skyhigh57

Contrary to what you believe or have been told, the Farm is not an independant country and cannot issue passports and documents of citizenship. Try again. Actually with the Patriot act, he could be labeled a terrorist first, and then they could take the house. Since he's already admitted to having "an arsenal" and intent to use force against the government he's certainly guilty. It's no longer the act that is illegal, but the intent to act. if everyone sits and analyses everything all the time while they are taking peeps houses. and sits there and thinks "well at least it is not me", is part of the problem, me included. if the population as a whole is to weak to stand up and fight for there rights, they will all go away... slowly but surely.. i love this country, but i also thank god i have citizenship elswhere.. just in case... i have two, compleatly leagal registard weapons, that is my arsenal. but if somone wants to take my house, there will be a fight. i would follow all paths to keep my home. leagal and all, and if i was backed into a corner without any options left, i would still fight with whatever i had left.

I have always been amazed at people in the gym with iPOD and head phones. I can clearly hear their music from 10 ft away. Maybe they are just getting what they deserve? Isn't that like looking straight into the sun for 5 min and wondering why you can't see any longer?

This is sort of a public service announcement. In this thread alone we have at least four people afflicted by testicular cancer. And while everybody likes to jump for the boops, but who ever jumps for the balls? :) Seriously though, if you or a loved one is afflicted by testicular cancer, please point them to the following resources. (1) Testicular Cancer Resource Center, http://tcrc.acor.org; (2) Testicular Cancer Forum, http://tc-cancer.com. Both of these are very powerful. And information and knowledge can make a big difference, can make all the difference. Testicular cancer is very aggressive but it is also one of the most curable cancers. (Heck, the death rate for flu is worse.) Thanks for listening. Sorry, I wish we had met but I didn't learn about the CSWR group until I read about them in Parachutist. Was a there for years 2 & 3 at Spaceland. I would have loved to have at San Marco. You probably had met Scott Schaeffer a great guy and a hell of an RW jumper.

Cancer is right up there with skydiving and kids. NOBODY who has not experienced it personally, will ever understand! Period! But if you are able to live thru it and survive, it immeasureably broadens your perspective. Bonus question: What do you give a guy who has everything? Tumor me with your answers! :)

Testicular cancer...I am three-week survivor (no kidding!). Righty is stretching out and still in the process of getting used to the newfound space.

My acquaintance Gus Wing, too many jumps to mention...did everything right. RIP! (www.guswing.com) Our friend Michelle Thibideau did everything right. RIP! (search the archives). Is it worth it? With Gus' passing (and having seen countless skydivers far better than myself get maimed or injured), I don't know any longer. P.S.: Just randomly chose marks as an entry point; no pun intended.

After 7 yrs, almost 3,000 jumps combined as TI,AFFI, Rigger, I am getting ready to hang up the tools. It just doesn't have the appeal to me anymore: I'd rather having a heart attack mountain-biking... Plus I have seen way too much carnage; including Gus (or if anyone cares to remember Maddog). Of course, once you have been touched by the sport, you'll never get over Rhonda...I still dream of her!

Agreed. But I am not convinced that he ever said: "Marks (Skimeal, or whatever the dudes name) told me I am ready to jump a Diablo 135." If he'd made that statement using my name, I'd be ripping him a new asshole. But that was never made or implied...hence my earlier analysis about violated trust. When the "student" presents false information to another dz that the instructor(s) never gave out.

I think you and I are eye-to-eye for the most part...no need to further discuss. I agree with that statement. Yes, I did wear a suit and tie to work everyday for 8 years and I'm familiar with "professional experience". However, If I have a student with a particular problem, I will share that with all of my fellow instructors who could possibly be taking someone on their next skydive. I never said I agreed with that post as it stands. BUT, the trust aspect goes right out the window when somebody starts to use MY name to jump through hoops at another dz. I trust my students to go to other dz's and NOT use me or my name in a manner that is untrue. I'm not too concerned with your profile.....I'm just somebody that will stand up and behind the words I post on this forum. It's kinda of a trust thing. I trust myself to post only things that I'll back up AND would be happy to discuss anything I write on here to anybody. I don't know shimmel, what type of instructor he is, or much about him. It's his choice what he writes on here about his previous students. I never said I agree with that post.....BUT....the priviledge thing goes out the window when somebody puts words in my mouth.

