What was your worst Jump?

2015-08-13T05:32:39-04:00

I recall when I was a young paratrooper at Fort Bragg I was in the back of a CH-47 getting ready to jump out of it. I recall sitting near the Jump Master and watching him as he was talking on his coms. He asked to what was the wind speed. I am pretty sure they said something why to high. But then he responded with a "Na, F'it." The next thing I saw was him giving the hand signal for 3 knots of wind speed. So we all jumped. I barely was able to stay on the Drop Zone. I think most of our chalk ended up in the trees. One LTC ended up across the street.

Another good one was when my parachute partially collapsed right when I was about to hit the ground. Which means I ended up landing on my side and getting knocked out from the impact. I woke back up getting drug through a field with a busted up elbow and seeing more stars than the Hollywood broadwalk.

What was your worst jump?

Response by SSgt Terry P. made Aug 13 at 2015 6:27 AM

2015-08-13T06:27:39-04:00

The first one?

Response by MAJ Keira Brennan made Aug 13 at 2015 5:25 PM

2015-08-13T17:25:05-04:00

I landed on a patch of prickly pears on a night equipment jump and had to be carted to the medics for a shot of cortisone! Right on my 4th point of contact. Yep. 1Lt got SHAMED!

Response by 1SG Private RallyPoint Member made Aug 13 at 2015 5:36 PM

2015-08-13T17:36:38-04:00

Luzon DZ. Winds steady, 11kts from the west. Smashed into the FLS. Woke up a few min later to the DZ medic shaking me. Man that hurt.

Ranger School, jumping into Florida (my second time)- I was a 240 gunner, in a short weapons squad so I had the tripod and spare barrel and 500 rounds. Twisted all the way to skirt of canopy. Bicycled forever. Last twist came out and smashed into the ground. Never got to lower my equipment. Man that hurt.

Response by SGT Robert Zuniga made Aug 13 at 2015 6:28 PM

2015-08-13T18:28:24-04:00

Division CSM was retiring and we were doing a mass tac jump on Sicily. We were told that there would be no racetracks. It was a go no matter what.

Response by COL Jon Thompson made Aug 13 at 2015 8:59 PM

2015-08-13T20:59:25-04:00

In Ranger School, we were jumping out of a Huey up in the mountains. I was in the middle position in the door and as we scooted forward to jump, I scooted a little too far. I realized that I was good as long as the two Rangers on each side were. When the one to my left jumped, I immediately fell out after him. All of a sudden, I found myself with another chute in my face. I did the spread eagle and bounced off. I quickly slipped away and once I got on the ground, I quickly grabbed my chute as I heard RIs calling for whomever that was. I joined my squad and continued on while never admitting I was that Ranger.

Response by SSG Private RallyPoint Member made Aug 13 at 2015 10:04 PM

2015-08-13T22:04:40-04:00

So no shit there I was- Sicily DZ, FBNC. I am a jump chaser so when I went to strap hang on this jump, they naturally put me on the last freaking lift. (I had jumped 2 weeks before and there was a whole company of people coming back from deployments taking care of jump rules 3 or 4.) The whole time I watched the jumpmasters get mad at the jumpers as they exited and didn't turn toward the wind. We use MC-6 parachutes so we can steer them; you are supposed to face into the wind. The problem with no facing the wind is it makes you accelerate, kind of like pulling the wrong slip on the T-11s. The jumpers would go against what seemed like the wind's current direction and dart down super fast on to the DZ, desperately trying to turn into the wind before landing. I thought this was in an attempt to get down faster and go home. I made a promise that I would just take it easy on my jump and try not to rush the landing. When I finally got rigged up and jumped, the wind at 1200 ft was blowing a completely different way than the ground wind. In fact, as a I looked around to see my fellow jumpers to compare my rate of descent, everyone was facing every way imaginable. I floated for a few seconds as I was facing the wind, but then a gush of hot air hit and I started oscillating. I burned in on the hardest landing to date right in the middle of a thorny patch of bushes. Getting my parachute out of the thorns was an adventure by itself. By the end of it, I was not even mad; just happy to have not broken something or have gotten stuck in a tree like another person on my lift. So every time I go up in the aircraft, I think to myself "Why in the hell did I volunteer for this?" Then on the walk off the DZ, I think to myself "That feeling cannot be replicated anywhere else. This is why I am airborne. That and to be surrounded by people that are just as crazy as I am." I hope I can stay on jump status for as long as I am in the Army with the exception of a couple tours to South Korea. My dream once I make SGT is to become a jumpmaster and be that guy yelling at people for facing the wrong way. haha

Response by MCPO Roger Collins made Aug 14 at 2015 5:53 PM

2015-08-14T17:53:11-04:00

Does the term "wind dummy" sound familiar? IMO, any jump that is successful (live) is a good jump. But, to be honest, I never understood why anyone would jump out of a perfectly good plane.

