Airborne School Information
Becoming a paratrooper at Airborne School is a unique experience requiring special dedication and a desire to be challenged mentally and physically. This three-week course, also known as Basic Airborne Course, teaches Soldiers the techniques involved in parachuting from airplanes and landing safely. The final test includes a non-assisted jump.
The purpose of the Basic Airborne Course is to qualify the volunteer in the use of the parachute as a means of combat deployment and to develop leadership, self-confidence, and an aggressive spirit through mental and physical conditioning.
Airborne Soldiers have a long and distinguished tradition of being an elite body of fighting men and women–people who have always set the example for determination and courage. When you volunteer for this training, you accept the challenge of continuing this tradition. The Airborne Soldiers of the past set high standards–it is now up to you to maintain them!
Airborne School is broken into three phases.
Ground Week
During Ground Week, you begin an intensive program of instruction to build individual airborne skills, which will prepare you to make a parachute jump, and land safely. You will train on the mock door, the 34-foot (10 m) tower, and the lateral drift apparatus (LDA). To go forward to Tower Training Week, you must individually qualify on the 34-foot (10 m) tower, the LDA, and pass all PT requirements.
Tower Week
The individual skills learned during Ground Week are refined during Tower Week and team effort or "mass exit" concept is added to the training. The apparatus used this week are the 34-foot towers, the swing landing trainer (SLT), the mock door for mass exit training, the suspended harness, and the 250-foot (76 m) free tower. Tower Week completes your individual skill training and builds team effort skills. To go forward to Jump Training Week, you must qualify on the SLT, master the mass exit procedures from the 34-foot (10 m) tower, and pass all PT requirements.
Jump Week
During Jump Week students must successfully complete five parachute jumps with the T-11 parachute at 1,250 feet from a C-130 or C-17 aircraft. Trainees must run to the airfield each day, conduct sustained airborne training, and then don their equipment and await their turn to jump. Prior to jumping their combat equipment each student will conduct a rigging exercise with their instructor to show them the proper rigging of their Airborne Combat Equipment. Generally, two of the jumps are "combat equipment jumps", in which the jumper carries a molle ruck with MAWC (Modular Airborne Weapons Case), and a dummy weapon. Three jumps are "Hollywood", in that the jumper only wears the parachute and reserve. The last jump will culminate combining the combat equipment with a night jump giving the student a complete understanding of a night combat equipment jump.
Graduation is normally conducted at 0900 during the summer months and 1100 during the winter months on Friday of Jump Week at the south end of Eubanks Field on the Airborne Walk. However, if weather or some other reason delays the scheduled jumps, graduation may be conducted on Fryar Drop Zone (DZ) one hour after the last jump hits the ground.
Guests and family members are welcome to observe all the jumps at Fryar Drop Zone, attend the graduation ceremony, and participate in awarding the wings to their paratrooper.
Fryar Field DZ is in Alabama on the Fort Benning Military Reservation. To get to Fryar Field DZ, visitors should drive to Lawson Army Airfield (LAAF). Drive to the right around LAAF. At the stop sign turn right and drive through the post gate, then turn left at the “T” intersection after crossing the Chattahoochee River. After about 5 miles turn right at the “T” intersection and you will be at the Drop Zone. Follow signs to the drop zone parking area. Following graduation, you are allowed to depart for leave, or your next duty assignment.
]]>Army Special Forces represents the premier Department of Defense force designed to conduct special warfare. Special Forces Soldiers are specifically selected, trained and educated to shape foreign political and military environments by working with and through host nations, regional partners and indigenous populations. Special Forces provides the United States with a small-footprint option for influencing unfriendly regimes, addressing insurgencies and containing conflicts that could destabilize U.S. allies and partners. To accomplish these missions, Special Forces possesses qualities and capabilities to mix nonlethal and lethal activities designed to shape the environment, deter conflict, prevail in war or successfully conduct a wide range of contingency operations.
Special Forces Soldiers are known around the world as fighters and teachers. They are highly trained and capable of missions ranging from teaching foreign soldiers Infantry tactics to building schools and treating the sick. Experts in their fields, they speak foreign languages so they can build rapport with partners and teach their skills to others. Trained to be resourceful and able to survive behind enemy lines for months if necessary, they are equally at home in the jungle or in arctic climates. They are uniquely qualified to do the jobs no one else can.
