Things You Learn About Life When Falling from the Sky

Image by mdmelo from Pixabay

You learn a lot when you jump from a plane.

When I was in the Army, I joined the Airborne and became a paratrooper.

I had never jumped from a plane before, and I wasn’t particularly daring.

I was terrified of heights.

But the Army knows how to train its troops.

First, we practiced falling and rolling on the ground without hurting ourselves. This is because the Army parachute is fast. Unlike civilian sport parachuting, military jumping is a life-and-death affair. They want you to get to the ground as fast as possible.

We learned first by jumping off chair-height platforms and rolling in such a way as to protect our elbows, heads, and any projecting bony parts of our body.

Then, we spent a week jumping from platforms at the height of telephone poles. We were strapped into a parachute harness and transported across a wide expanse of steel wires. The most challenging aspect was the harness digging into the sensitive areas of our bodies, causing discomfort.

On the third week, we were individually hoisted up a 250-foot tower, fully harnessed with an open parachute. When we reached the top, we were released.