In my books, the student-instructor relationship is almost attorney-client priviledged (if that means anything to you by professional experience). I want this to be absolute, trust-based w/o the threat of later discovery in a public venue (even if it's only $30 a pop). This trust was violated in the posting under question. And as you are so concerned about my profile: for the sake of simplification, let's just assume that I have never jumped out of an airplane. So, tell me where I am wrong... Questionable is also somebody who enters these forums without a name or background just to put their 2 cents in. Why not step up and stand behind your words? So you've been to a AFF course?( I didn't read that in your profile) I agree with you,but once again this guy is out there dropping names of well-known people in this area who I KNOW(now that i've met/talked to them) didn't say it was cool for him to jump this gear. As an instructor, I'd have some issues with my students using my name to try and get around the system......

I find this a very questionable statement from an AFF instructor (no less!) in a public forum about one of his former students. At your certification course, didn't they teach you not to debrief in public? That's what you are effectively doing; VERY unprofessional, IMHO. And no, while you have the responsibility to teach the necessary skills before advancing him to the next level, you are not personally responsible for the rest of his life. At this point of time, especially as you went so far as to identify the individual by first name, the only thing that should be pulled is your license. Your AFF instructional license that is. Sorry if that sounds harsh, but how can another student ever trust his instructor again...if all get's aired in a public forum in no time. Unless that's the new USPA philosophy...(ellipsis) if we see him in dublin. i will make sure he doesnt jump.... anyway.. wholly shit! i didnt even read this thread till now... but my god.. i heard this guy was tossing around my name also... ya, i did some teaching to him ... i was his AFF instructor. i failed him on a couple jumps. reason being down to the fact that he would just run run his mouth like he knew what he was doing and wouldnt listen... so whatever.... eventually he passed... i didnt see him jump a whole lot.. but he always brought me a cooler of beer in the back of his old white beat up limo... honestly. i wish i had the power to pull all those aff jumps i did with him and revoke them.... i cant say im 100% surprised he did somthing like this.. but hel;l.. how ya going to know... maybe uspa should pull his membership. hell i dont even know if he has an "a" license yet...... but ive been in this sport a while. and you get shit like this from some peeps... but you just have to deal with it when it comes up.. and hopefully if any of you have met me. someone mentioned about the cupid boogie in seb.!! well if you know me. you will know that i might be a little high energy, high strung. hyper. party hard. and skydive hard... actually it is skydive then party.. but you get the point...well you would know that im not STUPID. i dont do stupid things and i would never tell this dude "PAT" is his name by the way... that he should jump a dioblo 135. even if he did have the experience to jump it!...lol... i think the canopy is crap!.. but that is an opinion... and it is mine. so shut up... anyway.. yes.... he probably is the next fatality to happen..... and im not surprised... not after getting to know him after he graduated.. maybe he will break his leg and learn his lesson instead of getting killed... but he is the type to blame the broken leg on something or someone else.. i would pull his license and his rating if i could... or at least turn the pass AFF skydives to fail.....\ what a dumn ass..... i hope he is in dublin.. i really do... cause if you see him and then see me see him!!!! go ahead and dial 91......... hopefully i get a chance to hurt him before that canopy does.... and no im talking shit.. but i will curse him out..... throwing around names like that to get attention to what you want... is someone that needs mental help.... or humiliated so bad that he leaves the sport all together... thanks divnswoop. for posting this... im surprised it took me this long to figure out who this was..

While my profile is irrelevant to the discussion at hand, I would like to suggest formation of the following organizations: (i) Republicans for Skydiving; (ii) Creationists for Skydiving; (iii) Anti-Abortionists for Skydiving; (iv) Kill-everybody-who-is-different-than-me-and-not-a-Christian-American for Skydiving; (v) God is an old man w/ a long, white beard for Skydiving; (vi) Jesus actually looks like Tom Hanks for Skydiving. Any takers? And no, this is not SC, so I will stop and not reply any further. But if you feel offended by my post, so was I by the initial post.

So now it's no longer enough to distinguish by discipline (e.g. RW, freefly, CRW, accuracy, etc etc.), now we even have to bring faith into play for further divisiveness? The conservative, US-Christian fundamendalists are seriously bothering me (and most of the rest of the world). Not even skydiving is immune any longer: for the love of beer!!!!

REMEMBER: Skydiving is about jumping out of airplanes....everything else is just politics! (Or poor dental hygiene for our British friends.) SkyHIGH.