I got to jump out of a Blackhawk for the first time today! (PICS)

[USArmyParatrooper]

27. It's the T10D

It slows your decent just enough that if you land correctly you'll likely avoid injury, but you do fall faster than commercial chutes. The idea is to get to the ground as quickly as possible so you're not a target. Also, the design is very, very reliable. So much so that if the parachute rigger completely botches it when he packs it, it's still very improbable that it will fail to open.

To reduce injury the 82nd began using a new square design, the T-11. You have more control and your rate if decent is slower. The problem, they unfortunately learned, is that the chutes aren't idiot proof. Fairly recently a Paratrooper "burned in" during a training exercise.

I haven't seen them used since. Personally I would rather land a bit harder and use the chute that has stood the test of decades of use.