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Yesterday was National Airborne Day. Some of you may get this, sent from a friend:

Several years ago one of my children asked at dinner, “Dad, what’s a leg?” I replied, “that’s your mother’s side of the family, son.”

Airorne Airborne -- where ya been?

Downtown Columbus drinkin' gin !

Whatcha gonna do when you get back ??

Puke it all out on the PT track !!



--- good times ---



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Here's to all my fellow SF dirt darts...!!

"In the hole, pole man; in the hole."

Ah, summer 1986. ROTC cadet, still 18. Old helmets and boots. That was fun. Our ROTC instructor was a Ranger CPT and ruthless PT machine. He had us scared shitless about how tough the PT would be so he had as UBER conditioned. When I went I was like...uh, that's it?

Every morning before PT they got a few quitters with this:

"We've got coffee and donuts in here. You don't want to put yourself through this. Just fall out and come on in. You don't really want this."

Every morning. It was hilarious.

BLOOD UPON THE RISERS
sung to the tune of Glory Glory Hallelujah

He was just a rookie trooper and he surely shook with fright,
He checked all his equipment and made sure his pack was tight;
He had to sit and listen to those awful engines roar,
"You ain't gonna jump no more!"

(CHORUS)
Gory, gory, what a hellu'va way to die,
Gory, gory, what a hellu'va way to die,
Gory, gory, what a hellu'va way to die,
He ain't gonna jump no more!

"Is everybody happy?" cried the Sergeant looking up,
Our Hero feebly answered "Yes," and then they stood him up;
He leaped right out into the blast, his static line unhooked,
And he ain't gonna jump no more.

(CHORUS)

He counted long, he counted loud, he waited for the shock,
He felt the wind, he felt the clouds, he felt the awful drop,
He jerked his cord, the silk spilled out and wrapped around his legs,
And he ain't gonna jump no more.

(CHORUS)

The risers wrapped around his neck, connectors cracked his dome,
Suspension lines were tied in knots around his skinny bones;
The canopy became his shroud; he hurtled to the ground.
And he ain't gonna jump no more.

(CHORUS)

The days he'd lived and loved and laughed kept running through his mind,
He thought about the girl back home, the one he'd left behind;
He thought about the medics, and he wondered what they'd find,
And he ain't gonna jump no more.

(CHORUS)

The ambulance was on the spot, the jeeps were running wild,
The medics jumped and screamed with glee, rolled up their sleeves and smiled,
For it had been a week or more since last a 'chute had failed,
And he ain't gonna jump no more.

(CHORUS)

He hit the ground, the sound was "SPLAT", his blood went spurting high;
His comrades, then were heard to say "A HELLUVA WAY TO DIE!"
He lay there, rolling 'round in the welter of his gore,
And he ain't gonna jump no more.

(CHORUS)

There was blood upon the risers, there were brains upon the chute,
Intestines were a-dangling from his paratrooper suit,
He was a mess, they picked him up, and poured him from his boots,
And he ain't gonna jump no more.

(CHORUS)


...Good times.