Will I get in trouble if I recently graduated airborne school and will be sent to my unit, but I no longer want to be airborne?

I would like to offer you a couple more perspectives. First, your maturity in how you communicate this will influence the decision of your leadership. You're a Soldier now, that's your life. And as you have said, you are still capable of serving your country. Communicate to your leadership that you understand and accept the responsibilities of being an Airborne Soldier, but you now realize that you have a problem in fulfilling your duties. Accepting consequences of our failures is noble, but it should always be done alongside the request for help. This is strength, not weakness. Anyone who says otherwise and strictly ascribes to the age-old motto of "come to me with solutions, not problems" has not matured very far as a leader, and may actually be full of crap.

This problem of yours is fear and you're not sure you can overcome it, but you are sure that you still want to serve. This is one of the oldest problems in all of American military service. A great Soldier by the name of David Hackworth (look him up) compared fear in himself and his men to a bottle. Every man is like a bottle, he said. Their bottle gets filled up with fear throughout their time in the military. Now, some bottles are bigger than others and can hold a little more, but everyone has a limit. If we as Soldiers ever become filled with enough fear that it exceeds what we can hold, then we breakdown. We become completely useless until we can take a knee and empty our bottles of all the fear we accumulated. However, once that happens, we are never the same again. No matter how great of a warrior we were, once we have experienced this complete filling of fear past our limit, we become like a spent cartridge. We may still be able to do our jobs to some extent, but we have lost our effectiveness. There's no more bang, it's gone. In other words, a spent cartridge. Taking Hackworth's thoughts further, I would argue that this is simply part of the human condition. We're not super heroes.

You're a private, you are not expected to have all the answers. You are expected to know your job and do your job. If you're honest about your struggle here and show the value of your character, then your leadership may find an alternate route for you other than separation or even better, work with you to overcome your fear, and support and protect you as you work through this. Some may apply pressure to try and kick you out off the bat, you won't survive this pressure without support from your leadership.

Realize this is as well, you are absolutely, guaranteed, 100% not the only Soldier who is scared out of their mind every time they jump out of a plane. You are not the first, you won't be the last. Dive into the pride of your achievements so far. You chose a selfless and courageous path to be Airborne, let alone be in the Army. This is a healthy pride as long as it doesn't lead to arrogance. And pride is a hell of a tool in facing our fears. Being stubborn is an admirable quality in Soldiers when used correctly. To that end, learn of and embrace the dark humor of Soldiers, especially Airborne Soldiers. Humor is another tool we use to deal with our lives in the military. Memorize the song Blood on the Risers and sing that to yourself on jump days. It's a song of pride sure, but it also has a dark sense of humor. There's nothing wrong with joking about fear and death. It's healthy too. Laugh at your fear, laugh at yourself. Tease yourself with your friends and joke about the craziness of jumping out of a perfectly good airplane... then jump, fall, crash into the Earth, go home, and drink a beer. Jump days can be some of the most beautiful days in your career if you let them. Hackworth shares a story in one of his books how a friend of his, the day before he retired, just wanted to jump out of a helicopter as many times as he could. They spent the whole day in a bird just jumping, up they flew and down they jumped, until their bodies were too sore to walk.

One last thing. Go talk to your Chaplain, like now. Contact them and ask to set up a meeting. Fear is connected to the human spirit. The Chaplain's job is to help keep your spirit strong. If you're unit chaplain is no-good for you, find one in another unit that is. Talking about this with the Chap may be good for you. At a minimum, the Chaplain could coach you through it. It is always a good thing to have a Chaplain aware of your problems and encouraging you through them, rooting for your success. If you learn this now as a private, you will be better equipped to teach it to your Soldiers when you become a leader and they need the same thing.

Hope this helps.

I am not a psychologist, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night.....

I think there is more going on under the surface than you are saying. It is entirely possible this is because you don't even realize it yourself (or you could just not want to discuss on an open forum). Because, taken at face value, your post makes no sense at all.

Airborne is one of the VERY few assignment that you can ONLY get by volunteering. You ASKED to go to jump school. You ASKED for an airborne assignment. After the Army gave you what you asked for, NOW you are scared of jumping out of airplanes?

There are four points in time when you could have developed this fear:
1) Before volunteering
2) After volunteering, but before jump school
3) During jump school
4) After jump school

In case #1, why the heck did you volunteer?
In #s 2 and 3, why did you COMPLETE jump school?

And for all 3, if your fear was so deep, how did you manage to complete jump school?

None of those are rational situations.

But for #4, there is no rational reason why, after having successfully completed jump school (and presumedly doing so without serious injury, as you still have your jump status), you would develop this fear AFTERWARDS.

Unless, of course, there is something else going on which is generating or intensifying this fear - or there is an entirely different fear which is using the fear of jumping as a mask.

I do not know the answers. But hopefully this will give you some things to reflect upon and find your own answers. Maybe that can help either overcome the fear or guide your path forward - at a minimum, it will help you answer the VERY tough questions coming your way if you DO decide to refuse to jump.

I wish you the best of luck as you work your way forward. But I highlynrecommend before you make any decisions, you do some serious soul-searching and figure out how you got here and where you REALLY want to go.

Bear in mind, I am not airborne, never was. I completely understand airborne ain't for everyone - including me! So there is no judgment here.

Good Luck with that. Being afraid of something that will kill you is never stupid. I was afraid of being shot - I got over it. At least the terrifying aspects of it all. You have already qualified and your training will carry you through it as long as you practice. As for if it will end your career - that's your choice. As for myself I do not want someone with me that is unprepared to shoulder those burdens necessary to complete the missions given them.

