Paratrooper takes fish on parachute jump

Practical Fishkeeking ^

[Gamecock]

A paratrooper who was preparing to leave the US army decided that he would make his last parachute jump more memorable by taking along a fish.

The day before his final jump on April 11, Spc. Matthew Tattersall went out and purchased a Siamese fighter, which he called 'Willy Makeit'. He placed the fish in a water bottle and poked a few holes into it to allow air to get in. Then he hid the bottle in his pocket as he knew he wouldn't be allowed to jump from the plane with the fish.

"That's my pet fish named Willy MakeIt... It was born a Japanese Fighter Fish but today it has become an American Paratrooper Fish"Airborne!82nd Airborne Division#82nd #Airborne #Fishborne #NemoWasaLegPosted by U.S Army W.T.F! moments on Sunday, April 12, 2015

The selfie he took of himself in the air with the fish was posted onto a Facebook community called U.S Army W.T.F! Moments, where it received more than 15,000 likes. But it hasn't gone down too well with his chain of command at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

23-year-old Tattersall, who described himself as '23 years stupid' is assigned to 2nd Battalion, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division. He says he's still waiting for the final outcome of his actions, but he has no regrets, although he's sorry for upsetting his chain of command.

He told Military Times: "I wanted to make it awesome, and I did just that.

The fish has been re-named 'Willy Did Makeit

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According to Army Times, which can only be excerted here,:

-Robbins had already turned in most of his gear and this was considered a "Hollywood Jump."

-For doing this Robinson had to write a 1,000 word paper on the importance of safety when conducting Airborne ops.

-He will be going to college when he gets out next month.

[Unrepentant VN Vet]

Never take a fish above 5000 feet in altitude.

You apparently have never heard of the area immediately surrounding the Continental Divide, or the MANY fish living quite happily there at altitudes over 12,000 feet.

....or maybe even those at higher elevations i.e. the Andes or Himalayas.

(Just gotta watch that "always" and "never" deal, doncha?)

[Tainan]

As a former Airborne RANGER, I feel fully qualified to repeat the observation (probably from a leg):
"Only two (2) things fall out of the sky - bird sh!t and fools !"

[Gamecock]

**but I guess the Army will always be better “back in my day” than it is now.**

My dad was a retired Infantry CSM.

When I was a young Captain I accompanied him to a doctors appointment at the base hospital. We were on the elevator with another retiree and a couple young trainees. The trainees get off, the door closed and the other guy looked at my dad and said “The Army ain’t what it used to be!” Dad looked back at him and replied “It never was.”

I thought that was pretty profound.