Army Airborne School

Welcome to my second post. This post will be about one of the many schools you can attend as a United States soldier: US Airborne School. The purpose of this blog is to give a brief explanation of Army Airborne School to the Army military members who are currently serving. Airborne school is operated within the Department of Defense which branches into the Department of the Army. It teaches its students to safely exit an airplane with a parachute and safely landing on the ground. This school is considered very rewarding to those who complete it because very few soldiers earn the chance to receive a slot for the school and you get a paratroopers’ badge. The slots become open to all military members but have higher priorities over those who serve actively. Another reason you might get this slot depends on what branch you belong to. If you branch into Infantry, Special Forces, or Rangers, you have the highest chance in getting a slot because these are all combat related positions and in most circumstances have to parachute to combat.

Airborne school consists of three weeks of training: Ground week, Tower week, and Jump week. Ground week focuses on how to properly exit the aircraft and how to land on the ground safely. Furthermore, during Tower week, airborne students drop from a height of 250 feet with a pre deployed parachute to give a sense of how it will feel jumping out of a plane. Lastly, during Jump week you actually jump out of an airplane. You have to complete 5 jumps successfully in order to graduate airborne school but during those jumps you can possibly injure yourself if you do not land properly on the ground.

I believe the three weeks of airborne school can be both exciting and rewarding. Many people dare to jump out of a plane out of their own will. Therefore, Soldiers can earn the title of a paratrooper and have an experience of a life time being able to jump out of a perfectly flying airplane.

In addition, my plans in attending this school has been unofficially set to go by the end of this year, most likely December. The slot will have been provided by the ROTC and I am fairly excited to attend this training. The airborne school would take place in Ft. Benning, Georgia and I expect it to be a bit chilly during December. I am not too excited about the cold weather, but I am more then ready to challenge myself and jump out of a flying airplane. But my feelings for this school is both excitement and fear but it will have to be done in order for me to obtain that paratrooper's badge.