Airborne School

[NlghtJumper 0]

Wow! You guys are indescribably awesome! I have definitely learned a lot, and will keep it all in mind. It seems to be the same basic principle. Give it your best on PT, pay close attention to the PLF, and [as well learned in Basic and AIT] out of sight, out of mind does apply. Thank you EVERYONE for all your help and great advice. You definitely cleared up a lot of hazy parts that have been floating in my head!

A man will do anything for the right woman,
and when that woman destroys him,
that man will become a hunk of meat with the common sense of a rodeo clown! ~ Christopher Titus

[steveorino 7]

From my days back in '77 ... I took my brother's advice (jump school '69) and was gung ho! While being MR. AIRBORNE helped me during zero week, it nearly cost me starting ground week. Some black hat wanted to know who the baddest, meanest, mother out there was. Of course, I said, I was! He was on me like white on rice all day!. Was that a long day! So my advice ... Act unimportant, the enemy may be low on bullets.

steveOrino

[NlghtJumper 0]

I have become pretty proficent at staying under the radar. It was quite the feat too. I managed snagging "Honor Grad" in AIT with my DI's still not knowing my face. I use to watch my DI pace back and forth in front of the formation 4 or 5 times trying to figure out who I was before finally calling out my name. I thought it was hilarious, but my friends who got picked out like crazy were pretty bitter. Its pretty easy, just dont get into trouble, and dont ask too many questions or offer information that would mark you. The un-written rule of ARMY training... dont volunteer for ANYTHING!

A man will do anything for the right woman,
and when that woman destroys him,
that man will become a hunk of meat with the common sense of a rodeo clown! ~ Christopher Titus

[matthewcline 0]

As quoted from the T-shirt you can buy at the ABN School archway during jump week.

An Instructors first concern is student safety.
So, start being safe, first!!!

[namgrunt 0]

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I don't care how many skydives you've got. Until you have stepped into complete darkness at 800' wearing 95 lbs of equipment and 42 lbs of parachute, son you are still a leg.

HOOAH
SOOOO TRUE

AIRBORN ALL THE WAY

..

59 YEARS,OVERWEIGHT,BALDIND,X-GRUNT
LAST MIL. JUMP VIET-NAM(QUAN-TRI)
www.dzmemories.com

[ripcord4 0]

Never, ever, ever let the Black Hats find out you a a skydiver. Run, run, run and run some more. Do chin-ups (properly) until your arms look 5 feet long.

[brits17 0]

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They put the shortest and slowest females at the front of the formation run, so you basically run in place while moving forward.

Ah yes it was nice setting the pace with the front shorties :) I felt bad for the long leggers in the back.

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DON'T TELL THEM YOU ARE A SKYDIVER.

So true, please heed this advice Never said a word to them but a friend of mine let it slip while a Sgt Airborne was standing near... he grilled my buddy till he said who it was. I got asked how many jumps I had (which was 10x more than the Sgt at the time) so every time he passed by he made me push. It was funny and annoying at the same time.

_______________________
aerialkinetics.com

[angryelf 0]

I went to Airborne in Feb of 05-you're in the army so you know the system already-be prepared to run a lot and find the lightest full-leather boots you can. you WILL double time every where-so have fun with that. as one of the other guys said running is running but make sure your cals are flawless-you only have to do like 45 pushups so just do them right the first time. Don't concern yourself with PLFs before you go-you do the damn things for a week straight there. As far as slots, I'm not an Army guy but everyone I've run into from Bragg that wants their wings can get them pretty easily. And lastly do not tell them you are a sport jumper-the riducule will be constant!
Any questions just let me know @ nkd_unicycler@yahoo.com

"Sometimes you eat the bar,
and well-sometimes the bar eats you..."

[matthewcline 0]

There has got to be a good story behind a NAKED UNICYCLER! (no pun intended)

An Instructors first concern is student safety.
So, start being safe, first!!!

[Amazon 7]

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have become pretty proficent at staying under the radar. It was quite the feat too. I managed snagging "Honor Grad" in AIT with my DI's still not knowing my face. I use to watch my DI pace back and forth in front of the formation 4 or 5 times trying to figure out who I was before finally calling out my name. I thought it was hilarious, but my friends who got picked out like crazy were pretty bitter. Its pretty easy, just dont get into trouble, and dont ask too many questions or offer information that would mark you. The un-written rule of ARMY training... dont volunteer for ANYTHING!

Awww come on.. dont you reallly wanna go for the Iron Mike

[kenneth21441 0]

This sort of brings out the good old days back in 87 when I was at Charlie company, at Benning.

Be ready to run alot as everyone has stated. In fact when I was there you had better be at a double time any time you are in the compnay areas.

It was hard at first coming direct from Basic to jump school without having a real MOS... Riggers had to be Airborne before they went on to Ft Lee, VA for Rigger school....And being off at 1700 and wondering what to do...Like being off until the next day ..... then getting to Ft Lee later on and being locked down... Espially on a Leg post////// hahaha..

But Best I can say is enjoy it......


Ken..

Kenneth Potter
FAA Senior Parachute Rigger
Tactical Delivery Instructor (Jeddah, KSA)
FFL Gunsmith

[angryelf 0]

yup there's a story-maybe I'll meet you out jumping someday and tell you about it!

"Sometimes you eat the bar,
and well-sometimes the bar eats you..."

[Ron 10]

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Never, ever, ever let the Black Hats find out you a a skydiver

The Silver Wings guys knew I was a jumper. They loaned me gear so I could jump on weekends.

"No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334

[matthewcline 0]

On week ends we like that your a skydiver.

