IJCH - Inside JaiChai's Head (Meaning: My Warped, Personal Opinions and Musings)
From the Author:
Salutations.
I am JaiChai.
And if I haven't had the pleasure of meeting you before, I'm delighted to make your acquaintance now.
I invite you to interact with everyone, learn, and have as much fun as possible!
For my returning online friends, "It's always great to see you again!"
Of Parachute Jumps and Frozen Vegetables...
Many years ago, when I was on active duty, I was slated to go to Fort Benning, but 4 months out, op tempo superceded (cancelled) those orders.
I went straight to free-fall training at the USAF Academy, Colorado Springs, CO, as a "special" AM-490/491 "exchange student"; meaning, I went from a ground-pounder to free-fall parachutist by doing double the required USAF free-fall jumps in half the time!
BTW, this was a little-known, used only when needed, fast-track way to get team members qualified expeditiously to meet operational commitments.
Up to this point in my life, because of an early traumatic experience on top of the Empire State building, I was deathly afraid of heights.
What happened?
A gust of wind knocked me down and immediately had a frightened little me rolling towards the edge walls of the tourist platform!
Damn! I was freakin' scared during that first jump!
But then I actually got addicted to it and found that I had an exceptional proprioceptor response to the aerodynamics of relative work (acrobatic maneuvers while free-falling).
All my classmates thought the Marine Corps had sent in a wringer to embarrass the USAF students.
Nevertheless, there was lots of free beer at the end of each jump evolution!
Although I logged a butt-load of jumps during my career, I don't consider my aerial antics anything special; mainly because I've jumped with some REAL MASTERS.
I shit you not, some of those guys could "thread the needle" and fly their bat-suits in between the crevasses of mountains!
About the Frozen Peas...
Anyway, all who've graduated from jump training know this:
After all the trauma from PLF practice and running (actually, shufffling) around with packs and in boots, most students have to make a trip to the commissary and buy up all the frozen vegetables from the commissary to ice down swollen knees at night!
By JaiChai
Really Appreciate You Stopping By.
Truly hope to see you again!
About the Author -
Believing that school was too boring, he dropped out of High School early; only to earn an AA, BS and MBA in less than 4 years much later in life – while working full-time as a Navy/Marine Corps Medic.
In spite of a fear of heights and deep water, he performed high altitude, free-fall parachute jumps and hazardous diving ops in deep, open ocean water.
After 24 years of active duty, he retired in Asia.
Since then, he's been a full-time, single papa and actively pursuing his varied passions (Writing, Disruptive Technology, Computer Science and Cryptocurrency - plus more hobbies too boring or bizarre for most folk).
He lives on an island paradise with his teenage daughter, long-term girlfriend and three dogs.
