrong with the helicopter that made you have to jump out?

[Buns_of_Fire]

43. I personally never saw the rationale for jumping out of a perfectly good aircraft.

A (former) Paratrooper friend of mine (who continued to jump even after he left the Service) always told me that any jump you can walk away from is, by definition, a good jump.

I took him at his word, since I never had the intestinal fortitude required to try it myself. But for those who do...

[ZenLefty]

44. The thing would have to be on fire with snakes and tarantulas in it.

Fire-proof snakes and tarantulas. With laser beams attached to their heads. And then maybe I'd consider jumping out.

Yeah, much respect for those who do.

[randome]

52. That cracked me up!

[onethatcares]

41. congratulations and nic pics, one question

did the infantry jump into A-stan and Iraq?

[RZM]

42. There were jumps into northern Iraq at the beginning of the war

I'm not an expert on the campaign, but I don't know if this was in the original plan. It might have been a 'Plan B' for the northern end of the force when the 4th ID was held up by the Turks.

As for Afghanistan, I don't know. Probably some special forces jumped in at the beginning, but I'm not aware of any major jumps.

[USArmyParatrooper]

45. It was 173rd airborne.

As I understand it they jumped into a secure area.

[RZM]

46. I think you're right

They jumped into Kurdish territory, which was of course anti-Saddam. Others would know better, but I think the point was to at least get some US presence in the north in the expectation that the 4th ID would soon be allowed to go through Turkey.

[FogerRox]

57. Sounds right, but Big Red One is first in first out

Wasn't it the 1st Inf Div-Big Red One - in a Turkish port, not allowed to travel overland to Northern Iraq. IIRC.

[RZM]

60. I think it was the 4th ID

From Wikipedia:

Alerted on 19 January 2003, the 4th Infantry Division was scheduled to take part in the Iraq War in the spring of 2003 by spearheading an advance from Turkey into northern Iraq. The Turkish Parliament refused to grant permission for the operation and the division's equipment remained offshore on ships during the buildup for the war. Its original mission, holding 13 Iraqi divisions along the "Green Line" in northern Iraq, was executed by the joint Task Force Viking. Arriving through Kuwait after the invasion had started, the division was subjected to multiple "SCUD" alerts while at Camps Wolf and Udairi, necessitating the retreat to bunkers in full chemical protective gear.

The division was unable to deploy in time to start the invasion but joined it as a follow-on force in April 2003 attacking toward Tikrit and Mosul, and later became a major part of occupation forces during the post-war period. Headquartered in Saddam Hussein's former palaces, the 4th ID was deployed in the northern area of the Sunni Triangle near Tikrit. The 4th Infantry Division was spread all over Northern Iraq from Kirkuk to the Iranian border as far south as Balad Air Base in Balad, Iraq. The 3rd Brigade Combat Team Headquarters was assigned to Balad Air Base. The 4th Infantry Division also disarmed the MEK warriors in Northern Iraq in July–August 2003.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4th_Infantry_Division_%28United_States%29

Apparently only one battalion from the First ID deployed at the beginning of the campaign, actually to support the 173rd Airborne in the North (I didn't know this until today).

[FogerRox]

61. Hmm, the 4th, yes, heres some context with regard to the 1st ID

http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ada424164

[Comrade Grumpy]

47. That's nice, but I'd rather my tax dollars were going for something useful.

Like highways or teachers or something. Not war machines.

[USArmyParatrooper]

50. Look at the bright side.

At least I'm happy with how your tax dollars are being spent, so that should at least count for something.

[raouldukelives]

51. If it wasn't for the billions of dollars

the mercenaries and the "volunteers" are paid to eliminate indigenous people living on top of our natural resources we might shed a few extra pennies that direction.
Sadly though that would also curtail the massive amounts of carbon released into the atmosphere by our war games and then we might not have a chance to really enjoy these warm winters. It's a catch-22.

[bahrbearian]

53. +!

[Ruby the Liberal]

48. Fantastic pics!

Grats to wherever you found them.

I would be terrified to do that, but have heard it is a real blast.

[USArmyParatrooper]

49. Found them?

Elaborate.

[Ruby the Liberal]

54. Happy to. Allow me to quote the OP

Some guys have been known to take photos while they're in mid air. I can neither confirm nor deny whether I've ever done it, but if the wrong person catches you you can get in a lot of trouble. It's a safety violation.

So, happy you (quote) "found" (unquote) them to share.

[USArmyParatrooper]

55. Ah, I wasn't sure what you're referring to.

All of those pictures were taken from the ground after I had already landed.

[AtomicKitten]

58. I jump out of a Blackhawk every day.

A Toyota Blackhawk!



Great pics of yours. Yikes.

[Blue_Tires]

59. those shots came out pretty nice

beautiful background...

[Generic Other]

62. Looks like jellyfish floating in the sky

Very graceful looking.

[arely staircase]

63. that's awesome, good for you

great pics too. keep up the ggod work

'rely