A parachutist navigation system includes a display attached to a side vision area of a parachutist's goggles, a navigation pod attached to the parachutist's helmet, and a remotely located controller. The navigation pod supports therein a GPS receiver and a processor provided with mission data supplied by the controller. The processor uses the mission data and GPS signals to generate a plurality of display-formatted data sets. Coupled to the processor is an user-controlled input device used to select at least one of the plurality of display-formatted data sets for output to the display.