Attendance at Special Forces Assessment and Selection will require you to perform physical tasks such as climbing obstacles, by use of rope, 20-30 feet high, swimming while wearing boots and the Army Combat Uniform, and traveling great distances cross country while carrying a rucksack with a minimum of 45 pounds. Upper and lower body strength and physical endurance are required to accomplish physically-oriented goals on a continuous basis for 24 days. You need to be in excellent shape and be able to carry a rucksack day-after-day. Special Forces Assessment and Selection is an assessment of you. You will not be taught or coached to get through — you must make it on your own strengths.
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Special Forces Assessment and Selection Packing List
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At the company level, mission success requires competent leaders capable of taking the initiative and acting independently in support of their higher commander's intent. Combat engineer leaders must be highly motivated, physically, and mentally tough, and technically and tactically proficient in order to accomplish their missions and provide effective support to their maneuver elements. The Sapper Leader Course is designed to develop tough, hard, and knowledgeable leaders who are confident in their abilities and capable of operating under the harshest of conditions. The 28-day course is extremely fast paced and challenging. It will instill a high level of self-confidence and quickly enhance the cohesion within your unit. The primary focus of the Sapper Leader Course is troop leading procedures using dismounted combat patrolling as the teaching vehicle. The Sapper Leader Course is a leadership development school for combat engineers that teach skills critical to success on the battlefield.
The Sapper Leader Course is the premier leadership course for the Engineer Regiment. It trains confident and competent leaders to thoroughly plan and aggressively execute combat engineer missions. The training is challenging, but its rewards are great. Both individual Soldiers and units benefit from the training. Whether Sappers graduate or just complete the course, they return to home station with improved engineer and leadership skills which they can then pass on to their Soldiers.
There are two areas in which Soldiers must be proficient before attending the course; physical conditioning and the technical skills listed in section IX. Most of the attrition is due to inadequate physical conditioning and an inability to satisfactorily perform the technical skills. A tough physical conditioning train-up as well as refresher training in the listed skills will improve performance and increase the Soldiers likelihood of graduation from the course.
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]]>Ranger School Information
Ranger School is the Army's toughest course and the premier small unit tactics and leadership school. Ranger School is a mentally and physically challenging school that develops functional skills directly related to units whose mission is to engage the enemy in close combat and direct fire battle. For 62 days, Ranger School students train to exhaustion, pushing the limits of their minds and bodies. The course incorporates three phases (Benning, Mountain, and Swamp) which follow the crawl, walk, run training methodology. In Benning phase, the students become trained on squad operations and focus on ambush and recon missions, patrol base operations, and planning before moving on to platoon operations. In Mountain phase, students develop their skills at the platoon level in order to refine and complete their training in Swamp phase. After these three phases, Ranger School students are proficient in leading squad and platoon dismounted operations around the clock in all climates and terrain. Rangers are better trained, more capable, more resilient, and better prepared to serve and lead Soldiers in their next duty position.
Benning Phase
The Benning Phase of Ranger School is designed to assess a Soldier's physical stamina and mental toughness, as well as establish the tactical fundamentals required for the follow-on phases of Ranger School. During this 21-day phase, Ranger Instructors (RIs) coach, teach, and mentor each student to sustain themselves, sustain their subordinates, maintain mission essential equipment, and accomplish the mission under difficult field training conditions. Although each soldier that volunteers for Ranger School arrives in top physical condition, usually less than 50% of Ranger School students will complete this first phase.
The Benning Phase is conducted in two parts: the Ranger Assessment Phase commonly referred to as "RAP week" and the Patrolling Phase commonly referred to as "Darby Phase." Conducted at Camp Rogers on Fort Benning, RAP week begins with the Ranger Physical Assessment (RPA) which requires students to complete 49 push-ups, 59 sit-ups, a 5-mile run in 40:00 minutes, and six chin-ups. Following the RPA, students conduct the Combat Water Survival Assessment at Victory Pond. Day two begins at 0330 hours with the night and day land navigation test, which is followed by testing on common Soldier skills such as weapons and communication equipment. Day two finishes with the Malvesti Confidence Course, which contains the infamous "worm pit." Day three includes the land navigation retest for all of those who did not pass the initial test. The fourth and final day completes RAP week with a 12 mile foot march where each student carries an average load of 47 pounds.
