Wayne
Speaking of Smokejumpers, when I worked for the Forest Service in the 60's and 70's, before the big fire season started, the FS would detail the Smoke Jumpers to various districts, to do manual labor stuff; cut dead trees around campgrounds, mow the lawns, fix fences, etc. They were hard working during the day, and hard drinking after work. I was a young Batchelor forester the first time I was around a group of Jumpers and I couldn't keep up with them. Their big deal was, when they jumped on a 2 man fire, which was generally one old dead snag hit by lightning, after it was cut down and out. They had to stay at least 2 days on site to make sure the fire was out, then they had to walk out to the nearest road to get picked up. Many times it was miles to the nearest road. Their parachutes and gear had to be packed out and weighed 80 lbs. They would flip a coin to see who packed both packs while the other jumper broke trail. Many times there was no trail back to the road. They were some very tough dudes.

Pap