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Comment by Tobias Gibson on March 6, 2013 at 18:25

Sometimes you just feel like posting pictures.

Rough Rider Yellow Comp Gentleman's Whittler

Buffalo Nickel Knife

Five inch Toothpicks

Case amber bone

Rough Rider Rigger

Camillus Rigger

Queen City Prototype Jack

Comment by Jan Carter on March 2, 2013 at 17:02

This has been a very exciting discussion guys!  Thanks for the stories and for your service.  keep it hi-jacked!!  I love it!

Comment by Tobias Gibson on March 1, 2013 at 18:31

Just to remain hi-jacked, one of my buddy's (no a Colonel in the Army) went to jump school with me.  His dad jumped into Normandy with the 82nd.  During Ground week, the "black hats" asked all of us cadets why we thought we had a right to be there.  I recall my answer being some snarky like "my mommy said i could come"  The black hat laughed and dropped me for about 50 push-ups.  (but he laughed)  My buddy mentioned because his dad had jumped into Normandy with the 82nd and we wanted to make his father proud.  Wrong answer. My pain was over in about a minute,  My buddy pain lasted for the next three weeks. 

And when it came time to get his wings, they asked for all those who had a relative that was given wings to stand up first so they could be "pinned" first. The black hat came up to my buddy and commented "you're still here"  My buddy smiled and said yes. The Black Hat commented, Well I guess your father's going to be proud of you.  He placed the wings on buddy's chest and then said "Blood or Regular" and before my buddy could say anything the Black hat punched him right in the chest and drove the pins into his skin. 

He smiled, and said, your daddy wouldn't have been proud otherwise, smiled shook his hand and said "congratulations".   Later that day, my buddy said, "it wasn't the pins that hurt,  It was the punch.  I thought he hit me with a hammer"  The whole left side of his chest was bruised.  There were too little dots in his chest were the wings had been pinned.

No blood wings for me. Which was fortunate, I went through jump school with a bruised Sternum.

Comment by Ron Cooper on March 1, 2013 at 14:50

Ah, yes! The "joy" of blasting a 123 with it's shorter fuselage and intensified prop blast. That was like jumping into the barrel of a cannon! And that's what I made my first 5 Jump School blasts out of at Ft. Benning, GA. I only made one jump from the huge C141 Starlifter, a jet aircraft. Most of my jumps were from 130's. Although I did made several jumps from the ancient C119 Flying Boxcar that on paper, much like the bumble bee, should not have been able to get off the ground. We also jumped from C124's which were double decked inside. Coming down the stairs and hooking up on the run was always a whole lotta fun! <grin> I also made quite a few Hollywood jumps from UH1B helicopters, or Hueys as they were called. You could jump 4 men at a time and the jumpers would hook into D-rings on the floor of the chopper. Those were always the most fun because a "Hollywood Jump" meant no equipment other than the parachute. You'd just swing your legs out and onto the strut and then step off. No prop blast! Those jumps REALLY were fun. Even though I'm 66 now I would make a chopper blast in a heart beat if I was given the opportunity.

That's a great picture of you. Can you believe it that we were so young and studly once upon a time! Below is a pic of me that is on my town's Veteran's Wall. It is the pic that was taken of me in Jump School wearing a T10 mock-up...

I snapped that pic last year when I was showing our 2012 Club Knife, the Geppetto Whittler, around my town. We are fortunate to have such a lasting tribute to my town's fellow Veterans. I am proud to have served my Country. Here are a couple more pics of the Veteran's Wall to give you a better idea of what it looks like...

And now that I've thoroughly hi-jacked this thread I will close by thanking you for sparking some good memories from long ago. Cheers to you and your good friend Mike, without whom this trip down memory lane would have never been possible.

Carry-on, Trooper!

Comment by Tobias Gibson on March 1, 2013 at 6:24

Congrats to you Ron.  I was just a five jump johnny.   I was assigned to a mech Infantry unit in Germany (then west Germany)  Had the joys of jumping from the C123 (not C130) and the C141.  The rig in the photo is the T-10 Parachute harness.  It does appear that you can pull on the two metal releases to free the entire canopy.  However you, you're not to do that unless  1) Your reserve chute fails to deploy and 2) the main chute failed completely.

