We have some excellent satires about Paratroopers of the 40's - 50's Era, and The Paratroopers' Prayer Dick, joined the 11th Airborne in 1948, went to Japan, and then to Ft Campbell. When the 187tn RCT was formed in 1950, he went to Korea, and made both combat jumps. |
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SO YA'WANNA BE A PARATROOPER |
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Well here's a tip, -- friend.
Take a good look at yourself, Bud, -- buttons
all buttoned? -- Boots shined -- Uniform neat? Is your hair cut or do you
need a shave? how about those shoulders? Come on square them off; suck
in that gut -- chin up.
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Your gonna double time until you are blue
in the face -- you can't quit -- you can't lay down -- so go ahead
fall on your face !!
They will just stand you up and run you some more!! |
| Can you climb a rope? Yea, Well you just think
you can .
You'll climb a rope thirty feet high -- your arms will cramp , your fingers will freeze -- you can't possibly climb another foot ; but they will drive you on -- and brother, THE MEN
Say Jack -- take a tip, if you're not sure
you really want to be a
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You will be process in the area. (everyone
calls this the
Frying -Pan Area -- because it's as hot as a frying pan in the summer). Today or tomorrow the Medics will get you. If you pass the pill rollers then you'll know your physical condition will pass the strain. Then next will be the officers board -- if you pass them you'll know some damn good soldiers think you LOOK LIKE you might make a Paratrooper; |
| Yea, they'll tell you it always opens -- yea
-- well, listen Jack -- I've seen em ride streamers down -- all the way
-- screaming until they hit with a deadening thump -- did you ever throw
a dead cow off the back of a wagon? Know that sound? Well -- you
might hear it -- but you never feel it.
That's a good way to look at
it Bud -- if you hit hard enough -- you'll never feel it !! |
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| You should have known Mike -- Mike
jumped ahead of me had his static line Under his arm instead of OVER his
shoulder -- his chute opened -- but only after
it had pulled all the meat and muscle off his left arm !!
So Jack -- before I sign off -- think it over -- its not a bed of roses -- and you can count on a one-way ticket back to where you came from if you don't make it. I've seen many go up to jump and come down like a feather, right in the seat of the plane -- why? Just because they haven't got the guts to be one of the family. Think it over , Bud -- it's not too late to quit now -- and maybe you'll wish you had.If you make the grade -- you'll hold the highest respect and rub shoulders with the BEST MEN in the world. Good look Trooper !!! ------ A Friend. |
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| OUR ALMIGHTY FATHER: who
dwelleth in Washington, immersed in Service Records, Requisitions, T.S.
Slips, Red Tape and other impedimenta which surroundeth the Army, both
in times of Peace and in times of War, Hallowed be thy name.
Give us this day our partial pay, and forgive us our Company Bills. Guide us on the path of righteousness by thy all knowing Articles of War, rules and regulations. Approve our passes and Furloughs for thou knoweth ours is not an easy lot to bear without leisure time. Deliver us from the hands of our non-jumping enemies, for thou knoweth our burdens are manifold , Yea, even though by Divers devices these yellowed - livered Sons of Satan, these gutless washouts from thy Parachute School, after having been thrice beaten about the head with a shot-bag, allowed to don the hated Cap and Belt of the Gestapo, they falsely cry that they are thy Chosen Children. We cannot contain ourselves in their presence and Assaults and Mayhem shall abound. Guide our pleasure-bent footsteps from the lower regions of Sin and Iniquity, known locally as Phenix City, lest we should go astray and contact certain social uncleanliness which thou so forcefully described in thy Sex Hygiene Training Film. Unhook not our static lines, nor yet blow panels in our canopies. Cut not our break cords, and drift us clear of cactus hill. Strike with relentlessly swift and horrible death the Company Clerk who Redlineth our Payroll, and the Mess Sergeant who robbeth our empty bellies. By the ghosts of all those who preceded us
to the Frying Pan, and the Alabama Area, We Pray thee ......... AMEN.
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