Course allows for more high-altitude jump quals

[unhappycamper]

A Marine jumps over Coolidge, Ariz., where the Corps will hold its new Multimission Parachute Course. The service plans to streamline freefall training and open its own jump school.


Course allows for more high-altitude jump quals
By Dan Lamothe - Staff writer
Posted : Monday Dec 8, 2008 7:32:07 EST

MARINE CORPS BASE QUANTICO, Va. — The Corps is preparing to launch a new jump school course, a move that would allow more Marines to qualify each year for high-altitude jumps while also cutting down on training time.

A class of 22 Marines, mostly reconnaissance in background, graduated from an initial version of the Multi-Mission Parachutist Course on Nov. 21, Marine officials said. Marine Corps Systems Command declined to say when the courses would begin, but it intends to offer the training through Complete Parachute Solutions, a contractor whose facility in Coolidge, Ariz., was home to the initial course.

The new course will allow up to 240 Marines to train in 10 classes of 24 per year, well above the estimated 68 Marines who qualify annually during a four-week class at the Army’s Military Freefall School at Yuma Proving Ground, Ariz., said retired Master Sgt. Michael Thurmond, SysCom’s military freefall training coordinator.

The MMPC also will cut down on training time, since Marines coming out of the Army course also must now attend the Corps’ Multi-Mission Transition Course, a three-week class that introduces the Multi-Mission Parachute System used by Marines in the field. The MMPS offers safety advantages over the MC-5 parachute used by the Army, but it is not used at the Freefall School, Thurmond said.

The Army validated the safety and standards of the Marine course early this year on the first try, said retired Maj. Tom O’Hara, acting team leader and logistician for the program. The Army offered suggestions as the program was developed, and stands to benefit since it opens additional training slots for soldiers, Thurmond said.


Rest of article at: http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/2008/12/marine_parachutist_120808w/%2e

[jimmil]

1. Its about time..

That the military caught up with civilian training. Years ago I grew up in skydiving doing the old static line method of learning and then progressing from hop and pop to 5 second, 10 second, 15 second delays. It took a while to progress. In the 1980s the USPA with help from folks like me and many others developed AFF of Accelerated Freefall where your first jump was from 12.5 thousand with two instructors. Later on I wrote a pamphlet on Relative Work or Formation Flying. Anyway, the military was slow to catch on to the new teaching techniques. We had jumpers doing in 50 jumps what took us 250 jumps or more to do. Now the military will be incorporating new course instruction to get the guys to a higher level of proficiency with a lot fewer jumps required. Very good stuff.

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

2. It is also about time the Navy/Marine Corps

break from the Airborne crap too.