This is why soldiers yell 'Geronimo' when jumping out of airplanes

Watch cliff divers, bungee jumpers, or even just kids fooling around and jumping into a lake. At some point, one or more of them will yell Geronimo! Its a safe bet that at some point, weve all yelled this name.It seems like a pretty random thing to yell when jumping from a bridge, cliff, or plane, but its actually from the military tradition of paratroopers yelling it as they jumped from a perfectly good airplane.But where did the paratroopers come up with it'It dates all the way back to the origin of paratroopers. In 1940, the Army was still developing the strategy of dropping troops out of planes. On the eve of the first test jump, soldiers from from Fort Benning started a night of drinking with a viewing of a wild west movie beforehand. This was likely the 1939 film Geronimo starring Andy Devine and Chief Thundercloud.After the movie,Pvt. Aubrey Eberhardtboasted that he wasnt scared of the jump, despite being the tallest man in the unit. This caused his fellow soldiers to call him out on his bragging, saying he would forget his name at the door, as the troops were supposed to shout their name when they jumped.Everyone in their jump group successfully jumpedall the soldiers remembered their names and shouted them as they made their jumps.The 68 Eberhardt did them one betterwhen his turn at the door came, he shouted Geronimo!and a new military tradition was born.Some of the top military brass werent in love with the new tradition, but others thought it evoked the bravery and daring of the Apache chiefthe last holdout against American expansion to the West. They let the paratroopers keep the tradition.Civilians just kinda took it from the paratroopers. And who could blame them, with that kind of pedigree'SEE ALSO:This is why it's actually illegal to shoot at pilots who've bailed outJoin the conversation about this storyNOW WATCH: All the nasty things inside a pimple ' and why you should stop popping them
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