Have you gone skydiving? Or, would you?

I don't do well with heights, I would not be caught dead bungee jumping, but I like flying and I would totally go sky diving.

 

It's funny that I have zero fear of heights, but I hate the falling sensation. I'm usually the guy that everyone else calls when they need something done high up on a ladder, need a barn roof repaired, etc. But I don't even like amusement park rides where you "fall." I don't mind loop roller-coaster-type rides where you kind of zoom into the fall, but don't do well with straight drop kinda rides.

 

I went to Airborne school in the summer of 1988. Static-line jumps all, but skydiving nonetheless.

AIRBORNE!!!

 

Crap, I never knew you passed through Fort Benning and got your wings. It's pretty much the highlight of my service career (other than the ARCOM I got before I separated).

 

Yep. I did it the fall of 2006.

 

Thanks, everyone for your thoughts and perspectives.

This is an activity that probably naturally causes mixed feelings and a mixed mag of experiences. And that's where I'm still at with the idea, too.

I'm pretty conservative and straight-laced most of the time, but those closest to me also know me to have a bit of a spontaneous streak, so doing this is not out of the question. You all haven't completely scared me away from doing this.

But I think I'm still going to have to think about it some more.

For now, I think I'll just stick with the tamer whale-watching trip I've also got planned for my birthday, and I think I'll tell my sister that, yes, I'm interested but not quite ready to make this leap just yet.

I'll let you know if/when I do it, though.

 

If this helps, I'm now 52 and close to 53. As I look back, I don't regret any of the things I've done (outside majoring in journalism ) but I do regret a lot of the things I didn't do.

 

My max: the 3-meter board. Never even reached for the RIP cord.

 

I went once in college.

I went up, jumped (tandem), and pulled the cord. Apparently, it went pretty smoothly.

I know this because I have pictures and video of me doing it.

I have ZERO recollection of it. None.

 

So many flavors of "no."

 

I've always wanted to go, but never got around to it. Now that I have a son, I doubt I ever will.

 

Yeah, I don't think I'd be able to justify doing it again now that I have kids...

I've watched the video so many times and I have no idea why I can't remember any of it. I remember the training. I remember getting into the plane, and then it just ends... I don't remember jumping, I don't remember pulling the cord. I don't remember landing and based on the video, I was even talking to the guy who dived with me as we were soaring...

It was a year or so afterwards before I told anyone that I couldn't remember it. I asked my roommate if he remembers me doing anything strange that day and he said, "You looked scared, but no more so than the rest of us."