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Kenneth Jackson making a "Carrier Landing" at the Ky Ha Officers Club.  When we first arrived at Ky Ha (1967) the Marine pilots decided that we all must become "Carrier Qualified" if we wanted to drink with them.  They would line up four or five tables in a row and wet them down with beer and water.  We were then required to run full speed across the floor and leap into the air, belly flopping on the tables and sliding to the end.  If you failed to make it to the end you would be jeered and drenched with beer.  If you made it you would be cheered "and drenched with beer".  When they grew tired of this they decided we had to be IFR carrier qualified.  They would cover your head with a sandbag, and you would run full speed across the room until someone (hopefully someone you trusted) yelled "Launch" at which time you would leap into the air and hopefully land on the tables.  I believe more of our pilots were injured during these proceedings than were ever wounded in the war.


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