steve1

I think a Dolly Pardon Malfunction sounds better...Steve1

He'd probably enjoy going up as an observer. He'd most likely have fun putting a rig on again and watch everyone in freefall. I knew an old timer who jumped into Normandy during W.W.II. He became kind of a hermit, and many people said he was shell shock. When they made the movie the "Longest Day" they wrote him a letter asking what it was really like. You could tell he had a lot of pride in being a paratrooper in that war. At any rate, he lived as a recluse in the Mountains of Montana. When we were kids we would stay with him in his cabin, and he showed us a thing or two about hunting and trapping. I'd love to look this old guy up again (if he is still alive), and take him out to the D.Z. I'd bet he'd really enjoy it....Steve1

We had a drill somewhat similiar to this last year, but without kids. The argument for it was that we practice fire drills all year long, but never practice what would happen in a school shooting. So the administration decided we would have a drill, without kids, so not to traumatize anyone. At any rate, the police came into the school firing blanks and hollering. The teachers and staff locked themselves in their rooms without kids. I can see how this might have been good training for the police, but it was more or less a joke for the teachers. At our school, we are trained to take the kids into the classroom and lock the door and hide until an all clear announcement is made. So, we sat in our rooms twiddling our thumbs for an hour or two while the police went about their buisness of playing cops and robbers. Then we all went to the auditorium where the police were standing on stage with their M-16's and other weapons and equipment. We were supposed to congratulate them, and we all gave them a big hand. About then several teachers walked in. Most were PO'd because their classrooms had not been cleared and they had been forgotten for still another large block of time, (while this big thankyou session was going on in the auditorium). So much, for realistic training... Maybe this was good training for the police, but I don't think teachers need training in just locking their doors and hiding in their room for over an hour at a time. Maybe the police could come into the school and practice this on a weekend when there is no school....Steve1

A form of waterboarding was used on our own troops in training in the early 70's. I watched a movie of U.S. pilots being interrogated as part of their escape and evasion training. They were held down and a wet towel was held over their mouth and nose, while someone blew cigar smoke in their face. Before long they were completely broken. Scary stuff, even to watch....Steve1

Just thought I'd tell you, that we pulled off our demo yesterday. Our spot was a little long, and I probably should have opened higher. We had some long red streamers that we tied onto our harnesses after opening. The first thing I did was take my brakes off, which wasn't smart. It's a habit that I realized after doing it. My canopy turned while I was in the process of messing with this damn streamer, and I had a hard time looking down with my full face helmet to see where to tie this damn thing. By the time I got it fastened I had travelled down wind quite a ways with the brakes off. Does this sound like amateurs or what! But at any rate, we made it in and we were heroes for all the kids. The only scary part of the demo was having to get on the micro-phone and talk in front of that many people. All in all it was a good experience, and maybe we'll do it again next year....Steve1

Can anyone give some advice on how this is done? I think I read once that you use back risers to get up. I would imagine you keep your brakes stowed until you are up. I don't think I'd try this on a ski run, but I'd like to practice this on some bare snow covered hills. I've got an old Falcon 235 that I still jump for a back up rig. It might work okay for this. Snow is pretty forgiving on bad landings with a big canopy, as long as it's deep enough and not frozen. Maybe this is a stupid idea, but I'd still like to try it....Steve1

I'm sorry for the mix up in terms. It was definitely a container lock, not a bag lock. I'm not familiar with the new stainless steel grommets. They do sound a whole lot better than the old brass ones. (I went to rigger school about a 100 years ago)....Steve1

You might be able to get Dave Donnovan in Billings to pack your reserve. Since he got hurt, he hasn't packed any that I know of....Steve1

There was some jumping going on near Bozeman. I think Jeff Schlabs was running things there. Robby Buckles has a jump plane there and I think Jeff had another one. If you can't jump there, come to Hamilton or Ronan or Lost Prairie. Call Skydive Montana in Missoula and ask for Hod. Lost Prairie's number is listed also under Dropzones. I don't have the numbers handy for Hamilton. If you called Dave Donnovan in Billings he can give you that info. We use his aircraft there...Steve1

I jumped with a guy at Lost Prairie last summer who had a bag lock. I'm trying to recall exactly what happened and what it looked like, but if memory serves there was a small piece of bridal that somehow worked it's way into the closing loop causing the main not to open. I wonder if a tighter closing loop would have prevented this. It was a really an unusual looking mal. Probably a one in a zillion chance. I can also see how too short of a closing loop could mess up your grommets.....Steve1

