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Neurotic reactions are among the inevitable hazards of parachute jumping. The neurotic reactions of five parachute jumpers furnished us with an opportunity to elucidate certain psychological processes in the illness. All of these men had completed their basic training and were continuing training in a tropical locale when their symptoms developed.
After his physical and psychological conditioning, to qualify as a parachutist the soldier must have made five jumps. He then wears a special insignia, experiences particular prestige and pride in organization, and as an enlisted man draws fifty dollars a month extra pay. A soldier enlists voluntarily as a parachutist and can be removed from jumping status upon request, though the fear of social opinion and the calls of group morale may dissuade him from this. Refusal to jump after a plane has left the ground is considered a punishable offense, tantamount to disobeying a direct command. Individuals who requested removal from jump status and those who refused to jump from a plane did not come to psychiatric attention, and this paper is not concerned with them.
The cases in general are understandable as war neuroses and traumatic neuroses, but there is in addition a special and specific factor, or traumatic situation, the jump. Ordinarily in group jumping the parachute is opened by the pull of a static line which is attached to the chute cover and hooked to a cable inside the plane. After a fall of about seventy feet this line automatically jerks the cover off and the chute opens. In case of a failure, the jumper can use another chute that he also carries, which may be opened by pulling a rip cord.
The theories of instinct provide two main views of traumatic neuroses. Probably the most generally accepted position now is that 'the conflict between conscience on the one hand and