Response by CPO Randy Francis made Jan 15 at 2016 4:06 PM

2016-01-15T16:06:49-05:00

My fourth jump in jump school was a mass tac jump. I was floating along looking at the Alabama scenery when two jumpers below me suddenly slipped underneath me stealing the air from my old T-10. Suddenly my chute collapsed about 30 feet above the ground and I crashed and burned. There was no PLF, there were no feet and knees together - just a lot of pain. After hitting (and bouncing I think) I got up and stuffed my chute in my P-Bag and headed for the chute collection point. On the way I realized that my right foot was in a lot of pain but I remember the Black Hats saying they were watching for limping so I worked hard not to. On the bus back to Benning I asked the medic in my class to look at it. When he took the boot off the entire top of the foot was black and blue with a tinge of green. In my best John Wayne I told the Doc to lace the boot up tight so I could get my last jump in that day and graduate. As it turns out the foot, other than the ugly bruising, wasn't hurt at all but my coccyx was in fragments and still is almost 34 years later.

Response by PVT Grant Brandson made Jan 15 at 2016 6:45 PM

2016-01-15T18:45:02-05:00

Full equipment, double door mass jump. I was a young 18 year old , skinny, scrawny kid and weighed 20-30 pounds less than the older guys on course. Good exit from plane, CT-10 deployed fine, but a bigger heavier jumper managed to crash into me and tangle up his lines with mine. His chute would then take air out of mine and then mine would re-inflate and take air out of his. We pepper podded all the way down slamming into the ground. No injuries but I did need underwear change afterwards!

Response by SGT Tommy Silvas made Jan 15 at 2016 11:40 PM

2016-01-15T23:40:02-05:00

Display determination 1985 jumping into turkey did inflight rigging only to have jump cancelled do to weather we landed and jumped the next day. You could tell the weather was bad do to how rough the flight was, doors opened went out the door my chute opened I looked down and could see the ground going by so fast it was a blur and very close. I didn't have time to drop my ruck, hardest I ever hit the ground, first and only jump in the rain, have no idea how low we were but there was no need for reserve chute because, would of never been able to use it. Didn't recognize any land features on the map because we weren't even on the map. Division injuries that day I believe we're over 30 percent. The excessive was D.D.-85 we called it Death Drop 85. Don't get me wrong it was the most fun I ever had in the field!!!!

Response by SGM Private RallyPoint Member made Jan 21 at 2016 1:26 PM

2016-01-21T13:26:49-05:00

On my 8th jump, I was issued a MC1-1B, without being told it would seek the wind. All previous jumps had been with the T-10. I took a camera up with me. I was enjoying the ride and snapping pictures when I finally heard someone yelling, "You're going to wrong way!" Grabbed a toggle, yanked it to my knee, and hit almost immediately. Woke up and noticed the ground was moving. Checked the other side and it was moving there to, so I cut away one of my capewells. Broke my camera and my glasses.

Two guys came over and helped me pack up and stagger off the drop zone, but left when I promised I would see the medic. As soon as they were gone, I went back for another 'chute.

Response by MAJ Private RallyPoint Member made Jan 27 at 2016 8:49 AM

2016-01-27T08:49:05-05:00

I can't complain because I have never has a terrible jump. However, my younger brother SGT Jeremy Slaughter had a pretty bad one that he may or may not care to share.

Response by SSG Nick Tramontano made Mar 3 at 2016 3:06 PM

2016-03-03T15:06:39-05:00

1983 I did a deployment to Hill AFB, Utah. Boarded a C-141 and headed out. Somewhere over the U.S. we did in flight rigging. After getting all chuted up and JMPId. I have to piss !!!......I had to detach my ruck and climb over a bunch of guys. After getting back and reattaching the ruck I sat down. I thought everything was good until I exited the aircraft and my chute opened....As soon as the chute opened I immediately found out balls weren't where they needed to be !!......I'm 800 feet in the air trying to fix the problem when before I knew it, the ground was coming up....BAM.. I landed with my ruck still attached and the ground was hard as a rock. I hit hard and landed points 1 then right to my 4th. I just laid there for a minute in pain !!

Response by SGT Richard H. made Mar 3 at 2016 3:45 PM

2016-03-03T15:45:27-05:00

Yakima, Wa. Night jump. I'm almost positive that the DZ was called Jackhammer DZ, and there's a nice, brisk wind that nobody mentioned. Coming down, there was little to no horizon on which to base movement and I hit hard & did an "Egyptian PLF" (feet, knees, face) and hit the ground dragging at what felt like about 20MPH. By the time I got my hand on my canopy release, I had been dragged probably 50', my face was scraped, nose bleeding, and the camo cover on my kevlar was shredded on the front edge. Another guy on the jump had the hook on his lowering line fail (the rest of us think he didn't hook it) and his ruck burned in with an M60 strapped to it...the 60 was destroyed.

