The last man on guard was Elisha who woke us up at four a.m., in darkness we scurried around getting our stuff together with the knowledge that our first jump into the abyss was upon us. Once dressed we assembled at the hanger where the parachutes packed by the pretty girls were distributed to each and everyone of us. We murmured to one another while we waited, shuffling along as one by one each soon to be paratrooper received their parachute rig.
Buses were waiting for us outside and we loaded everything up before setting off on the short drive to the Air Force base next door. It was my first experience with the Air Force and I hadn't considered the possibility that they had bases so big that it was actually possible for the bus to drive around inside for about 20 minutes before dropping us off next to the Hercules' aircraft that were to, in turn drop us over the nearby sand dunes.
We were safely deposited by the side of a runway next to a small corrugated iron shelter, we put on our rigs and then stood there waiting. Dawn had long since broken and the guys were chatting excitedly, for Yaar it was to be his first time ever on a plane and he was positively beaming. After a while a van pulled up and a couple of Air Force guys pulled out a trestle table and loaded it up with bread, cheeses, yoghurt, vegetables and a huge flask of hot, sweet tea. I had heard rumours that the Air force knew how to live and now they had proven it.
The others tucked in but somehow the thought of being dropped out of a big aeroplane from 300 meters up put me off, somehow I was the only one though, I stood aside and watched the others eat while trying to look as happy as they clearly were. Eventually the Hercules' aircraft lined up and taxied over to the various knots of soldiers waiting for their ride over to the drop zone. One Hercules stopped next to us and we ran on board just as we had been instructed, the hold eventually filled up with us and the Sayeret as well as some extra men sent on the course as a reward for impressive service elsewhere.
The noise was phenomenal while the Hercules taxied and sped towards a take off from the airbase and yet guys were singing, I didn't join in. Yaar still had that toothy grin on his face, I sat there listening to the huge propeller engines, my friends singing, Yaar smiling (which I could somehow hear) and my own heartbeat which was able to drown out the lot of them. The co pilot of the plane was Haim's next door neighbour and he stepped out of the cockpit with a camera, everyone leaned in to smile and I put the best of British effort into offering what ended up as a kind of petrified movement on the side of my lips that may have passed for a smile or look of terror depending on how kind the person the viewing the picture decided to be.
All too soon those iconic jump lights clicked on near the doors at the rear of the plane, these light look like mini traffic lights. When amber came on we all stood up and faced the doors at the back. The aircraft were circling the drop zone and I knew my time was coming. The light turned green and I could vaguely see the first soldiers jumping as I shuffled forward for my turn. Then there was a scuffle at the front and suddenly a soldier rushing towards the back of the plane. It was Omer, a soldier in the Sayeret he was rushing away from the open door with a look of pure terror in his eyes. I wasn't quite sure where it was that he was trying to get to and wherever it was he certainly didn't get there as no less than five jump instructors jumped on top of him, dragged him to the open door and threw him out.
This actually served to calm me down as at least now I knew that I didn't have to pluck up the guts to jump out of the plane myself but could rely on someone to kick me out of the door.
My turn came and I was standing at the door looking down on the sand dunes that constituted the drop zone far below. There was no pressure to jump as I stood there looking down, the jump instructor next to me was in his 50s and had a smile on his face. "Just put one hand on each side of the opening and don't look down!" he roared, don't look down? Too late for that but otherwise I did as I was told, the tips of my toes resting over the edge of the abyss. "Now push out just like you've been taught" and so I did and the slipstream had me, I was out of the aircraft screaming at the top of my lungs; "21, 22, 23" I had brought my knees up to my chest and my hands on my reserve parachute while I counted. With the three second free fall over I looked up to find, to my everlasting joy that the parachute had deployed exactly as it should and I was floating ever so gently towards the sand below me.
The build up had been a nightmare but the floating descent made it all worthwhile, I stared down past my dangling feet at the ground that was lazily coming closer beneath me while marvelling at the fact that I was being given this opportunity by the army. I could hear my friends shouting to one another, some had brought their cameras with them for the ride and were busy taking pictures. This was what it had all been about, all the fear and worry of the morning now exorcised by the ecstasy of floating through the air and the joy of knowing that I was doing so with the aid of a parachute that opened exactly as it was supposed to.
Soon enough the ground was rushing up to meet me, Shteelman had told us that the fall after a parachute jump is equivalent to jumping from a height of about three or four meters. I remembered all that I had been taught and simply allowed my knees to bend at the first impact with the ground, I rolled, hands on my head and my first jump was over successfully, save for the fact that a gust of wind had been caught by my parachute and I was now being dragged across the sandy ground. That wasn't a problem either, tugging on the release clips, one beneath each shoulder released the parachute leaving me only to fold it up, throw it over my shoulder and join my beaming comrades on the march back towards the road and the waiting vehicles.
