Illuminating Reality

This is another one of those near and dear to me subjects. As a paratrooper for many years in the Army, I regularly jumped both the venerable T-10 parachute and the “newer at the time” MC1-1B (and low porosity -1C version). The T-10 was incredibly simple, giving the paratrooper little control when descending, which in all practicality is no big deal as the mission of the chute is to get the soldier from the aircraft to the ground as fast as possible without killing or injuring him.  The MC1-1B gave us a bit more control through the air by adding a rather large opening in the rear of the canopy for air to flow though and some nifty toggles to steer the chute with.  No, I’m not talking about a hot rod freefall chute.  Steering the “dash one bravo” was a pretty sluggish thing and you used those toggles to avoid other jumpers as well as steer into the wind prior to performing your dynamite PLF (Parachute Landing Fall).

The video above is pretty cool as you get to see some very happy Rangers from the 75th Ranger Regiment testing the new T-11 chutes by jumping them “hollywood” out of an MC-130.  I say happy because Hollywood jumps are fun jumps: just you and the chute, no heavy rucksack, weapons and other gear to make your jump miserable.  Guys in the Ranger Regt don’t get to do Hollywood jumps very often, so this one is a treat.  You also get to see the jump prep work prior to chuting up and boarding the aircraft.  Every airborne operation involves a walk through of sorts under the watchful eyes of the Jumpmasters.  Notice when they exit the aircraft they are jumping both doors simultaneously – that’s called a Mass Tac jump, something all airborne infantry units specialize in.  In Special Forces we almost never jumped that way – usually just single door jumps.  As they jump, you can see them fall from the door and watch the static lines yank the chute out of its pack, tossing it into the 120mph wind and deploying.

Fun stuff that I really, really miss.  Have fun with those new chutes guys!