I was an "airborne qualified" Marine, but not a Paratrooper.
13 military static line jumps. (Several civilian free fall jumps, but I never went far enough to get my A license.)
All training.
Zero malfunctions.
Exits from; C-130, C-141, CH-53E, CH-46, and UH-1N.
I don't think I ever did anything other than a rear PLF (ouch!).
One landing involved a DZ that was at 6764' ASL and was strewn with large rocks and a few cows. Once we were on the ground the curious cows started to move towards us to check us out. We were quickly outnumbered!
Number 13 was probably the most memorable.
Myself and a couple of other guys from my unit were "strap hangers" for 2nd Force Recon. Being a strap hanger meant you weren't a part of their unit, but you could get your quarterly proficiency jumps in and their jump masters could get more practice time JMing. Usually, but not always the strap hangers got the junior or newly minted JMs. We had done a jump or two prior that day. For the final jump I was in a stick with two guys who were inserting for a "full mission profile"; meaning that once they were safely on the DZ, they would immediately conduct a ground mission without involvement or interference from the support staff. They were jumping with combat equipment and would leave their parachutes on the DZ for others to recover. The fourth member of the stick was a "cherry jumper"; meaning it was his first jump after school. He and I were both jumping "Hollywood"; with no extra equipment.
We loaded on the left side the Huey so that the mission guys would exit first, then me, and finally the cherry. All went well until the exit. After my seven second count (helicopters move away from you slower than airplanes do) I looked around and realized that something wasn't right. I didn't have large amount of jump experience, but I did do two prior jumps that day into the same DZ. We were out over the water and the DZ was further away than it had been on the prior jumps. The less experienced JM had misjudged the wind and the release spot! I immediately began to run with the wind and headed for the DZ. I looked over at the mission guys; they were to my left and below me, already running. I looked over to the cherry who was holding with the wind and yelled for him to start running.
Looking back at the DZ, I though, "F**k, I don't want to do a water landing." We had gone over the water landing procedures during the jump brief, I had my UDT vest on and I could see the safety boat circling, but I still wasn't keen on landing in the water. What a PITA that would be! The DZ still looked a long way off even though I was running with the wind. After a few moments it became clear that I wasn't going to land in the water. My next thought was, "F**k, I don't want to do a tree landing either." I was trained to recover pilots (and other parachutists) from tree landings, but I definitely didn't want to be on the other side of that task. Still running, I looked over at the mission guys; because of the weight of their rucksacks they were well below me and definitely going into the trees. More and more it was looking like I was going to miss the trees and make the DZ, but there was one more obstacle - the power lines that ran along the road at the edge of the DZ.
There weren't many choices and they weren't getting any better; turn and hold, resulting in a tree landing -or- keep running to make the DZ and risk hitting the power lines. After a quick (very quick) risk/reward assessment with myself, I felt I could make the DZ without hitting the wires. Still running with the wind, and getting closer to landing, as soon as I approached the wires I pulled up my legs so that my knees were up under the reserve as far as I could get them. I didn't think I was really
that close, but I just wanted to be sure. As soon as I cleared the wires I pulled the right toggle down as far as I could. I was hoping to get turned around and hold to bleed off some speed before landing. I was able to make a 180* turn and caught a glimpse of the cherry as he cleared the wires. I don't remember what the forward speed of the MC1-1B parachute was, but I didn't get turned around fast enough to bleed of any speed before hitting the ground. So I did a rear PLF at that speed plus whatever the wind speed was. I saw a few stars, but was not injured. I was able to pop one of the risers before getting dragged too far.
After gathering up my parachute and stowing it into the bag I looked up to see the next stick drifting down into the DZ. I'm not sure if their spot was any better, but they were all running with the wind. The jumper closest to me cleared the wires, but didn't turn to hold. He ended up doing a front PLF at full speed with full wind. After he landed, I noticed that he was getting dragged by the parachute, but not making any attempt to release one of his risers - he was unconscious! As I ran over to collapse his canopy, I was joined by one of the DZ safety staff. As we approached the suspension lines I noticed he was making a feeble half-conscious attempt to release a riser by pawing at the buckle. We spilled the air out of the parachute by pulling the suspension lines on one side and he came to a stop. A Corpsman arrived quickly as well as the DZ staff, so I got out of the way. After a quick check and a little rest he walked off the DZ on his own.
Good times!
(Me, second from right. Power lines in the background.)