Photo By Senior Master Sgt. Paula Macomber | Sgt. 1st Class Joe Jones readies the parachute harness for Airman Baylee Hunt before...... read more read more
Without hesitation I walked to the edge of the plane — toes dangling 10,000 feet above ground. All I could see were the fields, buildings and cars appearing the size of ants. Was I really doing this?
Only moments before, during this early October day in northern Nevada, I was with my family, on the ground, at the Minden-Tahoe Airport Aviation Roundup Air Show.
This was very different than the ground.
I couldn’t believe it was actually happening.
I was about to jump out of an airplane with the U.S. Army Golden Knights.
I wasn’t worried. These soldiers are professionals. Their sense of calmness made me feel like the jump was nothing to worry about.
The man I jumped with was Sgt. 1st Class Joe Jones, an Airborne Ranger serving as a tandem instructor on the Golden Knights. Since becoming a Golden Knight, he has completed more than 6,000 parachute jumps and more than 2,000 tandem parachute jumps. I knew I was in good hands.
When the time came to take off for the jump, Jones handed me a bright-yellow Golden Knights jumpsuit and said, “It’s the new fall fashion. Get it?”
We saddled up. I said my goodbye to my family and boarded the plane. I was well equipped with my yellow jumpsuit, my harness and my jump instructor.
On the 10,000-foot ascent over the Carson Valley, we did a few circles around our jump target to determine the wind direction. We relaxed, told jokes, and took shots of oxygen from an oxygen tank.
The Knights were full of more skydiving jokes and took turns telling me every single one they could think of.
“You don’t need a parachute to skydive. You just need one to skydive twice.”
I could tell they had done this thousands of times. To them, this was their life, which I didn’t really think about at the time.
Jones and I were the second to jump.
The first man jumped out and disappeared in a split second. Now it was my turn. And there it was again — a huge pit of nerves in my stomach. My heart was pounding out of my chest and my palms began to sweat.
Jones and I were already harnessed together. We waddled down the aisle of the plane like penguins to the exit door. We stepped right up to the edge of the plane which was the scariest but most anxious feeling of the whole experience. There was now no barrier between me and the 10,000 feet of open air below.
We rocked back and forth three times and on the last rock, Jones hurled us both out of the plane.
My stomach dropped to my toes, but I wasn’t afraid. I was trying to take in every second. It was the most incredible thing I had ever experienced.
It felt like flying.
In the following seconds and for the rest of the free fall, the feeling of my stomach dropping went away. All I could feel was the fresh, cold air flying past me as we plummeted at maximum velocity toward the ground below. I took in all the scenery. It was unbelievable.
I didn’t want it to end. Then "boom!" The 'chute came out and we were whipped from our free fall and back into what felt a little more like reality.
As we floated back to reality from sensory overload, I returned to a feeling of normalcy. My heart slowed down and I relaxed as I watched the figures on the ground become closer.
I took a deep breath and thought about what I just did. I did something that I always wanted to do, but never thought I would.
After experiencing it once, I feel like I can do it 100 more times.
| Date Taken: | 10.15.2017 |
| Date Posted: | 10.17.2017 14:56 |
| Story ID: | 252000 |
| Location: | RENO, NEVADA, US |
| Web Views: | 576 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
This work, First Person Account—Skydiving with the U.S. Army Golden Knights, by SrA Baylee Hunt, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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