I served most of my career on jump status and I am terrified of heights. I went to Jumpmaster and earned my Master wings.
termination of airborne status is not an easy thing and you will not have an easy time doing it. But be forewarned. IF you terminate after you are manifested to jump that is considered a jump refusal and you will face UCMJ action. IF you terminate as a jump refusal in the air that is literally endangering other jumpers. At Fort Bragg in the 82d Airborne that will get very very ugly very very fast.
I would tell you that any paratrooper that says he or she is not scared up there is either a fool or lying. Give it a try. Airborne units are the best units in the Army. Airborne Troopers are the best Soldiers. All of them have one thing in common, they are all there because they volunteered twice.
IF and this is IF you decide to terminate, do it at Replacement BEFORE you get sent to your unit. It will save you, your unit and your gaining chain of command tons of grief. NOTHING will suck for a Squad Leader or Platoon sergeant more than getting a private that day one is a jump termini. Nothing will suck for you more than being that private that has terminated. When I say this believe it. NOTHING will suck for you more than being a jump refusal.
Being a paratrooper is AWESOME. Nothing that I have ever done besides becoming a father was more rewarding and it set the course for my entire life. I was, am and always will be a PARATROOPER.

There are numerous ways to master one's fears. Research the web. Speak with a mentor. Pray. Read a book.
I would be willing to bet that there are resources that can assist you with overcoming your fear IF you are willing to try.
I would also bet there are people on this forum that have experienced the same or similar problems and found a way to succeed.
Don't give up. It becomes a habit.

I spent nearly my entire career on jump status and have seen a lot of troops come and go. Nearly every one (to include myself) felt fear every time...and I am a "Master Blaster". Someone once said that courage wasn't the absence of fear, but the ability to do in spite of fear.
Now I could teach grandma to jump out of an airplane, but that wouldn't make her a paratrooper. "Paratrooper" is a state of mind, you see. It's that state of mind that allows you to go one more click when you're cold, exhausted, hungry, miserable and wet... and then another click after that. The state of mind that causes you to go further than your body thinks you can. The state of mind where absolutely NOTHING is too tough or too much to handle... and that stays with you the rest of your life. No such thing as an ex-paratrooper in my opinion. Ask (an airborne) vet who he was with, and 99 times out of 100 he won't say "I was in the Army"... he'll say "I was in the Deuce/Rangers/SF" etc. That's how life changing the experience is.
When I was at the boy's camp in W. Va there was a prominent saying that we saw over and over: "The greatest failure is the failure to try".
You're the one who will look into the mirror for (God willing) many years to come...who do you want staring back at you? Give it your best shot... at the very worst you'll know you tried.
Thus endeth the sermon.

Suck it up. Your unit paid good money to send you to school. The first jump is scary sure, but you know what to expect. Conquer whatever fear you may have, turn it into fun. In every aspect of your enlistment, you will have challenges, fears and doubts. My buddies told me it was their 2nd jump that was more scary bc you know what to expect. After more jumps you'll be craving it. Now, I didn't jump while I was in, No need for tankers to be airborne they say. I did it when I retired. I honestly wasn't scared, it was difficult with a person attached to you to squat, arch your back and jump out. So I just launched out the door and AWAY WE GO!! I loved it. Ain't nothing but a thing. Don't sweat the small sh*t. WHY? Because it's all small sh*t. Good luck, have fun and be the best you can be.

Well, you will be ending your own career. I have commanded companies in the Army. I would recommend to discharge you with a general discharge. While others are willing to fight in harms way you believe it is too frightening to do what others have done hundreds of time. If you can't get over your fear of heights I don't believe you have want it takes to deploy into a warzone. The Army isn't for everyone. Just be prepared to payback any bonuses you have. I know some of the leadership in the 173rd. I am sure they will have a similar view to mine. You need to let them know asap when you get there but the command team will decide your fate.

My first reaction to your question was: are you kidding? Are you a soldier or a snowflake? As an adult we accept responsibility for our own actions. You requested that the Army expend resources to train you as a paratrooper, the Army did so, and now you want to avoid fulfilling your commitment. I suggest that you comply with your orders and use this assignment as a means of overcoming your irrational fears. And unless the military has changed even more than what I imagine it has during my many years of military retirement, you will not be jumping so often as to constitute a real burden to your fears, or for very long.

When I was a young officer I volunteered repeatedly for airborne school, but being in a combat service support branch the Army would not send me for that training unless I was on orders to an airborne unit. When I received orders to join the 101st Airborne for my Vietnam tour, I thought that finally I would have the chance to get that training, but sadly that Division was Airmobile then, rather than Airborne and again the Army denied my request. Later I was able to satisfy my interest in parachuting by joining a civilian club, and I must say that my few jumps were among the most exciting things I have ever done.

When I was an ROTC cadet, we all wanted to go to jump school. We "practiced" by jumping from the window of the cadet lounge (third floor) into Dean Patton's flower patch. This practice was not condoned by the cadre. And Dean Patton, who was not, as far as I know, related to the General but certainly had his temper, was not amused. I was scared every time I jumped. I'm still not sure whether I was more afraid of the landing, or of the Dean. But damn, that jump was exciting and fun. Only you can judge how much "fun" you can tolerate, but you are in a profession that will present you with situations far more dangerous than jumping from an airplane with a parachute. Being a soldier is inherently dangerous, even in training. I'm pretty sure you can overcome the fear. If not, well, you can always become an accountant. Best of luck, young warrior. If you stay the course, you'll have some great stories to tell.