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>>That's an excellent point. With the military surplus gear and low wind limits, a lot of time was spent hanging around as a student, without jumping. I would spend many consecutive weekends at the DZ, and never get to jump. But a lot of info was absorbed during that time. Now I see students show up, make an AFF jump, and depart, all within a couple of hours. Many of them don't hang around and talk at all. They're missing out on a valuable learning opportunity! >> Holding tension on the rounds was a good way to learn how to pack. Never ever heard of "packers". Now some folks are jumping and don't even know how to pack or what the orange warning label on their canopy says. Anyone jump with a plastic ripcord handle? R.I.P.

Are we talking about gun control or iresponsiable gun owners? Were these kids killed by drive by's or playing with a unloaded gun that they found in their home? Wa state has a very liberal CWP policy. You want a liscense to carry a gun no problem as long as your not a convicted felon or been invluntarily commited to a loony bin, Go to the cop shop fill out the application get fingerprinted and you'll get the liscense after a background check. The sad thing is the sniper in DC came from Wa state and the gun store "didn't know" the guns used by the sniper was missing from his inventory. Prior to the incident in DC BATF knew the gun store couldn't account for hundreds of guns shiped to the store but were "working" with the owner to help him with his paperwork. Anyone want to read about this incident do a search on the net under tacomatrib.net the name of the store is the Bulls eye. BTW it still in business just a different owner. R.I.P.

I've been married for 30 years so it hasn't happened to me yet but I knew some folks at work that had a serious failure to comunicate and according to them never saw it coming. A guy went to the airport to P.U. his wife up but couldn't find her and by the time he got home she had emptied the house. He figured she must have called from around the corner and watched him leave the house and had the van ready. The other guy went to work just like a reguler day but when he got home he thought the house had been robbed, but then he noticed the "crooks" didn't take any "man" stuff. The guy took the hint visited his wife at work the next day got their credit cards from his soon to be ex and moved on. R.I.P.

IMO the audio was a added bonus to the video. The running comments were priceless.The good guy's were either pro's or rookies, never been been in that situation so don't know. Those guy's were concerned about picking up their gear befor finding a hole! Later with that, I be clicking my heels and going back to kansas after the first puff of smoke. R.I.P.

http://www.hq.usace.army.mil/cepa/iraq/contracts.htm Did a google on Corps of engineers iraq and got the aove websigt even the Corps has their offical Iraq stuff on the web. Since this "information" is put out by the PAO/PIO at a high level of the Corps take it with a grain of salt but it may have a different spin than the press and it does include some dates. I haven't read the complete thread on dropzone .com or the corps complete websight of their success stories in Iraq. But I'm seeing a lot of PR stuff from Corps employee's in Iraq that are assigned to the PAO/PIO aka propaganda office. This could be where some of the press is getting their info. Essayons R.I.P.

Jumping a PC at 180+ lbs damn you guy's were hard core or my old brain just can't relate since I was 50 lbs lighter. I jumped a PC or fun maybe 10 yr's ago and I still remember it hurt weighing 160-170#. The comment about the round death rigs was a joke. The young ones say that stuff all the time. Some folks call the stuff we used to jump "Gutter Gear" but I can't recall any of it blowing up. Military surplus stuff was built IAW Mil spec's, tested inspected and even rejected by the military when it reached a certain age used or not. Of course some folks were able to come up with Fads that just didn't make much sense to me at the time like the fishing weight just above the last pin on the ripcord. Big advantage you won't lose you ripcord save $10 and beer. Big disadvantage when you cutaway and your on your back with that damn ripcord and you reserve PC in the same place at the same time. IMO the "bad old days" weren't that bad. But then again jumping with a aircraft altimeter was also kind of strange, never did that either. Thank you SSE. R.I.P.

