Jumps course

[Yorkshire_Warrior]

What are the chanves of a hat getting on their jumps course at the present??

If so who to contact etc.

There is a airborne roled unit in my city (RE)

Cheers
Y_W

 

[Filbert Fox]

you would have to do P-Coy, just because there is an airborne role it doesnt mean they dish out jumps courses willy nilly (unless youre a consultant surgeon or anaesthetist of course)

 

[The_Duke]

Per FF,

You would have to pass P Coy, be taken on strength of a unit with a para role and in a para roled LSN.

Then you just wait your turn for a course to come up and for your bid to be a high enough priority.

Pick up the log!

 

[Doc2B]

What happens to the consultant anaesthetists then?

 

[The_Duke]

You would attempt P coy, possibly fail, but if the demand for a jump trained anaesthetist was high enough the magic pixies would work on your paperwork and off to Brize you go.

 

[StabTiffy2B]

You would attempt P coy, possibly fail, but if the demand for a jump trained anaesthetist was high enough the magic pixies would work on your paperwork and off to Brize you go.

Wouldn't you only wear a lightbulb, rather than wings though?

 

[The_Duke]

Wah?

 

[Bravo2nothing]

You would attempt P coy, possibly fail, but if the demand for a jump trained anaesthetist was high enough the magic pixies would work on your paperwork and off to Brize you go.

Wouldn't you only wear a lightbulb, rather than wings though?

Magic Pixies don't give out Light Bulbs, only wings.

 

[Filbert Fox]

yep, wings all round.

 

[Flynn101]

This thread sounds like a Red Bull commercial.

 

[mature-stoodent]

What are the chanves of a hat getting on their jumps course at the present??

If so who to contact etc.

There is a airborne roled unit in my city (RE)

Cheers
Y_W

Of course you could get a bunch of your oppo's together and arrange a long week end in Holland with a Dutch Jump School and do their 'B Wing'. This is worn on the right breast.

In order to wear in on your uniform you need your OC to declare the weekend an exercise and then apply to him to be allowed to wear the wing. There are many soldiers accross Europe that go along to Holland to get this wing because they want to do military jumps but cannot get onto their own national course.

And check out the Dutch Commando website for confirmation of this wing, in the middle of the screen near the top is the word 'emblems' klicky, klicky. Its in English not Cloggie, so no worries.

If you need details of a Dutch para school drop me a PM

http://www.korpscommandotroepen.nl/english/kct/index.html

 

[The_Duke]

M_S, it is a bit more complex than that:

Parachute Descents
J5.834.
a. Parachute descents, other than forced descents, are to be made only by:
(1) Trained parachutists whose duties require it.
(2) Service personnel on authorised parachute training courses at No 1 Parachute Training School, or at foreign or Commonwealth military parachute schools with the authority of the Ministry of Defence (SO1 AB/SF Pol).b. Experimental parachute descents are to be made only on the authority of the Ministry of Defence (MAP 12d or SO1 AB/SF Pol).
c. The prior approval of the commanding officer concerned is required for all cases under a. and b.
d. This regulation relates to duty parachute descents from Service aircraft. It does not refer to sport parachuting or adventurous training free fall parachuting at Joint Service Parachute Centres; the orders and instructions for these activities are given in Army General and Administrative Instructions and Defence Council Instructions.

For the Dutch course to be sanctioned as an official military course you need to get CO's approval, and then the approval of SO1AB/SF Pol. This is usually only given to people who are already in date, current British miltary parachutists. There are exceptions, but it is very rare. If you do it this way, it is an approved exchange and it all comes for free.

If you pay your own way, you have bought yourself a space on a civvy run sports parachute course using military type equipment. If you wish to do this as an officially sanctioned adventure training package then you need to follow all of the AT guidelines.

Ask yourself, would you wear US helicopter pilots wings on your uniform because you got a private helicopter pilots licence in the USA? Or a Divers badge because you did a PADI course on holiday?

I am not knocking the course as a way of doing some parachuting, but it is not an official exchange unless sanctioned as above.

 

[Praetorian]

In order to wear in on your uniform you need your OC to declare the weekend an exercise and then apply to him to be allowed to wear the wing.

