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Now is the time for all men to come to the aid of their country.
I have typed this thousands of times since my tour of duty in the U.S. Army as a 31Charlie (Single Channel Radio Operator or RATT). The following will be stories as I remember them from my 27 months in the 82nd Airborne. A time in my life I like to reflect when I am feeling down or just nostalgic. My name during my career as a SP4 was Michael Scott Mlodzianowski or just Ski. All of us with long complicated names were shortened. Poles to Ski and Greeks to just there first initial. If your were unlucky you were given a nick name like mud, wojo, mutt, Billy-bob, etc.
I made it to Fort Bragg, North Carolina on March 7th 1987, my 19th birthday. That was one of the loneliest Birthdays but did not compare to the night of my 20th which was the night I made my first Combat Equipment Jump on Sicily drop zone the largest drop zone on Fort Bragg. We took off on my birthday but I did not leave the plane until the eight eight of March. So technically I made my first C/E jump 1 year and 1 day after arriving on Fort Bragg. This is a bragging point between my roommate Bill from Augusta, Georgia. because we had a contest going. Who could avoid jumping out of a perfectly good plane the longest. There were some rules, the Army required all jump status soldiers to make a jump at least once every quarter. But if you worked the system just right you could get away with making a jump every 4 months. We did this by participating in fun jumps. No equipment not even a rifle to fall on. And best of all they were on the weekend and during the day so you could see the ground coming up fast and you could avoid rocks, ruts, briars and small shrubs. All ready and willing to cause pain or breakage. Now I would not say that I am afraid of jumping, it is an indescribable event and most people do not remember there first five jumps in jump school. I remember all of them in slow motion except the last one. My fifth and final jump in jump school was one of the coolest jumps. Let me set the stage. January 1987, Fort Benning, Gerogia. The weather was cold, very cold. So cold that the ground was frozen. I was on the last plane to leave the runway because of the weather front that was fast approaching. In jump school they do not mess around with flying or wasting time. It is called get in, off the ground and out the door in the shortest time possible. Except today, since we were the last plane to leave and the last set of troopers to make the fifth and final jump. We took two runs at Holland drop zone. The first was waved off due to wind. The second, was a go because the wind had died down just enough to allow us to leave the plane. Upon leaving the plane I felt this sharp stinging pain on my face and hands, ice crystals. This helped my mind to place the funny streaking sensation I saw as I approached the door. I jumped into a the beginning of a snow storm. Beautiful large snow flakes were falling with me. It was hard to keep focused on the task of not crashing into other paratroopers when this quiet gentle sensation was all around me. Then the noise of troopers landing, Black hats yelling and the tops of trees became quite close. The landing was my second worst and only because the ground was frozen and the air was cold allowing me to fall faster than normal. It hurt like hell when the ground hit my five points of contact in succession. 1) Balls of the feet, 2) the calf, 3) the thigh, 4) the buttocks and 5) the push-up muscle. So if you ever hear me or someone else tell you to get your head out of your fourth point of contact, you'll know they were airborne and what they are talking about.
My worst landing as well as my last was on Sicily drop zone. Sicily is a very large DZ with a hard pan runway down one side of it to land C-130's. Well I was the lucky one at the end of my stick who drifted right over the touch down end of the runway. Part of this is my fault because I was drifting back wards and did not guess-ta-mate where I was to land. It was dark and I just could not turn my chute around no mater what I tried. By the time I had gone below the tree line and was looking down I noticed my fait appearing under me. Hard smooth ground. This is not what you normally see on a DZ on Fort Bragg. All DZ's are covered by what feels to be several feet of sand. This cuts down on the number of injuries and also builds good calf muscles while trying to get to the rendezvous point. So to get back on track I see this smooth ground under me and all I can think is sh*t this is my last jump and it was suppose to be perfect and now I am going to land really hard. Yep, I was drifting so fast backwards that I only used two points of contact, the first and the sixth. Yes I know there are only 5 points of contact but the one they do not tell you about is the sixth or your head. It is also the least used for a good reason. Well x amount of minutes later I awake pissed off at the world and my equipment. I could tell you what I did to my equipment but that would be destroying government property. I did crack my Kevlar during the landing, so I know I hit hard.
Now Bill and I did go on jumps and missions but for some reason they keep getting canceled or we would fly around for 4 or 5 hours just skimming the tree tops waiting for the wind to die down or the cloud cover to lift. If all went well for us then we would head home. Now sitting sideways in a cramped C-130 with 100+ pounds of equipment on is not the most enjoyable time to spend with 64 of your closest and not so closest friends. If you have ever gone to and air show I suggest you sit in that net seat up against the outer skin of the aircraft. In flight, it is loud and hot in the summer and cold in the winter. Did I say cramped, we were hip to hip which means no room for your shoulders but that did not mater because the parachute harness is so tight that you cannot stand up strait. This is important because once you leave the plane all the webbing stretches out and all of your weight and the weight of your rucksack is on two straps one to left and one to the right of the family jewels. Yes it is uncomfortable to sit and walk in but it is far more uncomfortable to have a gem caught under a strap for the 30 to 90 second fall with your weight and the 40-75 pound rucksack and a 22 pound M-16. Can you say ouch and good by as did our cook one jump.