I've read two books on the subject of gun control. In the gravest extreme written by Massad F. Ayoob Mr Ayoob is well known in the gun industry is a cop, instructor, and expert witness. The book covers "the roll of the firearm in personal protection" from the information presented in the book if your a private citizen and shoot someone without meeting certain legal requirement's you can be the target of the lawyers. Both Criminal and civil either way you will pay big bucks to prove your case in court. Mr Ayoob is no bleeding heart liberal if the bad guy has his gun out and his back is facing you, under the right circumstances he's got no problem shooting the guy in the back without a warning. The other book is the Turner Diaries this book is a example IMO of how paranoid some of the gun folks can get. It was read by Tim Mcveigh and had a effect on his thinking. The book is available at the public library and can be read in less than a day. It is very extreme however the interesting thing is the author was able to predict the growth of some of the band aid gun laws that have been passed. Back in the day folks used to have these nice wooden gun racks with a glass door to display their gun collection. I think those days are over. Rather than a full auto weapon I'd like to have a RPG! Low tech, cheap and very effective. Bad thing is you lose it or use it your in deep doo doo. R.I.P.

>>Never wrecked before and I have to say it sucked. I felt so bad about hitting that lady. I mean, I didn't do it on purpose, but she had three kid's in the back and that scared the living hell out of me. Infact, I don't think I have ever been more scared>> Don't worry be happy your a stand up person you were responsiable enough to have insurance, and wasn't driving while impaired. The next time you'll do a lot better. Driver under 21 years old the insurance company will take real good care of you. R.I.P.

Correct my request was for a R.O. it was a I said my neighbor threatened me with bodily harm. The neighbor denied it ever happened. But the survey and photo's that I presented showed my neighbor had a good reason for threatening me. Like a couple of thousand sq ft of my property. So the judge also rejected my neigjbors request for attorney fee's for filing a frivioules law suit. In Wa state real estate issues are decided in the superior court. To my surprise we didn't have to go that far. In the spirit of cooperation my neighbor removed his garden etc from my property in two days. We didn't even have to ask. R.I.P.

Not defending themselves will cost them money, or more likely the entire business... J A rookie can beat a lawyer: We had a property line dispute with a neighbor and had to get a restraining order against them. When we went to court two weeks later to have the restraining made permanent the neighbor shows up with his lawyer The lawyer does his thing I present the judge with a survey preformed by a liscensed surveyor showing gross encroachment onto my property. The judge rejects my request for a pemanemt restraining order and rejects my neighbor's request to be compensated for attorney fee's. Result:Neighbor removes his crap from my property, pays his own arttorney fee's and I get a 6ft tall privacy fence along our property line for free. I pay for the survey so I think I broke even. R.I.P.

I don't have the old parachutist anymore but some ex golden knights served in Viet nam after being on the team and came home in body bags. I remember talking with Craig Gerard sp? when he mentioned the the problem of not being able to see mines on the road because of the blowing sand. The golden knights are soldiers first and the real deal both on and off the DZ. R.I.P.

>>There is news in today’s Wall Street Journal that the head of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has “exonerated Halliburton Co. of any wrongdoing in a Kuwait fuel-delivery contract.” The Corps granted KBR a waiver of the requirement to obtain certified cost or pricing data from its subcontractor for importing fuel from Kuwait to Iraq.>> I worked for the Corps of engineers for 21 years I don't know the specific's of this case however. I have attended meeting's where our chief executive a Bird Col. told us "we need "100% execution and zero negative indicator's" Guess what that means? Another meeting the big cheese says "lets not confuse the issue with the facts we're here to make a decision". I was there both times and I personally heard it. Anyone know if KBR has any retired west pointers on their staff or their practice of wearing their west point class ring on their wedding finger. Boeing recently fired some of their top exec's, a VP and the CFO the CEO resigned the VP had retired from the pentagon and had negotiated with Boeing prior to retireing for the procurement of 100 aerial refuelers by the air force. The funny part was while working at the pentagon and negotiating a sweet heart deal the VP's daughter and son in law were employed by boeing. Trust me I'm from the goverment and I'm here to help you. Don't expect any changes there are no checks and balances. Essayons R.I.P.

This probably dosen't need to be said but I'll do it anyway I hope there aren't any folks that have raven reserve's that are planning on changing their emergency procedure's in response to this lawsuit. If you don't trust your raven reserve suck it up and buy a PD or whatever or stay on the ground. R.I.P.

