Male and Female Imponderables - Zwitter

POSTED BY: Nicodemus
UPDATED: Wednesday, November 1, 2006 00:31
VIEWED: 9313
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CHRISMOORHEAD

Sunday, October 29, 2006 3:57 AM

A lot of my class described it as being akin to having sex, but then, I've heard military personell refer to firing a fully automatic weapon the same way. So I don't know how dependable that description is.

Anyways, you pre-breathe in pure oxygen for about 25 minutes before take off, then continue until you reach jumping altitude. That's probably the closest to being high that I've ever been, except it doesn't string you out. More of a feeling of exhileration; excited but euphoric. Eventually you get the signal to switch to your personal reserve, which is pretty much equivilent to clearing a gas mask. Still had one guy do it wrong on my first jump, started going into seizures from hypoxia.

Once you get the green, you ideally perform a no-hands exit (exit the aircraft without touching the in or outside of the craft itself, but ESPECIALLY not the outside). This can change in difficulty depending on if you're exiting a cargo-drop bay door or a personell side door. Whichever one you're doing, your legs feel like jello by that time. I didn't think I was nervouse, but upon questioning my Jumpmaster afterwards, I was told it's an unavoidable effect of breathing pure oxygen for so long.

The free fall itself varies for person to person. It wasn't too choppy my first time, and I got in some solid training on the Dragon's Breath at Bragg, so my Jumpmaster didn't have to correct my body positioning too much. Some guys have a tendancey to panic, though, and end up elbowing one of the JM's in the face.

Landing's always rough, no matter how you slice it. First couple of Hollywood's are called that because you don't have any equipment on. By graduation you're doing combats with 90+ pounds of equipment, always frontloaded. Even though my class had the one washout from hypoxia, no one dog legged their landings. If you're wondering what that means, remember that a dog's leg bends backwards at the knee, and you'll have a pretty good idea.

But that's the first jump. Like everything, it gets easier, even though adding new eliments to it (night jumps, high openings, etc.) always makes it feel like a completley new experience. I suppose the fall itself, which is what most everybody thinks of when they think of sky diving, depends on if you open high or low. Open high, and you do something similar to hang-gliding for 10+ minutes. Open low, you're probably gonna circle down to your LZ after a full minute or more of free falling.

And by the by, I don't think you'd be elligable for HALO training even if you were in the military. All pertinent military careers are male exclusive, so although it was never told to me outright, I'm assuming HALO is the same.

[IMG]
Place my body on a ship and burn it on the sea,
Let my spirit rise, Valkiries carry me.
Take me to Valhalla where my brothers wait for me.
Fires burn into the sky, my spirit will never die.

MSG

Sunday, October 29, 2006 4:05 AM

yeah plus my height and weight would make me a danger to the others ( 5'2" 115lbs) Which is also why I can't fire an assualt rifle. The kick spins me wildly:(
It's sounds seriously cool though...wish I could. I mean it was fun jumping from a regular plane and all
I choose to rise instead of fall- U2

JONNYQUEST

Sunday, October 29, 2006 4:14 AM

Why do they call it a "Halo" jump?

"Well, here I am...Does that seem right to you?"

JONNYQUEST

Sunday, October 29, 2006 4:15 AM

Double Post in mid air!!

"Well, here I am...Does that seem right to you?"

MSG

Sunday, October 29, 2006 4:16 AM

High Altitude Low Opening

Mean jumping from a plane that's waaaaay up there and the jump target is really narrow and small...it's way dangerous and you have to wear oxygen and such

One of my best friends is a Navy SEAL so I hear all kinds of fun stories ( well at least the ones he's legally allowed to share)

I choose to rise instead of fall- U2

JONNYQUEST

Sunday, October 29, 2006 4:20 AM

*feels like such a rube. gets ready to go to bed*

Thanks MsG. G'night.

"Well, here I am...Does that seem right to you?"

MSG

Sunday, October 29, 2006 4:22 AM

Night Jonny- you're not a rube hon just not a military guy...all my friends are cops or military, makes for some weird trivia info

I choose to rise instead of fall- U2

JONNYQUEST

Sunday, October 29, 2006 4:26 AM

Thanks for the pep up. Eyes drooping. Sweet dreams for you and MisterG. Once you get to sleep. (Still waiting for next round of maybe-baby. Keep us posted. Er, we don't need details, just results...)

"Well, here I am...Does that seem right to you?"

CHRISMOORHEAD

Sunday, October 29, 2006 4:34 AM

You're tiny.

Beleive it or not, there was a guy almost your size in my ITB platoon. He and I lost contact during Airborne, but met up again in SFQC. He washed out there, though, tiny little legs just couldn't make the marches. He was about two days from getting peered out, anyways, but that had more to do with the bias of him being small more than his actual lack of ability.

Whatever anybody said about him, he was a true warrior. And I'm not just talking in a figurative "He's got heart" sense. Guy could whip people 1 1/2 times his size hand to hand, and made 39/40 Expert for BRM. More important than that, though, he agreed with just about everything I said.

[IMG]
Place my body on a ship and burn it on the sea,
Let my spirit rise, Valkiries carry me.
Take me to Valhalla where my brothers wait for me.
Fires burn into the sky, my spirit will never die.

MSG

Sunday, October 29, 2006 4:42 AM

LOL- yes sadly I am very tiny. My students often give me a hard time about it. I do fine in hand to hand, but many weapons have too strong a recoil for me to manage...because , lets just face it, women have very pitiful upper body strength...which is again why I totally agreed with you about the " women putting themselves in a bad situation and getting raped" thing. Equality will only get you so far and I know full well that even if I were 6 feet a guy could still take me out because they have better upper body strength. It's why I think women are more suited to less combat intensive areas of the military, police, and firefighters( it always makes me nervous that women have to pass a less rigorous drill to be firefighters as I frankly don't want the firefighter who couldn't run as far or lift as much saving me)
I mean I am relatively tough and can reasonably hold my own ( because I've had training to do so) but I still wouldn't place myself in a situation where I was seriously physically confronting a guy...I couldn't win.

I choose to rise instead of fall- U2

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