Dedicated to Mike and Donna Krawczyk…thank you for helping a fellow trooper slip out of a bad cloud.
Everybody has a jump story. Somebody makes a mistake… and you hope to tell about it. This particular plane was referred to as the Flying Boxcar. The C-119 gets that name from its unique shape; it also remains a unique jumping experience. You will notice the bullet shaped rear in the fuselage. The rear exit doors are located in that narrow.
Paratroopers slip underneath the fuselage due to the wind dynamics and the chutes deploy on the opposite side of the plane. In my day, this plane was a common jump. It was just another day in the air.
Now it was my turn to exit. I awaited the jumpmaster tap me for the jump; its about impossible to hear clearly over the drone of the plane engines. Just as I leaped forward, I thought I could hear the jumpmaster say, “shit.” This was clearly not one of the typical jump commands.
Just then, my body felt the strange sensation of being caressed. My mind was preoccupied with reciting the typical one thousand, two thousand, three thousand four…but I was interrupted by a wild pendulum swing. Popping my head out of my chest, I looked up to see a pair of 14EEE sized boots over head. Some nut was above me playing with my canopy!
Then I heard a sturdy voice above those boots saying, “Do you want to cut loose and pull your reserve?” I had exited at the same exact time as the trooper in the other door and slipped through his suspension lines. My chute was tangled up in his gear. Now, the expletive from the jumpmaster made sense!
We really didn’t have enough air time left. I thought, for a millisecond, that his main chute was supporting over three hundred pounds at this moment. My reply, “No thanks” got his reply of “good luck!” We were fast running out of conversation time.
God only knows my landing was tough, but in another second those 14EEEs were slamming about two feet from my head. I think he got the worst of that deal; if he would have landed on me…I would not be able to recount this story with any sense of clarity. Gee! That was close.
Whether the jumpmaster tapped me too quick, or I just got jumpy, I can now fully attest to the importance of a staggered jump out of a C-119. I was thankful that we did not jump with equipment that day. I also learned to steer clear of those 200 lb. plus paratroopers; heavy is NOT an advantage in the air.
When we can walk away from a mistake… it becomes a life lesson.