But Monday though Friday it is "game on"!

An Instructors first concern is student safety.
So, start being safe, first!!!

[airborne966 0]

Just do what they tell you and it'll be cake.... and don't look at the ground when you're landing... it hurts. Don't worry about the black hats, they're all soft....................... just kidding Sergeant Airborne Cline

[Ron 10]

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But Monday though Friday it is "game on"!

OHHH, 10 push ups!. Stop it your scaring me

I say, show up wearing your jumpsuit with a pair of goggles on and a light coat of CLP asking where the boogie registraition is.

"No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334

[matthewcline 0]

With Teva's and a closing pin necklace! Can't forget that.

I am looking forward to going back down on Monday and watching the inprocessing.

If SGT ABN ever says "hit the compass" it will hurt.

What is that? It is like "push to the four winds", you know 10 push ups, turn, drop, 10 push ups, till you hit 40 and have covered the "four winds".

But there are 360 degrees on a compass.

I made an O-4 do that one day for cussing out a SEAL. The SEAL was told to go back to the front of the lineto repeat his PLF from the LDA (lateral drift aparatus, a real low slide for life), he had just gone feet ass head real damn hard and I wanted him to do it again. I figured as long as he only saw 2 of me he would be fine in Tower Week (week 2). The O-4 didn't want any of that, but in the end he saw it my way (it didn't hurt the CSM was there and helped to 'plain things while I finished with my 30 plus students).

I don't go by AGT ABN any more, USAULLY it is "Chief" (for Chief of Instructors US Army Pathfinder School Ft. Campbell). But some time I hear SFC Cline, Dick head, asshole, mother fucker, SGT son of a bitch, you know the usual terms of endearment we give to our senior Non-Coms

An Instructors first concern is student safety.
So, start being safe, first!!!

[jumpwally 0]

Whats the diff betwen Black Hats and Regimental guys? I've never had the pleasure of being in the service..

smile, be nice, enjoy life
FB # - 1083

[Hawkins121 0]

a black hat is an NCO whos job is to teach... Could be airborne school, ranger school or whatever... They wear a black ballcap with their stripes pinned on it so they can be easily identified.

I assume you are talking about the black beret's the rangers wore until Shinseki gave the black berets to the legs. The guys in the 75th wear tan berets now. The rest of the airborne still wears red. SF green.

omg my grammer is awesome.

[SkymonkeyONE 4]

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Whats the diff betwen Black Hats and Regimental guys? I've never had the pleasure of being in the service..

Back in the day (I attended in 1982), there were two very-different groups of people who were charged with your care at Airborne school: the Black Hat instructors who worked at the three branches (ground, tower, jump) and the TACs who handled all the admin stuff at the company like formations, details, getting you to chow, issuing your equipment, etc. Back then, the cadre all had specific jobs and you only saw the next group of Black Hats when you advanced to their "week." Later, sometime in the early 1990's, it was decided that it was "better" if one group of instructors took a class all the way from start to finish, so they split the branch Black Hats up, assigned them to specific companies and had to certify every instructor on every aparatus. They also changed the company designations from numbers in the 40's (I was in 42nd Company) to actual regimental companies at that time. That still left a few non-instructing-billet slots at the company and Bn to handle admin and logistics. I think those people are who Matt is referring to as "Regimental guys."

[ccowden 0]

I don't think he is talking about Regimental Rangers. Yes, we used to wear black berets until they changed them to tan, but no Regimental Ranger is a leg. You must be Airborne before you go to R.I.P. (Ranger Indoctrination Program). After RIP you go to a Ranger Battalion. So you would never see a Regimental Ranger in Airborne school.

[steveorino 7]

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a black hat is an NCO whos job is to teach... Could be airborne school, ranger school or whatever... .

The BADDEST black hats I ever saw were the Special Forces UWO (SCUBA) guys in 1978. First week or two they were murder! Run .. not no shuffle!!! RUN! 4-7 miles every day. 1 hour of PT followed by cookie runs (sprints until someone lost their cookies). All that by 9 AM. Then the pool/ocean stuff started! Longest 3 weeks of my life!

After week two -- they lightened up a little.

steveOrino

[heinsx3 0]

This one time at jump school I showed up with my GK patch on since I just got done with try outs(1995)....Luckily my Black Hat went through with me and I saw him cry (SFC Patrick, fake cut) so I had that to hold over his head for 3 weeks. Plus he took a 5 at the ABN 5000 jump at the begining. I yelled "5" from the blechers and next thing I know I was pushing in front of the whole class.
Only thing that hurt me was the shin splints from running in boots. Almost fell out going down cardiac hill.
Eric

[namgrunt 0]

now here is what ya do..wink..wink
if you are BAD just show up with your rig ,jumpsuit,goggles alti. and say REAL LOUD

them guys cant teach me nothing I am REAL jumper

when the black hats mobb you just smile ,look then straight in the eye,and compare jump noumbers.

now that WILL make an impression

..

59 YEARS,OVERWEIGHT,BALDIND,X-GRUNT
LAST MIL. JUMP VIET-NAM(QUAN-TRI)
www.dzmemories.com

[SkymonkeyONE 4]

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This one time at jump school I showed up with my GK patch on since I just got done with try outs(1995)....Luckily my Black Hat went through with me and I saw him cry (SFC Patrick, fake cut) so I had that to hold over his head for 3 weeks. Plus he took a 5 at the ABN 5000 jump at the begining. I yelled "5" from the blechers and next thing I know I was pushing in front of the whole class.
Only thing that hurt me was the shin splints from running in boots. Almost fell out going down cardiac hill.
Eric

Eric, that was some funny shit!