After RAP week less than half the class will likely continue to the Darby phase. This phase begins with fast paced instruction on troop leading procedures, the principles of patrolling, demolitions, field craft, and basic battle drills such as squad ambush and react to contact. On day six, students who are airborne qualified will participate in a parachute jump onto Fryar Drop Zone. Upon completion of the parachute operation, all students move by bus to Camp Darby on the eastern edge of Fort Benning. Before students begin practical application on their instruction received, they negotiate the Darby Queen Obstacle course, which consists of 20 obstacles stretched over one mile of hilly terrain. Students then conduct two days of cadre-led, non-graded squad level patrols. After the non-graded patrols, students conduct three days of graded patrols, one day of cadre assisted retraining, followed by three more days of graded patrols.
In order to move forward to the Mountain Phase of Ranger School, each student must demonstrate the ability to plan, prepare for, resource, and execute a combat patrol as a squad leader or team leader. Students must also receive positive peer evaluations and not accrue more than three negative spot reports. Those that are successful receive an eight hour pass to refit their gear and then move to the mountains of North Georgia.
Mountain Phase
During the Mountain Phase of Ranger School at Camp Frank D. Merrill near Dahlonega, GA, students receive instruction on military mountaineering tasks, mobility training, as well as techniques for employing a platoon for continuous combat patrol operations in a mountainous environment. They further develop their ability to command and control platoon size patrols through planning, preparing, and executing a variety of combat patrol missions while sustaining themselves and their subordinates. The rugged terrain, severe weather, hunger, mental and physical fatigue, and the emotional stress that students encounter afford them the opportunity to gauge their capabilities and limitations as well as those of their "Ranger Buddies."
Ranger School students receive four days of training on military mountaineering. During the first two days at the Lower Mountaineering Area on Camp Merrill, students learn about knots, belays, anchor points, rope management, and the basic fundamentals of climbing and rappelling. Mountaineering training culminates with a two day exercise at Yonah Mountain applying the skills learned during Lower Mountaineering. Ranger School students conduct one day of climbing and rappelling over exposed high angle terrain which concludes with a 200 foot night rappel utilizing night vision googles. The second day, squads perform mobility training to move personnel, equipment, and simulated casualties through severely restrictive terrain using fixed ropes and hauling systems.
Following mountaineering, Ranger School students conduct four days of combat techniques training during which they receive classes and perform practical exercises on movement to contact, patrol bases, troop leading procedures, operations orders (OPORDs), ambush missions, and raid missions. Ranger School students then perform ten days of combat patrols directed against a determined and well-equipped hybrid threat-based opposing force. These patrol missions are conducted during both the day and night and include Air Assault Operations as well as extensive cross country movements through mountainous terrain. Platoon missions include movements to contact, vehicle and personnel ambushes, and raids on communication and mortar sites. Ranger School students also conduct river crossings and scale steeply sloped mountains. The stamina and commitment of the Ranger School student is stressed to the maximum because within these conditions, at any time, the student may be selected to lead tired and hungry students to accomplish yet another patrol.
At the conclusion of Mountain Phase, if students successfully demonstrate their ability to lead a patrol, receive positive peer evaluations, and not accumulate more than three negative spot reports, students move by bus or parachute assault into the third and final phase of Ranger School in the coastal swamps of the Florida panhandle.
Swamp Phase
Camp Rudder, located on Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, serves as the home of the third and final phase of Ranger School, which focuses on the continued development of the students' leadership and small unit tactics. Upon arrival, students receive instruction on waterborne operations, small boat movements, and stream crossings. Extended platoon level operations executed in the coastal swamp environment test students' ability to operate effectively under conditions of extreme mental and physical stress. This training further develops the students' ability to plan and lead small units during independent and coordinated airborne, air assault, small boat, and dismounted patrol operations in a combat environment against a determined and well-equipped hybrid threat-based opposing force.
Swamp Phase continues small unit tactical training through a progressive, realistic, contemporary operating environment. Ranger School students conduct ten days of patrolling during a fast paced, highly stressful, challenging field exercise in which students are evaluated on their ability to apply small unit tactics and techniques during the execution of raids, ambushes, movements to contact, and urban assaults to accomplish their assigned missions.
If a Ranger School student successfully leads a patrol in Florida, is evaluated positively by their peers, and does not accumulate too many negative spot reports, they student moves back to Fort Benning to prepare for graduation.
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