wow, that kidna sucked
So yesterday, did PT, which sucked b/c we did sprints, and the day before we ran 8 miles. Anyways, then we had the rotational awards ceremony, after which, Sgt. Maj had a chat with the joes about everything f*cked up with the 509th, which is a lot. During the talk, he mentioned that there would be C-47 jump on june 1st, and thats an awesome jump that not many people ever get to do. Anyways, as soon as its over i find out that SSg Solloway was giving me his spot on the C-130 jump last night. I was cool with that until i realized he probably did it so that he could take my spot on the c-47 jump, b/c hes a jackass, and he happens to be a jackass with that power. So im told to go get my rucksack ready to jump, which isnt a lot of work, but is definitely a pain in the ass, and takes way more work than i wanted to do. Anyways, so i go and do Sustained Airborn Training (where i found out i would be the jumper who gets to just stand in the door) and then we move to the harness shed and i get rigged up. The first two chalks jump and the birds return to pick up the last two. While were loading the planes, the jumpmaster messed up the seating and moved me to the 3 jumper, which definitely pissed me off. The first bird makes its first pass and all is well, and our plane is about to start dropping jumpers, like the stand by order had already been given, then they announce for everyone to sit down. This confused us slightly. So then we found out that we did it b/c the pilot hit a bird in mid air at 1000 ft, which is pretty high for a bird, but anyways, it splattered all over the windshield and apparently the whole thing was covered in blood and feathers and you couldnt see through it. so after about 30-45 minutes of waiting for the crew cheif to clean it off, they decided to switch planes and let us use the other one, as it had already dropped all its jumpers and returned to the air feild. So we get on the bird and were sitting there for a few minutes and they told us to get back off the bird it had to refuel. Then we had to walk some more, which is particularly bad when wearing a complete parachute harness and on top of it you have a 35 lbs ruck dangling between your knees, with straps made specifically to hold it tight to your legs. Anyways that took 45 mins, and then we had to reload the bird, at which point i got moved back to the number 1 jumper position. So then were in the air, and we finally start dropping guys. then they tell my pass (the last pass) to stand up, and since its combat equipment, the jumpmaster helps you get up, well when he took my hands to help me up, my seat belt buckle got caught on my reserve rip cord grip, and so naturally my reserve deployed inside the bird, while the doors were open, which is typically a bad thing as that can lead to jumpers getting sucked out the door. So i hear the pop of elastic from the deployment and im like what was that, then looked down and was like "f*ckberries" and immediatly jumped on it and smothered it to keep it from inflating. then the jumpmaster told me to hold the chute tight and not let it deploy and to get on the seats so that the other jumpers could get by. So i curl up in the fetal position and just sit there until they pass me up. Then the jumpmasters start taking off my equipment so they can get a good reserve on me and inform me that im no longer jumping combat equipment. The rerig me and put me at the end of the pass, so i still jump, b/c they werent going to make an extra pass just for me. Anyways, so it wasnt very cool, b/c they definitely had already gone through all the last minute equipment checks and sent it up that everyone was good before i got hooked up. So if something was mess up, i would have been screwed. So i jump and it was actually a really good jump, except i oscillated a little bit, but thats easy to fix. Then i hit the ground and that was cool. Then i walked back and found out that two of the guys from my sqaud got hurt on the jump to include the Sqaud leader, who broke his toe and now probably wont be performing "fun day run day monday"s anymore. So thats what happened last night, now im off to play some pool.