Jeff Schlabs is a rigger who lives in Bozeman. His old number is 406-570-9074. He may have a new number now. Gary (Hod Sanders) is a rigger in Missoula. I think he can be reached at 406-251-4338. There's another rigger named Lynn at Hamilton. His number is 406-642-9821. And don't forget Fred at Lost Prairie. There are some other riggers there too. This about sums up all the riggers in Montana who are now actively packing reserves....Steve1

Gemini, Did you ever have to low crawl up and down that hill when the drill sargents were pissed at everyone? It was just across the road from the company area. I still have scarrs on both knees from crawling up and down that damn place with a lunatic D.I. screaming in your ear. Gees talk about tiring. Back then it wasn't unusual to see a D.I. haul off and kick someone they didn't like. Later we moved across base to Tiger Land for infantry training. I was really really glad to leave that place....Steve1

There's a lot of good stuff here. I've been around horses most of my life. Seeing as how I'm now an old fart, that is a lot of years. I'd like to say I'm some kind of expert, but that's far from the case. I started watching the horse trainers on RFDTV and I'm learning a lot. I wish I could have learned that stuff years ago. So, I'll interject a few things here, that I think are right, but may very well be wrong. Here in Montana, most people ride western, so I'm partial to western tack. I've seen the new Australian saddles and the look good. They seem to have some swells in front that might keep you from flying out of the saddle when you have a horse acting up. I used to rodeo, and have been on a lot of bareback broncs. One bad thing about a roping saddle is that there isn't much to hold you in when a horse starts bucking. Most people, I know (who do a lot of riding in the mountains) prefer a western saddle with some swells in front and a higher cantle in back. As several people mentioned, the saddle has to fit the horses back. Some horses have high withers, some do not. A mule has almost no withers at all. At any rate the tree of your saddle needs to fit your animals back if you want to avoid sores. We've always used horse hair pads with a saddle blaket over that. There's no doubt better pads out there, but they may cost a lot more money, and I question if they work that much better. I've started shoeing my own horses. Man, what a work out. I've come to the conclusion that it's really worth it to hire someone else to do it. It's kind of satisfying to do your own, but I'm not a spring chicken any more. An old rodeo buddy of mine is now 63 years old, and he's still shoeing horses and mules. I guess that's what keeps him young. He's a tough old bird, and has forgot more about horses than I'll ever know. I now have two horses and a colt. I hope to end up with a small pack string of about four head. When I retire in a few years I hope to spend most every fall hunting in various Wilderness areas in the western part of the state. I grew up doing that. I figure that when I get too old to hike or pack out meat (on my back), I'll use my horses. I have a friend who uses Lamas for pack animals. He's always arguing about what good pack animals they are and how much better they are than horses. Then I ask him exactly how many Lamas does it takes to pack out an elk. I still don't know how many, but I understand it takes a small herd of them to get the job done. Then I had to compare the personality of a horse to a Lama. To me a horse is like a good friend who trusts in you. Kind of like a big dog. A Lama to me, seems like a big guinea pig. So, I just don't see how a Lama can compare to a good horse or mule.....Steve1

Sorry for the loss of your good friend and fellow jumper. Hang on to those good memories....

This picture shows SF troops preparing to jump 119's in 1970. I made four of my five jumps in jump school out of C-119's. I can still picture our jumpmasters (Black Hats) leering at our scared faces on jump run. You could tell they were loving every minute of it. I can laugh now, but this was serious shit then....Steve1

This may date me some, but did anyone else on here ever jump a C-119. They were a popular military aircraft for dropping paratroopers and cargo way back when. I wonder if any are still flying. I made around ten jumps out of them. On take off, they seemed really under powered, and they used most of the air strip to get airborne. And then the two back doors were so close together that two sticks of jumpers might be opening right next to each other. I do have fond memories of jumping this aircraft though. Someone mentioned an aircraft that had "Soul". Maybe this one should be on that list....Steve1

Sure, I'd love to jump it! I'll bring my Frenchies....I think I'll jump my new, old PC into the lake though. I'm still waiting on my rigger to do the needed repair and modification to it. I'm afraid that even after all that, it will never land as soft as a Mark 1. It's a competition model. The modification to it should help, but it may still land like a ton of bricks. So, I'm leary of jumping it on land. A water jump, may be a good place to test it out....Steve1

