What\u2019s a jump story?\u00a0 A jump story is a tale of adventure.\u00a0 Usually related to parachuting.\u00a0 All parachutists, recreational, military, smokejumper and some lucky pilots have them.\u00a0 Those of you who know someone who tells jump stories are rolling your eyes and thinking here we go!\u00a0 Few things sear images into memory like life and death experiences.<\/p>\n
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After a certain number of jumps you stop thinking every one is a near death experience.\u00a0 Somehow other things slip into the equation and make the experience memorable enough to merit a story.\u00a0 Humor is the primary element, adventure is another; it doesn\u2019t take much to qualify.<\/p>\n
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Most jumpers have a twisted sense of humor by conventional standards.\u00a0 I remember an end of the season party in Fairbanks in the early 70\u2019s.\u00a0 We were standing around a campfire drinking beer.\u00a0 One of the guys kept trying to sneak up on the more inebriated, grab them, and try to throw them in the fire.\u00a0 That\u2019s what I mean about sense of humor.\u00a0 I remember one jumper who would throw his razor sharp knife at you if you asked to borrow it.\u00a0 Guess he didn\u2019t like having people borrow his knife.\u00a0 Maybe someone forgot to return it once.<\/p>\n
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Back to the party in Fairbanks.\u00a0 Like all smokejumper parties there was an abundance of new jump stories, or recycled stories that were embellished to the point they sounded new. \u00a0 One of the pilots threw out the observation that all jump stories start out with \u201cthere I was, and this ain\u2019t no s***!\u201d\u00a0 I think he was trying to get a rise out of someone and start a fight.\u00a0 He seemed disappointed when we all agreed with him. \u00a0Who wanted to explain to the boss why he punched out one of the pilots? \u00a0Nobody ever threw one of them in the campfire either.<\/p>\n
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We needed the pilots. \u00a0They were our main transportation and our supply line.\u00a0 We wanted them on our side.\u00a0 They rang the bell that told the spotter when to throw the fire packs and other cargo out of the plane.\u00a0 You didn\u2019t want your stuff hung up in the trees.\u00a0 It happened often enough without the pilot being pissed at you.\u00a0 I remember a jumper who was always giving one of the pilots a hard time.\u00a0 He never did figure out why his stuff ended up in the trees or was dropped so low that the cargo chute didn\u2019t have time to open.<\/p>\n
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Some of our pilots were career Forest Service.\u00a0 They really knew the terrain and were very conscientious.\u00a0 Some were seasonal contractors, they were very good pilots but didn\u2019t always know their way around the forest.\u00a0 Some of the contract pilots drank a wee bit.\u00a0 Particularly the ones that spent part of the year flying in Southeast Asia.\u00a0 The Viet Nam War was on.\u00a0 After the war, many still flew for the \u201cgovernment.\u201d\u00a0 Go figure. \u00a0 Flying and drinking and drinking and driving was a way of life for a very small number of our pilots.\u00a0 The DUI\u2019s usually caught up with them and they got fired. \u00a0They had to go back to Southeast Asia to fly.\u00a0 One in particular comes to mind, we called him Turbo.\u00a0 He never really got lost. \u00a0Flying with him was a real test of how well you could keep your lunch.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t know a Twin Otter could pull so many \u201cG\u2019s.\u201d\u00a0 I remember a couple of passes where the G\u2019s had the cargo stuck to the floor so hard I couldn\u2019t throw it out of the plane.<\/p>\n
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The pilots looked out for us.\u00a0 I think they regarded us as their kids.\u00a0 The local Shakey\u2019s Pizza Parlor in Boise started an all you can eat for lunch buffet.\u00a0 We regarded it as a challenge.\u00a0 \u00a0 We took a walkie talkie with us because there had been some lightning on the forest the night before.\u00a0 Most of the crew went.\u00a0 By 2:30 we were blacklisted.\u00a0 We averaged two large pizzas apiece along with at least a pitcher and a half of beer.\u00a0 When we got back to the loft the engines on the C-47 were running and the boss was pissed!\u00a0 We had forgotten to turn-on the walkie talkie.<\/p>\n
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Personally, I think Roger heard the call but hadn\u2019t had his fill of pizza and turned it off. \u00a0 When we got on the plane I heard the pilot talking on the radio to the dispatcher who thought we were over the forest looking for the fire.\u00a0 When the plane got back to Boise the spotter had to clean a lot of liquid pizza and beer out of the C-47.\u00a0 We loved our pilots.<\/p>\n
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What\u2019s a jump story?\u00a0 A jump story is a tale of adventure.\u00a0 Usually related to parachuting.\u00a0 All parachutists, recreational, military, smokejumper and some lucky pilots have them.\u00a0 Those of you who know someone who tells jump stories are rolling your eyes and thinking here we go!\u00a0 Few things sear images into memory like life and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-51","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/tagesuppe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/tagesuppe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/tagesuppe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/tagesuppe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/tagesuppe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=51"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/tagesuppe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":142,"href":"http:\/\/tagesuppe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51\/revisions\/142"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/tagesuppe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=51"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/tagesuppe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=51"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/tagesuppe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=51"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}