The United States Army Airborne School — widely known as Jump School — conducts
the basic paratrooper training for the United States armed forces. It is
operated by the 1st Battalion, 507th Infantry, United States Army Infantry
School, Fort Benning, Georgia. The Airborne School conducts the Basic
Airborne Course, which is open to troops of both genders from all branches of the
United States Department of Defense and allied military personnel.
The purpose of the Basic Airborne Course is to qualify the student 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. All students must volunteer to attend the course.
The course is three weeks long and consists of three phases: "Ground Week",
"Tower Week" and "Jump Week". Rigorous physical training is emphasized
throughout the entire course. The initial entry PT test consists of the
standard Army Physical Fitness Test. All age groups must pass this test using the
17 – 21 age group standards. The pullup requirement was reinstated in late 2013.
History In 1940, the War Department approved the
formation of a test platoon of Airborne Infantry under the direction and control
of the Army's Infantry Board. A test platoon of volunteers was organized from
Fort Benning's 29th Infantry Regiment, and the 2d Infantry Division was
directed to conduct tests to develop reference data and operational
procedures for air-transported troops. First Lieutenant William T. Ryder
volunteered and was made the test platoon's platoon leader, Lieutenant
James A. Bassett was designated assistant platoon leader, and
forty-eight enlisted men were selected from a pool of 200 volunteers. The
platoon moved into tents near Lawson Field, and an abandoned hangar was
obtained for training and parachute packing.
Lieutenant Colonel William C. Lee, a staff officer for the Chief of Infantry,
recommended that the test platoon be moved to the Safe Parachute Company at
Hightstown, NJ and train using parachute drop towers from the New York World's
Fair. Eighteen days after forming, the platoon was moved to New Jersey and
trained for one week on the 250-foot free towers, which proved to be
particularly effective – drops from the tower added realism otherwise impossible
to duplicate outside of an airplane drop, and proved to the troopers that
their parachutes would function safely. Impressed, the Army purchased two and
erected them on what is now Eubanks Field at Fort Benning. Two more were
later added, and today three of the original four towers are still in use.
Parachute landing training was often conducted by the volunteers jumping from
PT platforms and from the back of moving trucks to allow the trainees to
experience the shock of landing. Less than forty-five days after it was
formed, members of the test platoon made their first jump from a Douglas B-18
over Lawson Field on 16 August 1940. Lieutenant Ryder and Private William N.
King became the first officer and enlisted man to make an official jump as
paratroopers in the United States Army. On 29 August, the platoon made the first
platoon mass jump held in the United States.
Members of the original test platoon formed the battalion cadre of the 501st
Parachute Battalion, the first parachute combat unit. The second, the 502nd
Parachute Infantry Battalion, was activated on 1 July 1941. As more
airborne units were activated, a centralized training facility was
organized at Fort Benning on 15 May 1942. Over time, the U.S. Army Parachute
School has been known by a variety of names:
The Airborne School Airborne Army Aviation Section, The
Infantry School Airborne Department, The Infantry School
Airborne-Air Mobility Department Airborne Department
HHC, 4th Student Battalion, The School Brigade
HHC, 1st Battalion, 507th Parachute Infantry Regiment, The School Brigade
HHC, 1st Battalion, 507th Parachute Infantry Regiment, attached to HQ, 11th
Infantry Regiment 1st Battalion, 507th Parachute Infantry
Regiment, Airborne and Ranger Training Brigade
The former 4th Student Battalion, The School Brigade provided command and
control of Airborne School students from the 1960s until October 1985. During its
existence, it was organized with a Battalion Headquarters and up to nine
numbered companies, designated the 41st to 49th Student Companies. In the 1960s
and 1970s, each Airborne Class normally included students from two different
companies. By January 1982, the battalion was organized with an HHC, and
the 41st to 45th Student Companies, with each Student Company providing command
and control for one complete Airborne Class.
In October 1985, the assets of the 4th Student Battalion were used to
reactivate the 1st Battalion, 507th Parachute Infantry Regiment, as part of
the implementation of the Army Regimental System. The 1st Bn, 507th PIR
was originally organized with six companies: Headquarters and Headquarters
Company, to provide administrative support and conduct the Pathfinder and
Jumpmaster Courses; four Line Companies to conduct the Basic Airborne Course;
and Company E, a parachute rigger support company. Company D has since
been inactivated. Curriculum
= Ground week = Before you get to jump out of a plane
you must first learn how to land on the ground safely. The T-10D round-shaped
parachute that static-line paratroopers use gives a descent rate of 23.1 ft/sec
for 260 pounds suspended, which is the equivalent of jumping from a two-story
building. For the jumper's safety, they must learn the skills required to safely
transition to landing and dissipate the energy upon hitting the ground over
their entire body, preventing injury. Soldiers are taught how to wear the
parachute harness correctly and how to use the special training gear. During
Ground Week, soldiers will spend a lot of time learning, practicing, and
perfecting their Parachute Landing Fall. This maneuver teaches a soldier to
transfer the energy of your fall up the sides of the lower legs and knees, all
the way up to side of the upper body. The key is landing with your feet and
knees together. To practice the PLFs, soldiers will jump from platforms of
various heights into sand or pebble pits, simulating the final stage of
parachute landing. All the while, the Black Hat instructors observe and
correct the soldier's body position and PLF technique. Over and over a soldier
will practice the PLF – expect a soldier's body to become quite sore from
the repetitive falling as well as the uniform to get beat up. This week
culminates in practice landings from the Lateral Drift Assembly, in order to
simulate landing while moving across the ground. The 34-foot tower is also used
to simulate exiting an aircraft in flight. To continue to week 2, you must
pass all jump training test as well as the physical fitness requirements. Some
students that are unable to advance may require additional training or get
"recycled" to another class due to lack of progress or injury.
