Running & Jumping...kinda

Whew, a full first full week back at work after being off the electronic grid for my vacation.  I barely made a dent in the hundreds of emails I received during my absence, but I feel like I at least handled the most pressing issues.  For someone with such a Type A personality, it's hard for me to accept that I just can't get everything done.  I'm very good at prioritizing, but I'm not so good at accepting that the lower priority things just may not get done.  At any rate, my disposition at work was much improved by my time away at the beach.

Two long-awaited events happened this week.  Well actually, attempts at two long-awaited events occurred this week.  The first was running.  I'm about five months post arthroscopic hip surgery and was finally cleared by my Physical Therapist to make an attempt at running.  I'm using the term "running" quite loosely since what I was actually allowed to do was a jog/shuffle for a quarter mile.  Hey, I'll take what I can get!  The short little jog felt good, but I have a long way to go with lateral movements and just overall strength in the affected hip.  My PT begrudgingly gave me the OK to resume Airborne Ops.  Um, truth be told he only said OK because he knew I'd probably do it anyway.  Let me just interject at this point in the story that I have been a very compliant patient throughout my rehab; and those of you that have known me for any length of time would agree that the word compliant is not often used to describe me!  When in an Airborne unit, you are required to jump once a quarter in order to stay proficient.  I love to jump, so before my surgery I was trying to jump once a month when my work schedule would allow it.  If you go longer than 6 months without jumping however, you're required to go through refresher training and you start to lose jump pay (which is referred to as being a Pay Loss).  I had to chuckle out loud when I received an email from the command Air NCOIC (Non-Commissioned Officer in Charge of Airborne Operations) that stated "you must exit an aircraft by the end of the month."  Have I mentioned lately how much I love my job?! 

So, on Thursday, I went out to the drop zone and figured I'd see how I felt on pre-jump training and then make a decision if I was ready to jump or not.  Before every jump, we do sustainment training.  After final manifest has been done, everyone is assigned to a chalk or stick (line-up of personnel who will exit the aircraft on the same pass) and are checked for ID card, dog tags and combat helmet integrity.  From there, the five points of performance are reviewed.  We actually all repeat and physically mimic the movements for each:
1.  Proper exit, check body position and count.  Gravity always works but if you don't exit the aircraft correctly and maintain the proper body position, it can be a pretty violent, twisting and confusing ride down.  If you don't feel an opening shock after counting out 6 seconds, it's time to deploy the reserve parachute.  At this time we also review what to do if your static line doesn't deploy properly or your equipment gets hung up on the aircraft and you become a "towed jumper."
2.  Check canopy and immediately gain canopy control.  After the initial relief to feel the rate of your fall slowed by something opening over your head, you still have to look up at the chute and make sure that it fully deployed and doesn't have any malfunctions.  During this part of the sustainment training, we review several types of malfunctions and what to do for each.
3.  Keep a sharp lookout for other jumpers during your entire descent.  This sounds like a no-brainer, but you'd be surprised.  We follow each other out the aircraft at roughly one-second intervals which is enough space for us to gain control of our movements, but at varying body/equipment weights, everyone falls at different rates which can put folks on collision courses with each other if they aren't paying attention to the winds and maintaining situational awareness of the whereabouts of the other jumpers.
4.  Prepare to land.  This involves steering and proper body position. Although not as maneuverable as a free fall parachute, the round canopy chutes we use for static jumps do have some steerability.  Beyond the obvious avoidance of trees, power lines, ponds and various other obstacles, you need to be facing into the wind when you land to facilitate a safe landing.  As you get more experience, you're also trying to steer yourself to land as close to the equipment drop off point as you can to minimize the distance you have to hump all your gear in :-)
5.  Land.  Not having your feet and knees together and having your arms/hands too far away from your body when you hit the ground can result in broken bones or soft tissue damage.  We actually jump off a raised platform multiple times before every jump to practice PLFs (Parachute Landing Fundamentals) as a refresher.

After reviewing the 5 points of performance, we perform mockup training.  We go through emergency aircraft procedures and run through the jump sequence and exit inside of a wingless fuselage complete with jump seats, doors and a ramp.  Once mockup training is complete, you draw a parachute and reserve chute, then help each other rig up.  After you're rigged up, a Jump Master performs a JMPI on you (Jump Master Personnel Inspection) and you pretty much just hang out and wait for the aircraft to pick up your chalk.  Well, on Thursday we never actually made it to the point of drawing chutes because of a weather delay.  After the weather cleared up and much waiting, the aircraft never showed so we dispersed late in the afternoon without actually getting to exit an aircraft.  Anti-climactic; I know.  Although very disappointed that I didn't get to jump, hanging out in a big open field in relatively nice weather with like-minded individuals sharing stories and experiences isn't a  bad way to spend a day away from the office.

Sally and Karen at Joe's Crab Shack

Another highlight of my week was catching up with a friend from my USOC days.  Although I knew Sally as a resident wrestler back at the Olympic Training Center, we now both have taken career paths that put us in an Army uniform.  She was in town for some training and we managed to align our schedules long enough to have dinner together.  She looks great, seems happy and is still full of positive Sally spirit!!  So glad that we were able to connect and catch up- I hope our paths will cross again soon.

I have some work stuff to catch up on this weekend, but I'm planning on taking a leisurely pace to accomplish it.  Hope everyone else had a great week too.