Parachute team

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Doc910

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Joined
Jan 29, 2020
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15
Hi all!

Recently found out about the Golden Knights at USMA and I’m extremely interested.

Was wondering if anyone has any experience with the parachute team, more specifically the time commitment. As someone who wants to play a D1 sport at West Point, would the two be able to coexist? AKA is being a member of the parachute team and a D1 team of a fall sport at the same time possible?
 
In general - NO. The jump teams take SIGNIFICANT daily practice. For USAFA at least, any student can take the freefall jump course over the summer for 3 weeks, but the team is a daily commitment that would begin after the freshman year and completion of the jump course.
 
Doc910 said:
Hi all!

Recently found out about the Golden Knights at USMA and I’m extremely interested.

Was wondering if anyone has any experience with the parachute team, more specifically the time commitment. As someone who wants to play a D1 sport at West Point, would the two be able to coexist? AKA is being a member of the parachute team and a D1 team of a fall sport at the same time possible?
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One of my roommates is on the parachute team. It is definitely impossible to be on another team or even any clubs with it. It is not very physically demanding and they must workout outside of practice in addition to several hours commitment daily. You will also get very little time off (though if you're Corps Squad, this isn't new).

The tryout for parachute is a semester long so there are no guarantees that you'll get on even after the D1 sports season has come and gone. I can try to answer any specific questions you might have.
 
prospective2019 said:
One of my roommates is on the parachute team. It is definitely impossible to be on another team or even any clubs with it. It is not very physically demanding and they must workout outside of practice in addition to several hours commitment daily. You will also get very little time off (though if you're Corps Squad, this isn't new).

The tryout for parachute is a semester long so there are no guarantees that you'll get on even after the D1 sports season has come and gone. I can try to answer any specific questions you might have.
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How do tryouts work? I know there is a physical portion. Is this a PT test or a mini boot camp? Also, what is the weekly time commitment for the parachute team tryouts?
 
BeastBarracks2024USMA said:
How do tryouts work? I know there is a physical portion. Is this a PT test or a mini boot camp? Also, what is the weekly time commitment for the parachute team tryouts?
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I don't really have these specifics. There is a lot of smoking you and some specific physical days. There is also an interview portion. I don't know about the weekly time commitment. I see you've been asking about a lot of different clubs lately--there is a Club Night in the beginning of the academic year where you can get all your questions answered.
 
prospective2019 said:
I don't really have these specifics. There is a lot of smoking you and some specific physical days. There is also an interview portion. I don't know about the weekly time commitment. I see you've been asking about a lot of different clubs lately--there is a Club Night in the beginning of the academic year where you can get all your questions answered.
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Thank you.
 
I heard that there are slots for HALO School for those on the team; is this true? Still interested in trying out regardless. I'm prior service in the upcoming class of 2026; airborne qualified and about to finish up my A license.
 
68W said:
I heard that there are slots for HALO School for those on the team; is this true? Still interested in trying out regardless. I'm prior service in the upcoming class of 2026; airborne qualified and about to finish up my A license.
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This was a thing a couple years back. Unfortunately the Army school slots allotted to West Point have been utterly slashed over the last few years and I don't think we've sent anyone to HALO since c/o 2020. I do hope that for your sake that changes. They get awesome opportunities to jump regardless.
 
shiner said:
In general - NO. The jump teams take SIGNIFICANT daily practice. For USAFA at least, any student can take the freefall jump course over the summer for 3 weeks, but the team is a daily commitment that would begin after the freshman year and completion of the jump course.
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Is it possible to be on both the Parachute Team and one of the Black & Gold Sandhurst teams? I am very interested in both, and ideally would like to participate in both. If this is not possible, I would like to know that so I can prioritize one over the other. Much appreciated.
 
cadet_candidate said:
Is it possible to be on both the Parachute Team and one of the Black & Gold Sandhurst teams? I am very interested in both, and ideally would like to participate in both. If this is not possible, I would like to know that so I can prioritize one over the other. Much appreciated.
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As stated before, NO. Both of these teams require a tremendous amount of energy, time, and commitment. They are the elites of West Point in their respective areas.
 
I was on the team in the late 90s at USMA (did the cow year exchange to USAFA and participated on their team and recognized the same onboarding system) so take this with the tiniest grain of salt: it really comes down to the interview. We could teach anyone to skydive and the physical stuff was just an easy way to weed down the numbers. Ultimately, we wanted to know if we wanted to hang out with you for the next 3, 2 or 1 year(s). So some of it was a popularity contest (personality) and the other part was to determine if you could handle the time commitment given obvious other responsibilities. So if I have any advice, make sure the people you ask for LORs are highlighting your personality and ability to juggle tasks and prioritize well. Approach the people on the team that are in your company to write one for you. And, no, don't try to do another sport on top of it. Again, this is 25 year old advice....so....yeah. Good luck and BLUE SKIES!
 
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