Most all of my PC jumps were on a Mark 1. I did jump a PAP a couple of times and I don't recall it being much different to land. If I remember right it was made with a slicker, shinier, material than my Mark 1. And yes, (being an old airborne trooper)...the first sight of all those holes.... bigger than your helmet, was a bit scary....Steve1

I was in A-1-1 (basic training Company) at Polk in 1969. I don't know how my memory hung onto that. I wasn't a jumper then....Steve1

It's a wonder that sort of thing didn't happen more than it did. The jumps suits were getting bigger and bigger. I had big bells on both my arms and legs and plenty of material to spare in other places on my jump suit during the mid 70's. (And I think jumpsuits just got bigger during the latter 70's.) It seemed like everyone was trying to out-float the other guy, to the point that a cool RW jump suit was ten sizes too big. I guess someone finally figured out that having all that material flapping wasn't really an advantage....Steve1

I know this is a rigger's call. There is such a big variation in the knowlege base that individual riggers have, that I wonder how many beginning riggers can safely decide what is air worthy and what isn't. I was a licensed rigger many years ago, and I had almost zero training in this. Yet I was packing reserves for folks. I suspect that riggers today probably have better training than I did, but I still wonder how many riggers out there are rigging by the seat of their pants. I have nothing but respect for a Master rigger. Many senior riggers have a ton of practical experience also. But some do not. Some riggers probably get a reserve and pack it up with little more than a quick visual check. Sure they are liable if it blows up, but that is little consolation if I am the one who is dead. I'd like to shop around and get the best rigger for my money to pack my reserves, but often times I have a really hard time even finding a rigger. Is it any wonder they are hard to find. With all the liability issues involved now days, I wonder why anyone would want a rigger's license. There is a ton of stuff one needs to know to become a proficient rigger. Just because someone has a license, may not mean a whole lot. Just some food for thought. Maybe this is my own personal twisted view of things. Set me straight if I am wrong!...Steve1

I started in Ft. Polk. Did Basic and Infantry training there. I felt like I had died and gone to heaven when I went to jump school in Benning. Ft. Polk was that bad. World War II style barracks on pillars. Drill Sargents who hated your guts. Jees it was nice to leave that place. Bragg was great! A whole lot better than Benning even. We had new Barracks on Smoke Bomb Hill. Fun places to go on base. For real excitement you could go into FayateNam. I wish I would have started skydiving there. They had a great club or two back then (1970). Maybe some of those old memories just seem better than they really were. One thing for sure, you'll have some you'll never forget....Steve1

BlackFox, It sounds like you are undecided on this one. Give it some more thought, and don't be rushed into this. There's nothing that says you have to decide right now. I personally loved Jump School, and I think I would have stayed in S.F. if I had it to do over again. I was rough and tough back then and even liked jumping with a ton of equipment at night. But that's not for everyone. There were also those days when I felt like I was in prison with this huge military obligation hanging over my head. A two year stint, may turn into something much longer than that with this war going on. Recruiters are going to paint a very rosy picture, which may not be the case if you get the wrong duty assignment. So, my advice would be don't rush into anything. A friend of mine, that I now jump with, told me this story. He and some of his pals watched a John Wayne movie one night, then the next day they all went down and signed up for the marines. Six months later he was in a foxhole in Nam regretting every minute of his rushed decision. So, I'd say give it some more thought....Steve1

What is psycho packing? Does that involve the help of jack nicholson? You know I think that name causes people to think you have to be crazy to pack that way. It does look a little crazy when you roll or fold things up to go in the bag upside down. I have really nice, on heading openings with it. There was a web site that showed you step by step how to Psycho pack on the internet. In fact, that's where I learned. I've heard that for at least one new canopy being manufactured they recommend Psycho-packing. If you really look at it, it isn't that much different than a pro-pack. I feel psycho packing makes it easier to get the air out and get it neatly into a small bag. If you can pack neatly another way, that's good also.....Steve1

I wish I'd picked up another Hornet and possibly a Heatwave back when they were dirt cheap. A lot of people have tried to tell me that their low price equated with low quality. I don't believe it. I'm still jumping my hornet and still love it. I paid about ($400. U.S.)for it new. Flies and looks just like a SabreII. Great quality. I also really like the colored line tabs when packing. You can't mix them up....Steve1