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Air Force Liaison/P.Net Original Cast of Characters
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This article came out in April 1999, you can read the rest there. After this tidbit was my response to this article that was finally published in the September 1999 issue in the Airmail section:
When Senior Airman Jason Wojteczko says he’s “out the door” it’s not because he’s leaving work after a hard day at the office.
No, his “step” out the door of a Twin Otter gets him an exciting 50-second free fall, with nothing but 11,000 feet of air between him and earth, all at a screaming 120 mph.
As an instructor with the Wings of Blue parachute team at the 98th Flying Training Squadron, Air Force Academy, Colo., Wojteczko is part of a cadre of 13 enlisted people whose daily motivation is to teach cadets, future Air Force leaders, how to face their fears and master free-fall parachuting. They also teach cadets to become jump instructors.
“Cadets can go through several courses here. The majority go through the most popular, the basic free-fall course, or Airmanship 490, where they must complete five 10-second delay solo jumps to graduate and wear the Department of Defense parachutist badge,” said Wojteczko.
MY RESPONSE:
Getting jumpy
As a former infantry paratrooper who has had the privilege of serving in the 82nd Airborne Division, I take extreme exception to Senior Airman Jason Wojteczko’s calling the parachutist badge the Department of Defense parachutist badge (“Go ahead and Jump,” April 99). He may or may not be correct, but any true paratrooper who has graduated from the Army airborne course at Fort Benning, Ga., and served in an airborne unit, would never, ever call it the Department of Defense parachutist badge. Anyone who refers to it as anything other than Army jump wings, has obviously never graduated from the course.
Master Sgt. Allen Larson
Charleston AFB, S.C.
LOAD CLEAR! LOAD CLEAR! Your Job is my Hobby!
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Stare Master
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Get 'em, Al.[thup] Welcome back to the land of the PC.[ ]
Only two defining forces have ever offered to die for you, Jesus Christ and the American GI. One died for your soul, the other for your freedom.
"History teaches that when you become indifferent and lose the will to fight someone who has the will to fight will take over." COLONEL BULL SIMONS
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BS6's Dude
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Stare Master
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JR, I never had a clue about how long the program had been around. But I know for a fact that as of 1980 USAFA cadets had to attend jump school at Benning in order to receive their wings.
Only two defining forces have ever offered to die for you, Jesus Christ and the American GI. One died for your soul, the other for your freedom.
"History teaches that when you become indifferent and lose the will to fight someone who has the will to fight will take over." COLONEL BULL SIMONS
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BS6's Dude
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They might not have been awarding wings back in 1971 when this article was written.
I think someone ought to point out that West Point has a skydiving program, but doesn't award jump wings to their cadets.
What's fair is fair. Nobody is stopping USAFA cadets from attending jump school, last I knew.
IN FACT - It's pretty annoying to many of us USAF enlisted troops that ROTC and USAFA cadets can attend jump school, but enlisted USAF troopers MUST HAVE a positional requirement to attend.
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