Is that not what he said?

 

[The_Duke]

Only if your OC is actually your CO and SO1 AB/SF Pol at MOD.

 

[shemulie]

There are lads in 4 Para that have had to wait 2 years or more to get their wings and it's prob only gonna get worse. Guess they haven been dubbed the blue badge of patience for no reason!

 

[The_Duke]

There are lads in 4 Para that have had to wait 2 years or more to get their wings and it's prob only gonna get worse. Guess they haven been dubbed the blue badge of patience for no reason!

It depends if they have been able to get time off work, or the courses they attended have been a wash out due to weather or aircraft availability.

We had ages with no-one passing, and then a dozen or so one one course. It has always been hit and miss because of these issues, but the current Op tempo just makes it worse.

Very good reasons why the spaces are saved for those in role, and denied to badge hunters.

 

[Gluck_ab]

There are lads in 4 Para that have had to wait 2 years or more to get their wings and it's prob only gonna get worse. Guess they haven been dubbed the blue badge of patience for no reason!

I'm sure The Duke will concur but your first sentence should be qualified appropriately; there have been Basic Parachute Courses (BPC) run during the last 2 years, as there is every year, and attendance on those is primarily subject to an individual's availability and a place being alloted to him accordingly. Bear in mind that 4 PARA soldiers may well have been on operations in Iraq (x 2) and Afghanistan during that period and so their 'wait' may well have been down to that, timing of courses and thir availability subsequently.

I am not aware of any soldier in our Company who has had to wait 2 years or more to get their wings - all those who pass P Coy are extremely keen to get their wings, however, Operations have beckoned, participation in which the soldiers are keen to be involved in and these have not been dependent on being a military parachutist.

With regard to their 'wait' getting 'worse', that is relative. Rather than numerous BPCs running less than fully loaded, as used to often happen, the number of courses have been condensed to ensure that courses are fully loaded (with reserves on a waiting list) and valuable aircraft and training resources are used to their optimum efficiency. All the same, a 2 year 'wait' is not the case, see previous paragraphs, unless the individual has been particularly unlucky or is not really interested in earning his BBC and making himself available to do so.

Edited to add;

The Duke's post landed before mine and adds the dreaded bad weather factor in the equation.

 

[themaadone]

I must admit that I gained german bronze wings prior to the BBC. Funny7 old thing but sometimes the nature of the job makes you jerk in mysterious ways....

 

[The_Duke]

I must admit that I gained german bronze wings prior to the BBC. Funny7 old thing but sometimes the nature of the job makes you jerk in mysterious ways....

Granted, and hence the comments about "usually" and "exceptions". It is never a good idea to give a categoric statement about anything in the Army, because someone has always done it differently!

I was more interested in dispelling the myth that as long as Major Mannering of the Walmington on Sea R Signals det says it is OK to do so, then serving soldiers can buy their way onto a foreign sports para course, call it an exercise and award themselves spurious badges.

 

[mature-stoodent]

Duke,

all Dutch B Wing courses are ostensibly 'civvy run' because they are an AT event - normally at either Teuge or Texel.

Most Dutch I have known with this wing have paid for the course out of their own pocker because it is only something like £250 for the training and jumps. The theory is that if they ever end up in an airborne role they top up to 8 jumps by doing the equipment and night jumps and if they are fortunate their OC/CO will authorise the refund of their original expenditure.

So if someone from UK popped along to the land of clogs, dykes and round red cheese they would be doing the same course as any military person in Holland. So you can not compare it to doing a purely civvy PPL(H) in the USA or a PADI course and pasing yourself of as SBS. The schools in Holland are geared to military jumpers and the jump licence and certificate is annotated as a military course. Added to which if you tell them you are there to do the military course you would be put onto a course with other military personnel.

It does'nt take much to find a sponsoring agency in Holland, lets face it they like a piss up as much as the next guy, it only takes a bit of effort and it is do-able. The Germans have shed loads of blokes going over to Holland because it takes forever to get into airborne in Germany, they will not create an airborne vacancy you have to wait until someone dies or leaves.