Hi Jeremy,(posted 8894 days ago)It's not at all necessary to have prior parachute experience to be qualified to become a smokejumper. I suspect smokejumper instructors actually prefer to work with untrained jumpers because they don't have to worry about making you "unlearn" anything. Smokejumping is highly specialized, so you'll learn what you need to know only by going through smokejumper training. That's not to say that sport or military jumping is a bad idea, it's just that it won't necessarily give you any special advantage over the competition when it comes hiring time. Your best advantage there is to have outstanding fire experience, preferably on a Hotshot crew.
dan