Ron, I can only imagine how jumping in starched fatigues had to feel!

Comment by Ron Cooper on March 1, 2013 at 3:51

Here I am in 1964 shortly after I arrived at Ft. Campbell, KY. Home of the 101st Airborne Division ~ The Screaming Eagles! I was 17 years old at the time and was early on in my 3 year enlistment. I made a total of 35 static line jumps. All with T10 parachutes.

I always jumped with my Puma Whitehunter strapped to my right leg, on the outside of my calf for accessibility. Toby pretty much nailed it with his comment, but I'll add a little bit more.

In the event that your primary chute malfunctioned you would immediately deploy your reserve parachute. Once you pulled the handle, or ripcord, you would feed the pilot chute out and away from your main chute to avoid a potential entanglement. Bear in mind that most conventional static line parachute jumps from fixed wing aircraft are done at relatively low altitudes. I jumped as low as 900 feet, but more commonly around 1250 to 1350 feet. I made helicopter jumps from higher altitudes -- as high as 1800 feet. HALO (High Altitude Low Opening) jumps are free falls and not made utilizing a static line. A static line is the length of nylon line that is attached to the deployment bag on the parachute and hooked to an anchor-line cable that runs the length of the fuselage inside of the aircraft the troopers are jumping from. Once the aircraft has been exited it is the static line that literally pulls the canopy from the jumper's parachute backpack. If the main chute does not open properly the jumper then has mere seconds to deploy their reserve chute.

So, you see, cutting the risers would not be the most expeditious thing to do. And as Toby mentioned there is a quick release that allows the jumper to slip out of the entire harness.

If the main chute and the reserve chute both failed to open properly we were instructed to bend all the way forward, lock our hands behind our knees, then stick our heads between our legs and kiss our ass good-bye! Sigh-O-Nara!

Bottom-line: I jumped with a knife strapped to my leg for much the same reason as I carry a knife on my person today in civilian life. It was just another tool that I might never need. But I always had it close at hand just in case I did. You know the old saying: "Better to have it and not need it, than to need it and not have it."

Airborne!

Comment by ken benson on February 28, 2013 at 23:49

Any special tool is subject matter for jokes like the ignorant like me. I was a pilot in the 82nd and every month or so we would have a few jump missions and be asked to bring newspapers and tape pad the pointy places in our doors.  The first time I was positive they were joking, even as while still taping.  My stoke almost me forget the name of static line. From the low altitude and how fast they drop , and how hard they hit it seemed no malfunction could ever be  salvaged. I am still have that recollection from 40 years ago . The troopers had confidence in their skills and equipment , it had to take real guts, but without that confidence would have said they were not scared spitless, I would only assume they were too crazy to possess a survival instinct. I saw only Ka-Bars and the like personalized taped rigs.

Comment by Billy Oneale on February 28, 2013 at 21:53

That sure is a cool looking paratrooper knife, Toby.

Comment by Billy Oneale on February 28, 2013 at 21:52

Nice box, Craig.

Comment by Tobias Gibson on February 28, 2013 at 19:02

Hi Kirk, about cutting the risers on your parachute when it is fouled.  I suppose it would be one way to pass the time until you reached the automatic stop!  Having jumped a few times, I think I'd pop the reserve and pray it didn't get tangled in the malfunctioning main.

I jumped with T-10s and the -1 (dash one) parachutes. I can't recall if they had quick releases for a fouled canopy or not.  I know the T-10 had a big "Press Here Button" that all the straps fed into.  When you landed you would remove your reserve, pull the safety on the button and slap it. The whole 'chute  harness would come loose.  The Dash one also had quick release levers (three i believe) but again, you lost the whole 'chute including your reserve.

I think the switch blade was there so you cut yourself out of fouled harness when you were stuck in a tree or was being dragged by the wind and the quick releases failed. I don't think it was for cutting away the 'chute when you were still in the air.

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