Response by SGT Mark Halmrast made Jul 3 at 2017 6:26 PM

2017-07-03T18:26:00-04:00

The puke jump.
C141. In-flight rig back to Bragg. Nap of the earth for almost last hour of four hour flight.
Doors open...winds too high. Racetrack.
Guy pukes. Couldn't puke in puke bag...he was already hooked up. That's it...like dominoes, a bunch of other guys start puking.
Second pass...winds too high, racetrack.
More puke. By now, puke is moving...running on floor. Guys are slipping on it, trying to stay on their feet while hooked up (jumping full gear returning from 4 week off post training).
Third pass. No-go. They decide to land us.
Jumpmaster tells us to unhook and put seats back down.
We unhook but couldn't get seats back down. Too slippery. Guys slipping and falling all over.
We ended up just sitting on the floor, most of the guys sitting in puke.
It's the only time I didn't care about wind speed...we just wanted to exit!
So...worst jump I had was the one we couldn't make.

Response by MSgt Thomas Mason made Jul 18 at 2017 1:17 PM

2017-07-18T13:17:50-04:00

When I jumped into an open bunker during a recoilless rifle attacked in Vietnam and became fast buddies with a cobra! I was faster than he, in and out in a flash!

Response by SFC William Huse made Jan 24 at 2019 6:57 AM

2019-01-24T06:57:02-05:00

Went in stiff legged as my WECE release would not release. Night jump no less. Ft Bragg, 79. Wasn't sure if they were going to find me or not. Busted both knees up. Led to termination. Started drawing disability 5 years ago and just recently it was determined that there was nothing more short of surgery that the VA could do for me, so they have decided I am cured now and took the disability away. Just wish I felt cured.

Response by SGT Private RallyPoint Member made Jan 24 at 2019 2:38 PM

2019-01-24T14:38:30-05:00

It was probably around ‘74, my SF unit had a night equipment jump set for the DZ at Fort McClellen. Whoever the idiot officer was in charge of the jump forgot to requisition drop lines for our rucks or bags for our weapons. We were jumping from three C-141s and the winds were high. At the last minute, somebody on the air crew hit the wrong switch and the white lights came on inside the plane, blowing our night vision. We exited as the first sticks on each plane with rucks (no drop lines, remember) and slung weapons. The DZ there has a hill in the middle and also doubles as a training field for armor so there were big ruts everywhere. I came down behind the hill, having braced to land when the horizon was level, the horizon kept rising, then I hit, head over ass because of the ruck at my knees. No PLF, just bruises! My M-16 broke in half. I handed it off to the first sergeant at the rally point along with some editorial comments. Others weren’t so lucky — we had about 30 percent injuries — broken legs, backs and shoulders — from that first pass and the rest of the drop was cancelled. As best I know, nothing ever happened to the doofus in charge. Still, I’d give almost anything for one more military jump.

Response by CPT Private RallyPoint Member made Jan 24 at 2019 3:32 PM

2019-01-24T15:32:53-05:00

On my 8th jump (3rd one after jump school). It was 1991 and I was at Bragg. C141 near simultaneous door exit cause the jumper from the left door to kick me in the head. I thought it was a bird at first until I saw a leg stuck in my suspension lines. As his chute deflated his weight caused him to pull down my right side suspension lines and he wound up upside down under me. His chute swirled around me and I was frantically pushing it down so I could deploy my reserve. As soon as I got his silk out of my face I saw tree tops which forced me to snap into a good tight body position for landing. someone on the ground later told me he pulled his reserve at tree top which pulled him semi upright before landing. He landed before me so I can tell you that 1/2 of a T10 will carry 2 jumpers to the ground somewhat safely. I did another 80 jumps after that and had some bad ones but that was the worst. coming in 2nd was a C141 whose engines died as we were were ul to jump, causing a swift 9p degree bank t
that ejected an entire stick 2 minutes early...good times...good times

Response by Lt Col Jim Coe made Jan 25 at 2019 11:25 AM

2019-01-25T11:25:37-05:00

I have to confess to never jumping out of a good aircraft. I did fly a lot of airdrops and watched nearly as many from the DZ as a DZ Safety Officer. CPT Private RallyPoint Member, you can bet if I'd been on the DZ the day the winds were blowing to 27 knots, it would have been a no drop. I would have closed the DZ. Sorry you were allowed to jump. Dumb decision on the part of leadership all around.
As far as I know, I never flew a drop where the troopers were injured. I am both thankful and proud of that.

