Wmutt, just before I got out, back in 90, I applied for a Loadmaster position (guys I worked with regularly in my cargo specialist job).
Loadmaster for all of you that dont' know, is the aircrewman that handles all the grunts and cargo in back. On a paradrop run he is the guy that stands by the light and yells "GO GO GO GO GO" along with the Army Jumpmaster.
Now being a Gaurd unit, you applied for the position, got interviewed and went thru a process more similar to the civilian world.
And part of that process was they took you up flying with them and do a couple of the "simulated combat runs" to see if you could handle the airsickness and the "Mr. Toad's Wild Rides'" as some of the guys in the unit called them.
Mine was some of the most fun I had ever had. Flying NOE in the mountains, ravines, and valleys of WV are exciting to say the least. I still remember standing behind the pilot and flying down a narrow valley that looked like the trench scene in the original Star Wars, look left.. ridge above you, look right .. ridge above you, and straight ahead the valley ends and the mountain is at least 500ft above you with the stall warnings screaming all around you.
Gawd it was fun. Then standing in a harness on the end of the lowered ramp at 700ft AGL, throwing parachutes out tha back as you screamed over the DZ was incredible.
I got the position
but later couldn't pass the flight physical and found out I was diabetic
And that was the end of my military career.
------------------
Vermillion
**MOL**, Men of Leisure
"Real Men fly Radials, Nancy Boys fly Spitfires"
[This message has been edited by Vermillion (edited 05-18-2000).]