= Tower week = The second week of Jump School
concentrates on the jump towers. Soldiers will continue using the 34-foot
tower and will also use the swing-landing trainer, the suspended
harness, and the 250-foot tower. Soldiers will become familiar with the
mock door trainer to simulate mass exit training. Parachute jumps from the
250-foot high tower culminate the second week of training and are the final
transition from ground training to actual parachuting. Additionally,
soldiers are taught the different phases of parachute flight from aircraft exit,
through opening shock and chute deployment, then onto the deployment of
the risers, steering the chute, and all the way to landing. One critical skill
learned is how to identify a parachute malfunction and deal with it. This may
involve emergency procedures including when and how to deploy the reserve
parachute. Soldiers also learn about oscillation, landing falls, and how to
recover from drag. The T-10C parachute is partially steerable using the
parachute risers and soldiers are taught the different techniques to steer their
chutes into the wind and aim for the Point of Impact at the center of the
Drop Zone. The second week completes a soldier's individual skill training and
begins building team effort skills. Once successfully completing the skills
required and the physical fitness requirements, a soldier progresses to
jump week. = Jump week =
Finally, soldiers get to practice their new skills while jumping out of real
aircraft in flight. The C-130 or C-17 aircraft pick up the paratrooper
students in front of the hangar at Lawson Army Airfield. From there it is a
very short flight to Fryar Field, where all of the training jumps are
accomplished. Fryar Field is named after Private Elmer E. Fryar of the United
States Army's 511th Parachute Infantry Regiment, who posthumously received the
Medal of Honor for his actions in World War II.
The Air Force aircraft fly at 1200 feet above the ground at an airspeed of about
150 MPH. After the flight crew completes the pre-drop and slow-down checklists,
soldiers rise out of their seats and move at the jumpmaster's direction to
one of two paratroop doors. At "green light" one stick of soldiers exits the
plane – jumpers continue to move to the door until the red light is illuminated.
At that point the aircraft will begin its racetrack maneuver circling back to
the beginning of the drop zone and continue to do this until all jumpers
have jumped. A soldier must complete 5 jumps,
including one night jump, to graduate Airborne School. During jump week, the
schedule varies and soldiers will jump in a variety of configurations from no
load all the way to a full combat load jump. Jump week can seem chaotic, with a
large group of soldiers gathered in the ready-room waiting to be loaded onto the
aircraft one chalk at a time. Immediately after landing on the Drop
Zone, the soldiers collect their parachutes and other gear and meet back
at the rally point on one side of the DZ, where they wait for a bus to take
them back to Lawson Army Airfield to get ready for their next jump.
The jump schedule varies greatly based on class dynamics, weather, and
aircraft. Graduation is normally conducted at 0900 on Friday of Jump Week
at the south end of Eubanks Field on the Airborne Walk. However, if there is
inclement weather, or other factors delay the scheduled jumps, graduation
may be conducted on Fryar Drop Zone following the last jump. Guests and
family members are welcome to observe all of the jumps at the DZ, attend the
graduation ceremony, and participate in awarding the parachutist wings to the
soldiers. On graduation day, families typically spend only a few minutes with
their soldier, pinning on his or her new airborne wings. The soldier frequently
departs Fort Benning that day or the following day, to attend another
advanced military school or to report to another duty station.
Personnel = Instructors =
The Airborne School instructors are commonly referred to as "Black Hats",
due to the distinguishing black baseball caps with shiny brass rank insignia and
parachutist badge that is part of the instructor's uniform. However, all
students at the school are required to address them as "Sergeant Airborne". A
student's interaction with Black Hats consists largely of shouting, "Yes
Sergeant, Airborne!", and "No Sergeant, Airborne!". Instructors may come from
the United States Army, Marine Corps, Navy or Air Force. The reasoning is that
because students from four military services attend the training, each
service insists that they have at least one representative to ensure quality
instruction. The US Coast Guard does not usually participate in Airborne
training, as it does not directly relate to the service's Homeland Security and
daily search-and-rescue missions. = Students =
The vast majority of students at Airborne School come from the U.S. Army.
These include soldiers headed for assignments to the 82nd Airborne
Division, XVIII Airborne Corps and its subordinate units, 4th BCT 25th Infantry
Division, 173rd Airborne BCT, United States Special Operations Command and
its subordinate units, the Ranger Assessment and Selection Program, or the
Special Forces Qualification Course. Also Marine Recon units as well as
ANGLICO Units attend. Recent BUD/S graduates, Navy EOD, USAF Combat
Controllers, USAF Special Operations Weather Technicians, USAF Pararescuemen
and USAF Tactical Air Control Party also attend the school in order to be
jump-qualified. Summer cycles frequently include a substantial numbers of cadets
and midshipmen from ROTC, West Point, U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, and the
U.S. Naval Academy. During in-processing, each student is
given a roster number, which is applied to the student's assigned equipment and
used as identification throughout training.
All students are quartered in gender-segregated company barracks for
the entire course except for officers, warrant officers, and senior
non-commissioned officers, who are assigned to bachelor officer's quarters.
The first female students graduated from the Basic Airborne Course in December
1973. Upon satisfactory completion of the
course, the student is awarded the United States Army Parachutist Badge,
regardless of branch or MOS, a certificate from the school, and copies
of orders authorizing its wear. See also
Parachutist Badge "Blood on the Risers"
References External links
1–507th Parachute Infantry Regiment U.S. Army Infantry Homepage