Our unit did have some interesting experiences with airdrops in the Arctic environment.
-During an exercise when the troops were in full winter gear, the Loadmaster stopped a stick and called no drop because a paratrooper had his static line wrapped around his neck. Had he exited the aircraft, he would have broken his neck and been killed.
-During a different exercise, a trooper's static line failed to deploy his chute. The trooper was being dragged behind the C-130 at 125 knots. The ambient temperature was -20 degrees F. The loadmaster told the pilot the trooper was moving (proving he was still alive). The pilot directed the Loadmaster to cut the static line releasing the trooper (a major deviation from procedure). The trooper fell free of the C-130 beyond the drop zone, deployed his emergency chute and landed safely. If the aircrew had followed procedure and race tracked back over the drop zone, the trooper would have frozen to death before the aircraft would have returned to the DZ.

Response by LTC Private RallyPoint Member made Jan 25 at 2019 12:45 PM

2019-01-25T12:45:57-05:00

On a jump way back when I was an LT, My HPT lowering line got caught on a ladder tied down in a C130. As I went out the door it caught momentarily and flipped me upside down, partially wrapping the static line around my biceps. For about 2-3 seconds I was being towed and hit the side of the aircraft before breaking free of it all. Fortunately my chute opened because it knocked me senseless. I landed uneventfully with rucksack still attached to me and all twisted up. My bicep was in a ball with a nice contusion. My CO threatened to send me to jump refresher until he got the full story!

Response by SSG Daniel Rosploch made Jan 25 at 2019 2:35 PM

2019-01-25T14:35:05-05:00

Fort Bragg, 2008. I had just come back from a 15 month tour in Iraq and needed to get current. It was a hollywood, daytime jump on Sicily DZ. Easy peasy lemon squeezy, right? Hell no.

I exited the aircraft, my T-10 opened perfectly, and there were no other jumpers in my vicinity, or so I thought. Out of nowhere, this jumper comes darting towards me and swoops just underneath my feet. My chute immediately collapsed and I found myself buried dead center of his chute. The best way to describe it is being in the middle of a half full air mattress or water bed. He's screaming for me to get off his chute, as if I really enjoyed not having a parachute of my own. The more he yells, the angrier I get. As I'm butt scooting to the edge I tell him him to "F off, what do you think I'm doing?!"

As soon as I get off his chute, I drop like a rock and my chute inflates right underneath him. He ends up in the same position I was in. I was a lot nicer and said "Its not that easy, is it jacka**."

This goes on, all the way to the ground, at least twice I found myself on his or him on mine. And he was screaming at me the entire time. We finally land, and of course, I was the last one to be on his chute so I hit hard. Luckily nothing broke, but I got the wind knocked out of me pretty good. As I recover and started packing up my kit bag, I see this burly dude come walking at me like he was going to kill me. Its the guy that stole my air! And he's an E-7. So of course he gets in my little scrawny E-5 face, telling me he's going to Article 15 me back to the stone age and blah blah blah. I was never one to yell back at seniors, so I tried to explain that I didn't know what rank he was and that it was an accident. He wants to know my unit and chain of command and at this point, I'm over this conversation, so I just walked away and told him to look me up on the internet, if he could remember how to spell my last name.

Response by SGT Private RallyPoint Member made Jan 25 at 2019 4:38 PM

2019-01-25T16:38:28-05:00

Twisted shoulder jumping from a WW 2 blemp in England.

Response by SGT(P) Private RallyPoint Member made Jan 25 at 2019 7:37 PM

2019-01-25T19:37:43-05:00

I’ve seen it all. From a guy landing on the hood of an FLA, to a high level SGM breaking his leg on his retirement jump. Most I’ve had, knock on wood, was a big limestone rock on the tank trail behind my knee. I don’t count 13+ knot DZ drags. That’s just too common.

Response by Sgt Dale Briggs made Mar 17 at 2021 4:04 PM

2021-03-17T16:04:35-04:00

Should have lost his JM status. You hit trees or power lines it’s on the JM to get it right and keep you safe.

Response by Sgt Dale Briggs made Mar 19 at 2022 3:25 PM

2022-03-19T15:25:06-04:00

My only problems were at Benning, only 2 of the 5 were what I’d call clean. First jump is difficult because duh , you've never done it before. I had a real hard time judging height, as I was close to landing I was looking at the horizon, then at the ground, just back and fourth until I hit looking down, I was sure I broke my leg. I was so slow getting out of the LZ the black hat had me beating my boots. 3d jump I was undercut by another Marine using the old T10, I just lifted my legs and my ass hit the top of his canopy and I bounced across and off the other side, another foot I’m into his risers and trouble. Last jump C130 I was first stick first man in the door, my best exit ever, it was windy and swirling I was unsure which way the wind was blowing so instead of facing it I inadvertently hit running with it, I wasn’t knocked out, but I bet I had a concussion I hit so hard. Again kinda staggered off the LZ. Other than nothing weird at all, it’s tough being new.