He starts to walk back to me and he grabs a parachute from beneath a bungee spider web that is sticking to the side of the plane. The parachute is two big squares attached to each other by two-seat belt-like straps and then there are many other straps, clips, and hooks coming off the two straps as well as the two squares. I see him coming toward me and he goes to say something in my ear.
I lean back to listen. He says to me “LET GO OF THE PLANE, WE HAVE TO PUT YOUR PARACHUTE ON.” The second I let go of the plane he pushes me out. I am all disoriented for a few seconds but then get myself into the “arch“. I remember I had no fear as I was falling, I was not afraid. I remember focusing on the ground, focusing, focusing, focusing, and got prepared for the impact both mentally and physically. As the ground came closer I envisioned my legs as “steel springs“, and got my body ready.
Knees bent, tighten the butt and thighs, always, always, always keep the knees slightly bent. It was like a feeling of doing a reverse squat if you will, the only difference being that instead of having the weight already on your shoulders and then exploding upwards, you are simply mentally prepared as the weight becomes your own body weight multiplied times the acceleration rate you are traveling. I remember hitting the ground with such force I cannot really explain the feeling, it was just like “BA-BOOM“.
I hit so hard that afterward, they told me that I must have “bounced” at least 50 feet in the air. This makes sense because I had no fear during the whole thing but I became scared the second after I hit the ground when I saw how high I was still in the air. I simply had never “bounced” that high before. Then I hit and “bounced” for the second time (I had bounced so high the first time that I could not do my shoulder roll for the landing, I had to “bounce” again and then do the shoulder roll) and on the second “bounce” I was disoriented because I never had “bounced” twice before and I twisted my knee on the landing.
I remember it was day time it was cold and I had landed in a field. I was lost in the tall grass. I said to myself self “GET UP! GET UP YOU SON OF A BITCH.” And I managed to stand up and I saw men running towards me, I tried to walk but I collapsed right there. They come over to me and Mr. Green starts yelling at me “STAND UP! GET UP! I SAID STAND UP!” I yell back at him “I’M TRYING” and as hard as I tried I could not get my legs under me. Some of the men pulled me to my feet and tried to help me walk, but the whole experience had left me totally exhausted. I mean I felt like I was drained of every ounce of strength that I could possibly gather together.
I begged them telling them “I’m all right, just please let me rest for a minute.” Finally, they laid me down in the field and I passed out. I don’t know how long I was out for but they had to wake me up because it was getting to be dusk. I could walk now but only with help, they put me in the back seat and I fell right to sleep. I woke up in front of the dorm again and they helped me to my room and then put me to bed. I don’t remember how long I was asleep for but it was for a long while.
The Funding