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A Fun Way to enter Vietnam

Headhunter

Entry posted by Headhunter ·

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It's 1968, and we're flying in a C-130 towards the coast of Vietnam.  The colonel stands up and announces in a loud voice, "We're headed for Camp Evans.  I want parachutes on.  This will probably be the last time any one of you will make a paradrop. so enjoy!  I should tell you that we'll be jumping at 500 feet. Any questions?"

 

A squeaky voice sounds off, "But sir, we need at least 1000 feet for our chutes to open."

 

The colonel replied, "We'll be going in at 200 knots, so your chutes will have at least 1000 feet to open in a nice parabolic curve.  Don't go too far north of Evans, though.  The jungle is full of Charlie."

 

Charlie, eh?  And here we were without any ammo ...

 

At the appointed time, the ramp dropped we were ordered to, "Move!  Move!  Move!", and so on.

 

My chute opened about 15 feet above the ground, thankfully.  No one was hurt that night, and no one got shot.  And the colonel was right.  No more parachutes ... just helos.

 

I did get awfully close to that jungle, though.

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Headhunter

Headhunter 526

Posted

Nope.  We were supposed to land on a strip, much farther south.  Division wanted us in Camp Evans as soon as possible.  So, the Lt. Col. decided, on his own authority, to have us drop just north of Evans.

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Megatron

Megatron 1,229

Posted

Really  amazing..... it goes against the regulations needed for a airborne drop of the million per checks and inspections but ok.

 

Glad you made it safely 

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Headhunter

Headhunter 526

Posted

1 hour ago, Megatron said:

Really  amazing..... it goes against the regulations needed for a airborne drop of the million per checks and inspections but ok.

 

Glad you made it safely 

 

First, thanks.  I'm glad we made it safely, too.

 

Regulations during wartime sometimes are secondary to priorities.  We were surprised to find parachutes on the aircraft, when we boarded.  Automatically, everyone checked out the chutes and made sure of the fit, helping each other out.  Sergeants made sure that everyone was properly equipped.  Note that all this took place before we even took off.  Then, we replaced them, still expecting a landing in 'Nam.  We were ready to jump when we were told to, but no one likes a night jump. 

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