After a period of climbing, Richard's C-47 transport plane finally reached the specified altitude required for parachute training and began to hover in the sky, waiting for the tower to take off and jump. www.biquge.info The weather is good today and the visibility is very good. From the plane, you can see the whole of Fort Benning.

"Oh my God, is 1,500 feet that high?" The bison, who was on a plane for the first time, looked at the ground through the porthole and muttered with a little pale face.

"What's wrong Bison, are you scared?" Although Tomato himself was a little nervous and kept wiping the sweat from his palms on his pants, he would never miss any opportunity to laugh at the bison.

"Who is afraid! I just didn't expect 1500 feet to be that high. Bison defended weakly, and then shifted the topic to Richard's side: "Young Master, have you ever been on a plane before?" ”

"I've sat on it, but it's the first time I've jumped off it." Far from being nervous, Richard was a little excited. "You say, from the sky, does Fort Benning look like a cauldron?"

Tomato glanced down curiously: "Don't say it, it's really a bit like the pot my dad boiled in ketchup." ”

"yes, your rotten tomato will jump into the pot by itself in a moment, be careful not to fall into ketchup." The buffalo's unbridled words caused the entire cabin to stare angrily. It would be unlucky to say such a thing at this time.

"Shut up, Bison!" Sergeant Andrew, the head of the company, scolded sharply, "If you talk nonsense again, I'll throw you down now." ”

The bison also knew that what he had just said was a bit excessive, so he shrunk his neck in embarrassment, shut up and stopped talking. For a while, the atmosphere in the cabin was a little dull and oppressive. Everyone was staring nervously at the skydiving lights, except for Richard, who was still looking out the window and admiring the view of the landing site below.

By this time, Captain Gavin had already received information from the pilot, and due to the sudden gust of force 5 wind at the landing site, the tower ordered a temporary delay of 15 minutes from the parachute jump.

Although Gavin did not think that the level 5 wind energy would have much of an impact on today's skydiving training, the order was given by General William Lee himself, and he had no choice but to obey it. He also understands that after all, this is the first time in the history of the US military to form a parachute jump, and the most important thing is to ensure that everyone can land safely without any accidents.

But it's not a problem for everyone to just wait in the cabin. If these lads maintain this tension for a long time, they are likely to deform their movements and create unnecessary danger when they skydive for a while.

"Lads, relax. Below is Fort Benning, not hell, nothing to be nervous about. Gavin pretended to be relaxed and said, "I heard that your 1st platoon of C Company is the only platoon that has passed the B-level assessment with all its members, is that true?" ”

"Yes, sir!" The soldiers of the 1st Platoon of Company C replied in unison that this was the proudest thing for their platoon.

"Then there's no need to be nervous, just follow the usual training movements. There's a bunch of C's in the other platoons, and they can all jump, so you're even better. Gavin continued to cheer them up, "How many of you took the A-level assessment?" ”

"All of them, sir." Since the 1st platoon leader was on another plane, Sergeant Andrei replied in his place, "But only one person passed." As he spoke, he pointed to Richard, who was staring out the window.

Gavin certainly knew that Richard was one of the few dozen or so people in the 503 Brigade who had passed the A-grade evaluation. Shortly after Richard arrived, Gavin noticed the new recruit, who was surnamed Vanderbilt. Recently, John and Anderson asked him to take care of the little guy more. Gavin naturally had a thorough understanding of Richard's situation, and he asked this just to find an excuse to have direct contact with him.

"Private of the second class, what's your name?" Gavin pretended not to know Richard.

"Richard, sir." Richard quickly sat up straight and replied loudly.

"Not bad, lad. You just participated in the training for 1 month and passed the A-level assessment, which unit were you from before? Gavin continued.

"Report sir, I came directly from the boot camp and have not served in other units." Not everyone in the platoon knew that Richard was a recruit, and his answer surprised some.

"It's not easy for you to surpass most veterans in such a short period of time." Gavin nodded, "Have you ever jumped a parachute before?" ”

"Didn't skip sir. I've played with gliders though. I love the feeling of being in the sky. Richard's face couldn't help but smile, like a child who has seen his favorite toy.

Gavin stared at Richard's slightly childish face for a moment and didn't speak. He suddenly remembered that when he was 17 years old, because of his admiration for Gonzalo Córdoba (the famous Spanish general, the first epoch-making commander of the firearms age, who invented the Spanish phalanx, known as the great Gonzalo), he approached a local army recruiter in New York and asked to join the army. From Richard's body, Gavin seems to see the shadow of himself back then.

After a brief moment of silence, Gavin spoke to Sergeant André and a few other soldiers. What he has to do now is to help these lads relieve their stress, and there will be time after communicating with Richard. Today is just the first step of contact, and by the way, I will help him label him as an elite paratrooper, so that he can be converted into a non-commissioned officer in the future.

Before you know it, 15 minutes passed quickly. When the red skydiving indicator light came on and the engine room remembered the beep siren, Gavin walked to the cabin door and shouted, "All stand up, hook!" ”

"Equipment inspection report!"

"Check the 24th complete!" "Check the 23rd complete!" "Check the 22nd complete!" ...... "No. 1 inspection completed! ”

As all the officers and men in the cabin reported the equipment inspection in turn, Gavin opened the cabin door, and a cold wind whistled into the cabin.

"Stand at the door!" Gavin continued to fulfill his duties as the parachutist of his own plane: "Guys, one by one, 1, 2, 3, jump!" ”

Everyone, whether excited, scared, or nervous, jumped out of the hatch one by one. They all knew very well that if they showed cringe and resistance at this time, there would only be one result - being kicked out of the Airborne Forces.

After the last soldier jumped out of the hatch, Gavin gestured to the pilot of the C-47 transport plane and jumped off himself. In the air, parachutes are like white dandelions, which are extremely beautiful under the support of the blue sky.

"It's just amazing! I love this feeling! After landing, Richard didn't bother to pack up his umbrella and shouted excitedly.

In just a few minutes, more than 300 officers and men of the 501st Battalion successfully completed their first parachute training training. The vast majority of the people managed to land at their designated landing sites, with only a handful of unlucky ones being blown by the wind into the bushes of the hills 1.5 miles away.

Almost everyone cheered excitedly like children, hugged each other and high-fived. They all know that after four more such parachute jumps, they will be able to get the coveted paratrooper badge, and they can pompily tie their trouser legs into their paratrooper boots and become a real army elite.