Airborne

I went through Jump School at Fort Campbell in June 1961 near the time of this movie. At Campbell you went to the Jump School area while still in Replacement Detachment and made one exit from the 34 foot tower before being assigned to your unit. It was fun ,not, being one of three legs in a company of airborne qualified troopers. No chance of blending into a group. I flunked the PT test for admission twice and did PT every day for the six weeks in between. I passed on the third and last chance. The time in Jump School while demanding was easy compared to time in the Company. One major difference I noted was our Black Hats would constantly make the lead group drop out and get gigs on the run. Then you had to haul ass to catch back up. We did not have a fan for the quick release from your chute. We were drug by a 3/4 ton vehicle. Dirt would build up in the releases and pose a challenge to activate the releaser. One thing they really missed was if one of The Black Hats got your number and circulated it you would never graduate Jump School. Someone posted about the 250 tower. None of the Unit Jump Schools had that only the Primary School at Benning has that feature. We did have the station where you ran through and got soaked down. Consequently our boots did not have to stand tall and we did not have to break starch every day. Movie was totally hokey but I enjoyed the Jump School part of the film.