Thanks for posting the thread I'm not ashamed to say seeing the picture's of respect brought tears to my eye's. I may be wrong but I suspect this show of respect can be attributed in a small part from the way some of the G.I.'s were treated when they returned from Viet Nam and Korea. R.I.P.

I have never signed a waiver when buying skydiving gear. Derek It's been a long time since I bought gear but wasn't there a statement hat came with the gear (maybe the orange warning label) that says use at own risk don't like the terms send the gear back unused and get your money back. R.I.P.

Skratch: not trying to get to personal but how much did you weigh when you were jumping those round death rigs? I've put on about 40-50 lbs since the bad old days and know landing a round wouldn't now would hurt. Back in the bad old days of one size fits all the "big boys" were hard core, it hurt to watch them land if they missed the peas. R.I.P.

We all know dumping a reseve into a pilot chute in tow is always a iffy situation. I think Mr Galloway pissed off the jury by not showing up. With the advantage of hindsight I don't think he could have done any worse by putting on his own defense. Isn't he the one who was giving out T-shirts for each reserve save? The folks from the PIA may have also been able to help him out. I wonder who the plaintiff used for their expert witness, how can they tell it wasn't a rigger error. I'm surprised the lawyer left out the rigger, airplane manufactor, airplane owner, DZO, pilot, snack bar and anyone else on the DZ etc. Either way it sounds like a hollow victory. Precision may lose their sewing machine but My guess is they will be back under a new name and "ownership". It happens in construction all the time. R.I.P.

It's amazing to look back and see these tremendously complicated solutions to slow down openings - a slider is such a SIMPLE device ---- Ropes & rings & a half hitch R.I.P.

playing pocket pool R.I.P.

Since we're an old fart we made 500 jumps on rounds we were able to do standups 90% of the time. Our secret to sucess was only weighing 120-130 lbs. Rather than say we used to "Flare" the canopy prior to landing I's call it applying the breaks to stop any forward speed. Bending at the knees was enough to absorb the verticle impact. Jumping in winds that exceeded the forward speed was always a challenge but if the winds weren't to severe we were able lean forward in the harness and kick our legs back, land without brakes and salvage a standup land. I think the technique of using the risers may have been a carryover from military jumpers that was used by some of the "heavy" folks. This was a long time ago but that the way I remember it. R.I.P.

After the shot and half capewells someone came up with a one shot capewell. They were modified shot & halfs where the where the cable loops and some other parts were removed and a cable was attached from the capwell cover to the cam that held the riser to the harness. The concept was to cutaway just pop the capewell covers. The system didn't last very long after some capewell covers (one side) were accidently knocked open in a funnel or under canopy. This was a long time ago so if anyone has any more info feel free to correct me. R.I.P.

Mr Booth's 3 ring cutaway system was a big improvement from the previous systems. However just because the other systems were older and less user friendly I wouldn't call them junk. They served their purpose and worked well enough that our opening altitude was still 2000 ft. R.I.P. ---

Count your blessing's. If we still had the draft, your boring low paid job would be just tempory untill you got a letter from Uncle Sam inviting yiou to go play in the sand. Then you could have exciting job, visit exotic places and get even lower pay. BTW I don't expect the draft to ever be used again, but I've been wrong befor. Good luck R.I.P.

" What do you do when the perfectly good parachute opens and you suffer fatal injuries from a hard landing after a low turn?" The standard answer for the " what do you do if the parachute doesn't open" question used to be no problem. You open the reserve and land. What do we tell them now? . When the trend of seriouse injuries while screwing up a high performance landing first started some of the old farts used to say ...... "Who says skydivers are stupid we invented a whole new way to kill ourselves" R.I.P.

IMO nothing wrong with 10-15 year old gear unless it's been real abused and used or you want to do FF. Lots of folks spend the big Bucks for new gear make 3-400 jumps and then hang it in their closet and forget it. If you want to do the FF stuff then the"old gear" won't work but for a belly flyer IMO there hasn't been that many changes in gear. Make sure a your rigger checks outthe gear befor you buy it to make sure it's not ragged out. IMO A reguler jumper is someone who's at the DZ every weekend when the weathr is jumpable. R.I.P.