You are quite right. I suppose most of us don’t realize it because we don’t do it.
My son is a paratrooper with the 82nd and I asked him once, shortly after he got there, how was your jump? He responded by saying something like, “Any jump you can walk away from is a good jump.”
He then went on to tell me of a JOAX that he was part of where all over the drop zone there were many paratroopers calling for medics. Apparently after every jump there are injuries. Many are “simple” injuries like twisted ankles, but some are more severe like broken hips, arms, and backs. If I remember correctly, he said that they tend to hit the ground anywhere from 20 to 30 mph (depending on wind and if someone “steals your air”).
The risks and pains that so many people take on a daily basis to provide for our freedoms is mind blowing when you really begin to look into it. I say this as a Navy submarine veteran who has forgotten how soft I have had it for the last 20+ years.
As a side note, he jumped the next day after the paratrooper was killed using the T-11. I asked my son if he has used the T-11, and he said not yet.
When I was in the USAF, a brigade of the 82nd jumped into scrub pine on our base’s reservation before dawn. It was dark and a little windy. I happened to be the Medical Officer on duty in the Hospital’s Emergency Department that morning and saw 18-20 jump casualties, mostly ankle and knee sprains or fractures. There were two more serious injuries involving spine and head injuries.
I also had the opportunity to care for more than my share of USAF personnel injured during ejection and parachuting after aircraft mishaps. Those are even more serious since you add the shock of being fired by a rocket from an unstable aircraft going hundreds of miles per hour.
I agree with you about the risks of military operations. Even the most mundane of tasks like refueling an aircraft on the ground can turn into a blazing inferno if things go wrong.