I'm not in the military, nor have I ever been. I am married to an Army veteran. He told me this story last night and I made him type it up for me.

In Army Parachute Jump School, we were getting instructions on how to deploy the reserve chute if the main chute fails.

We were in the bleachers while the instructor was demonstrating that you hold your left hand over the reserve chute and pull the release handle with your right hand.

You then throw the reserve down and away from your body so it can get away from the main chute and catch its own air. If the reserve does not inflate properly, you pull it in again and redeploy it.

A student raised his hand and asked how many times you do this.

The instructor looked at him funny and said, “there isn’t a specific number, but you have the rest of your life to get it right”.