Should I try and go Airborne?

Well, as an Airborne 25B your duty stations are Bragg, 4/25 Richardson Alaska, 173rd Vicenza Italy, 173rd East Camp Graffen Germany, 1-1 SFG Okinawa Japan, 1-10 SFG Panzer Kaserne Germany, JRTC at Polk, 1 SFG JBLM, 5 SFG Campbell, 7 SFG Eglin AFB 10 SFG Carson, and about a dozen or so signal detachments around the world with the 112th Signal.
Compare that to those awesome leg-only assignments in Kansas, Missouri, up state New York, Oklahoma , Korea, Texas, more Texas, and Georgia.
As for the physical part, do what your Jumpmaster tells you and you'll be fine. Riggers have hundreds of jumps and they're not broken. Being airborne will open up duty stations and assignments that are not available to your NAP peers, and airborne personnel are promoted at a faster rate than NAPs. When you are trying to promote TO SGT and SSG you get an extra 25 promotion points, which is a big deal in a low density MOS like commo where every point counts. When you're competing for Senior NCO ranks, Airborne personnel usually have a higher selection rate than their counterparts.

When I first went to join the Army, I had the test scores to have any job I wanted. I told the Career Counselor at MEPS I wanted Airborne in my contract. I went from 212 jobs to 2 to choose from. I was talked into 13B from 11B. I loved being a Paratrooper/Jumpmaster/Pathfinder. I also ended up doing 11B stuff for 2 deployments as well as 13B stuff. The majority of people you will work with are better quality than you will find in “normal” LEG units.

Being Airborne isnt just an assignment, theres an attitude that goes with it. I li e jumping out of planes. Is it more demanding of your body? Sure, but who cares? I've met retired guys with over 100 static line jumps, they may shuffle when they walk but they are still badasses, and are down to drink and fight alongside their younger Airborne counter parts at the drop of a hat. Just be ready to set your commo hear up in the woodline a lot, but you'll get to test some cool stuff too. Good luck

You damn skippy you should go airborne. I was an SF baby way back in 1979 and do not regret it one bit. In fact, being awarded a master parachutists badge was one of the proudest accomplishments of my career. All that said you will never know until you try. It has been my experience that a ton of vets will give about a million excuses why they didn’t go airborne. I see regret in everyone of their eyes. Being airborne is like being a virgin, you either are or you aren’t.

I'll make it simple. Go Airborne, you won't regret it. It will open up more doors if you decide to reenlist.

If you want to be challenged by being in a unit where excelling in things like PT and marksmanship is the norm rather than the exception, go Airborne. It's hard to describe until you experience it, but Airborne units have an expectation of excellence that carries through everything. There is a unique espirit de corps that I never found in nonairborne units. It's tied to the mindset of Airborne soldiers themselves rather than any equipment or weapon. You may see a tanker who will be confident in battle because we have the best tank, or something like that. But with paratroopers it's like, "well, maybe all I've got left is this knife, but I'm airborne and you're not, so I'm going to kick your ass anyway.

Serving with fellow soldiers with that attitude is a pleasure. A version of this poster was around back in the barracks in my day. It sums up the attitude I'm talking about. Go Airborne. You won't regret it. And you can always take a pass and go to the beach if you need to relax. :)

I just graduated Airborne school yesterday and had a blast. However, do yourself a favor and try not to go in the summer time.

Hell yeah you should. I went airborne after ait and was for the next 6 years. Unfortunately I came down on non airborne orders but doing all I can to get back to an airborne assignment after my current one.

Dont worry/think about if some units are bad or not, every unit has its pluses and minuses. I've been in a few different battalions in the 82nd as well as in usasoc units. They have all had good and bad aspects, but loved jumping.

It's also one more thing to set yourself apart from peers later in your career.

Go to airborne. 42 pushups and keep your feet and knees together. I came from a heavy mech unit prior to being Airborne, I wouldn’t trade it for the world. AATW

Airborne school was easily one of the best experiences I had while in the service. I enjoyed being in Airborne units, especially as an NCO because the attitude was a bit different. In my experience soldiers had less micromanagement as they tended to be more self motivated/starting.
As far as health goes, you are correct. My back and knees are hurting regularly and I've lost over an inch of height. I got hurt pretty bad on my last one, which ended my career and that was fairly common jumping with the T-10D. I couldn't tell you about the current chutes but I've heard they're a bit nicer.

That being said I wouldn't think twice about doing it again if I could go back in time, it was worth it to me.