The second jump was a different story altogether...
Buses were waiting for us outside and we loaded everything up before setting off on the short drive to the Air Force base next door. It was my first experience with the Air Force and I hadn't considered the possibility that they had bases so big that it was actually possible for the bus to drive around inside for about 20 minutes before dropping us off next to the Hercules' aircraft that were to, in turn drop us over the nearby sand dunes.
We were safely deposited by the side of a runway next to a small corrugated iron shelter, we put on our rigs and then stood there waiting. Dawn had long since broken and the guys were chatting excitedly, for Yaar it was to be his first time ever on a plane and he was positively beaming. After a while a van pulled up and a couple of Air Force guys pulled out a trestle table and loaded it up with bread, cheeses, yoghurt, vegetables and a huge flask of hot, sweet tea. I had heard rumours that the Air force knew how to live and now they had proven it.
The others tucked in but somehow the thought of being dropped out of a big aeroplane from 300 meters up put me off, somehow I was the only one though, I stood aside and watched the others eat while trying to look as happy as they clearly were. Eventually the Hercules' aircraft lined up and taxied over to the various knots of soldiers waiting for their ride over to the drop zone. One Hercules stopped next to us and we ran on board just as we had been instructed, the hold eventually filled up with us and the Sayeret as well as some extra men sent on the course as a reward for impressive service elsewhere.
The noise was phenomenal while the Hercules taxied and sped towards a take off from the airbase and yet guys were singing, I didn't join in. Yaar still had that toothy grin on his face, I sat there listening to the huge propeller engines, my friends singing, Yaar smiling (which I could somehow hear) and my own heartbeat which was able to drown out the lot of them. The co pilot of the plane was Haim's next door neighbour and he stepped out of the cockpit with a camera, everyone leaned in to smile and I put the best of British effort into offering what ended up as a kind of petrified movement on the side of my lips that may have passed for a smile or look of terror depending on how kind the person the viewing the picture decided to be.
All too soon those iconic jump lights clicked on near the doors at the rear of the plane, these light look like mini traffic lights. When amber came on we all stood up and faced the doors at the back. The aircraft were circling the drop zone and I knew my time was coming. The light turned green and I could vaguely see the first soldiers jumping as I shuffled forward for my turn. Then there was a scuffle at the front and suddenly a soldier rushing towards the back of the plane. It was Omer, a soldier in the Sayeret he was rushing away from the open door with a look of pure terror in his eyes. I wasn't quite sure where it was that he was trying to get to and wherever it was he certainly didn't get there as no less than five jump instructors jumped on top of him, dragged him to the open door and threw him out.
This actually served to calm me down as at least now I knew that I didn't have to pluck up the guts to jump out of the plane myself but could rely on someone to kick me out of the door.
My turn came and I was standing at the door looking down on the sand dunes that constituted the drop zone far below. There was no pressure to jump as I stood there looking down, the jump instructor next to me was in his 50s and had a smile on his face. "Just put one hand on each side of the opening and don't look down!" he roared, don't look down? Too late for that but otherwise I did as I was told, the tips of my toes resting over the edge of the abyss. "Now push out just like you've been taught" and so I did and the slipstream had me, I was out of the aircraft screaming at the top of my lungs; "21, 22, 23" I had brought my knees up to my chest and my hands on my reserve parachute while I counted. With the three second free fall over I looked up to find, to my everlasting joy that the parachute had deployed exactly as it should and I was floating ever so gently towards the sand below me.
The build up had been a nightmare but the floating descent made it all worthwhile, I stared down past my dangling feet at the ground that was lazily coming closer beneath me while marvelling at the fact that I was being given this opportunity by the army. I could hear my friends shouting to one another, some had brought their cameras with them for the ride and were busy taking pictures. This was what it had all been about, all the fear and worry of the morning now exorcised by the ecstasy of floating through the air and the joy of knowing that I was doing so with the aid of a parachute that opened exactly as it was supposed to.
Soon enough the ground was rushing up to meet me, Shteelman had told us that the fall after a parachute jump is equivalent to jumping from a height of about three or four meters. I remembered all that I had been taught and simply allowed my knees to bend at the first impact with the ground, I rolled, hands on my head and my first jump was over successfully, save for the fact that a gust of wind had been caught by my parachute and I was now being dragged across the sandy ground. That wasn't a problem either, tugging on the release clips, one beneath each shoulder released the parachute leaving me only to fold it up, throw it over my shoulder and join my beaming comrades on the march back towards the road and the waiting vehicles.
The second jump was a different story altogether...
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