Jump School

“Holes in the parachute! Fix the error,” came a voice from below as I yanked the pin of the reserve chute, zip-lining closer to the landing point. It was another routine drill after a long, fascinating week of training at the Israel Defense Forces Parachuting School.

After a week of mostly uneventful guard duty in the West Bank, we packed our gear on base and departed for two weeks of jump training. Five grueling months of training later, the moment we had all been looking forward to had arrived.

Throughout a week of eight hour training sessions each day, we've all become physically and mentally more prepared for our impending jumps. Each day consisted of learning about the plane, the parachute, the proper techniques of exiting the plane and landing safely on the ground, and finally the appropriate time and method for opening reserve parachutes.

With each new piece of information, we were sent to practice. Each one of us spent numerous hours suspended by ropes in the air, jumping off of platforms into the proper landing technique, rolling in the dirt and doing it all in full equipment. My body is fatigued to say the least. The typical aches and pains from the course (rope burn on the neck, sore muscles, scrapes and cuts) are a small price to pay to learn how to jump safely and in one piece, however!

Thinking back to family visits or school trips in Israel, I'm still shocked to think that I once looked at the wings of Paratroopers, in awe by the experience they all went through to earn them. Even more shocking to me is the fact that I'm now one of them. This time next week, I will have jumped out of a perfectly good airplane at 1200 feet and earned wings of my own. Like many experiences so far in the army, this one can be perfectly described as surreal.

Nervous and excited, I go into this week ready to finish my jumps (with two feet firmly together!) and see out the rest of my training. We have about a month and a half left, three weeks of which being shetach weeks before we finally receive our red berets and officially become a part of the Tzanchanim family. Things have been moving really quickly and although it will be difficult, the final push to the end of training will arrive with the wings.

It's a short post for today. I'll be returning to base tonight in order to be on time tomorrow for the craziest few days of my life. Wish me luck!

-Brett