I wrote this story up before for my journalism class but I fudged a little on the details. At the time, I thought I'd never write about my activities. Even at that late date I didn't think I should write it all down.
At this point in time I don't know any of the names of the people I dealt with. Most of them I never did know. I don't even remember their faces. They were plain people. They might have been selected for that purpose because they could blend in and disappear if they needed to do that. I'm definitely sure I never took a photo of any of them.
I did want to write this down and I'd thought to write it earlier but I got a bit lost by finding new photos I "needed" to write about.
I wonder now if anyone ever wondered about all the times I got called into the office. I would have been thinking, "that girl is in trouble."
One day one of the sergeants wanted to see me. He sent me on an errand for him. I was to take an envelope out to the airport and deliver it to a man who was waiting for it. He told me not to hurry back, to take the rest of the day off and have some fun for once in my life. I thought I was having fun but I guess not in their eyes.
I got out there and a strange guy said he'd been sent to give me some extra training. It had been decided that some day I might be in a plane and need to jump. They wanted me to have some familiarity with it, just in case.
He took me to a training area where I was hoisted up on ropes and dropped to see if I could handle that. I really didn't want to do it, but I knew I had to do just that.
Sometime before I joined the army, I was in an accident on a ride at the fairgrounds. Since then I'd been terrified of rides. Jumping out of an airplane was not on my list of things I wanted to do in my life. I was OK helping our Dad on the roof till it was time to turn around and come back down. This was so much worse.
We did it a few times and I didn't loose my lunch but then I hadn't eaten lunch in the first place. I was scared but I had been scared before in my life. It wasn't the first and it wouldn't be the last.
I did have a little knowledge of how to land because of the Mormon guy. He was in rigger school which meant he was also Airborne. Sometimes he would show off about how easy it was to land and make me pretend by standing the way he did. The big thing was that you couldn't land straight down with your legs out straight or you'd most like break one.
* Rigger school is where they learn how to pack and repair parachutes.
I was taught the finer points of this here. After God knows how many repeat tries with the rope sling thing, I was given dinner and driven back with the information that I was to be back out there early the next morning. If he wrote on it why, I never knew. He just told me to be ready in the morning.
I was not only allowed to do this in the morning, I was fetched in jeep and driven out there by a guy who said not one word. Believe me, I asked questions. I tried to get him to talk. He just looked at me and smiled.
At the airport, I was driven to the same area and told to get out. I didn't see a soul but I did as told. After he'd driven off the guy from the day before asked me if I thought I was ready. I wanted to say, "Nope, I'll never be ready." I'd signed up for this. I'd agreed way back in Basic that I would do what they asked of me or rather what they told me to do.
Before I could sneeze I was hustled into a plane. Out on the runway, we took off. In the plane where five other people. They looked happy so I guess they'd been through it before and survived. I didn't talk. I didn't hardly move. I was really terrified.
My instructor went over the routine again and hooked me up. I wasn't a quitter. He asked me one more time if I wanted to do it. I just nodded. It was all I could manage. The others went first. I could feel the wind blowing in on me. There was a lot of noise.
It was my turn now. There was no one behind me. I hesitated a little. He looked me in the eye but didn't say anything just nodded. I nodded back and he gave me a little push. I honestly think I might not have had the courage if left on my own.
I was out and sailing downwards, maybe plummeting is a better word. I heard a noise and suddenly my chute was unfurling and there was a jerk when it fully inflated. Then it was a graceful descent with only one problem.
I had waited too late to jump and missed the target. Up until then I had been floating down watching birds soaring around me and feeling elated that I had done this. When I say I missed the target I should say I'd missed it by a lot.
I landed almost perfectly but I skidded a little in half frozen mud. I wasn't in the right field. The open field was off to my left. I was in a farmers field. I could see mounds of hay like huge loaves of bread.
I heard a snort off to the right and turned to see what it was. It was the Mother or rather Father of all bulls and it was coming straight at me. I did the only thing a self respecting daughter of a farmer could do. I ran and I ran fast, behind the hay at first but I could still hear him coming.
I knew it wouldn't be long till he found me. I pulled some of the hay out of the side, just a little but enough that there was a space I could crawl into and hide. I stayed there at least an hour or two till I couldn't hear him anymore.
Carefully I crawled out and headed for the right field. By then they figured I was lost and they were out looking for me. Somehow I found the road and headed in the direction I thought was the one that would lead me back to the airport.
He met me just as the airport came in view. We didn't even stop. He told me to change in the back of the truck which I did. I didn't want to be in those muddy, cold, slimy clothes any longer than was necessary. I pulled on my fatigues and climbed back to the front. He threw me a candy bar. I'm guessing that was my breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Back at the base I was left outside my bay. I went inside expecting to catch Hell for being gone so long. My Sgt. caught me. "And so the lost one returns," he said. I figured by that he had an idea what had happened but it was never mentioned again.