Air assault course critique I would love to hear everyone's thoughts.

2014-10-31T07:41:52-04:00

Response by MAJ Dallas D. made Oct 31 at 2014 7:54 AM

2014-10-31T07:54:43-04:00

WOW - I guess next thing we know Ranger school will be a gentleman's course. Sad.

Response by SGM Private RallyPoint Member made Oct 31 at 2014 9:12 AM

2014-10-31T09:12:34-04:00

Petty people do petty things.

Response by CSM David Heidke made Dec 9 at 2014 8:52 PM

2014-12-09T20:52:57-05:00

I have heard anecdotal stories that Air Assault has a 50% drop rate in the first few days. Airborne school has a much better rate.

Sometimes an intelligently worded course critique goes a long way.

As a Drill Sergeant we are taught how to judiciously dispense yelling and stress, it sounds to me like Air Assault school is run by a bunch of power trippers. Power trippers who don't have the proper training on how to motivate.

They overbook the school on purpose and then just try to get people to quit on Day Zero. Sounds like a colossal waste of money to me.

Response by CSM David Heidke made Dec 9 at 2014 8:55 PM

2014-12-09T20:55:51-05:00

It also speaks volumes that this is and END of course critique and not a washout.

This 27 year Soldier graduated with a Bullwinkle badge and should probably be heeded.

Response by SSG Gerhard S. made Dec 9 at 2014 9:36 PM

2014-12-09T21:36:34-05:00

Clearly, this soldier did not get the point. This is a problem I observed in 1986 when I attended the Air Assault School. I did not observe such complaints in the Basic Airborne Course. I believe this is because one has to volunteer for the Basic Airborne Course, and many are required to attend the Air Assault Course. I found the Air Assault Course far more challenging both physically and intellectually than the Basic Airborne Course, but then I volunteered for both Courses, and was not forced, or required to attend.

Response by SFC Mark Merino made Dec 9 at 2014 11:41 PM

2014-12-09T23:41:36-05:00

I went through in 1997 and didn't get a single wrinkle in my tuxedo.

Response by SFC Mark Merino made Dec 9 at 2014 11:55 PM

2014-12-09T23:55:00-05:00

I got a profanity safety kill at JRTC and NTC. Apparently, there is no room for profanity in combat. Live and learn. By that account "every drop of sweat in training saves a drop of blood in combat" should be replaced with the kinder, gentler, warm, and cuddly "time out........I'm having an awfully stressful time today", or something equally gentile. Pinkies out when you throw that hand grenade, super trooper.

Response by SPC David S. made Dec 10 at 2014 1:12 AM

2014-12-10T01:12:44-05:00

Hope this guy writes a critique on his first combat engagement.

----- "I find that the enemy is engaged in the most blatant and abusive forms of hazing with the intent to wound or kill me. While the the enemy's intended message says "I want to kill you" the real message is "I want to kill you".

I would say this guy is an outlier as, while not knowing for sure the full extent as to if this is a common retort, I would bet the majority in his class would have a more positive view of their experience having completed the final phase. I would bet a similar response from this individual if he had attended The Army School of Music. The fact that the school is a "smoke session" I feel adds some intrinsic value in the badge. It is not just a ASI, its a symbol that you have the mental and physical fortitude needed to complete the school.

If he was targeted by the black hats it would not surprise me having read this I'm sure this one demands a lot of involuntary extra attention.

Response by MAJ David Wallace made Nov 4 at 2018 8:02 AM

2018-11-04T08:02:46-05:00

1SG Richard Smith, thanks for sharing.

I went through Air Assault School in 1988 after my first Army tour in Korea. As "Roster 1" of my class, I remember with great fondness the first smoke session I had on the first day. There was a great deal of yelling, screaming, PT, and running. There was much more PT at the AAS than at Ft. Benning's Airborne School. Thirty years after the fact, I can see that it was a 10 day long smoke session. It showed me that I could improve my PT and be a better leader. I didn't leave with any hurt feelings, but did take some valuable information, training, and experience from the school and applied it in the field during my Desert Shield/Desert Storm deployment with the 101ST.

The writer makes some very valid points. Most Soldiers that went through Air Assault School with me were fairly young and impressionable, coming from AIT. They still had some growing up to do. There were also a mixed bag of NCOs and officers with various experiences and backgrounds that were there to learn as well. The course may have been more effective had the school developed and used the student leadership to organize and maintain discipline and order amongst the student body. Instead, the cadre insisted upon beating the life out of everyone, equally. Most of us just wanted to 'earn' some street creds by graduating from Air Assault School and rejoining our units. The theory was that if you were going to be in an Air Assault unit, you had better have your Bullwinkle badge. If you didn't, you would not be held in too high esteem with your unit, regardless of how well you did at your job.

I did my best to steer away from any TRADOC and Recruiting assignments, probably at my own expense. As an Army Reservist, I served in various staff and commands in a Basic Combat Training (BCT) battalion and brigade. From an operations and training perspective, we as military planners and trainers must realize that our work force is changing. The young civilian men and women joining our organization are as different from us as we were from the 'old salts' that made up the Army when we joined. Not better different or worse different; just different. Soldiers new to the Army have been 'broken down and rebuilt' while in basic training and AIT. When they get to that first specialty school, they are ready to learn and become part of the "Varsity Team:" their first unit. They want to achieve and they want to belong.

Instead of beating the life out of those in training, trainers and leaders should be modeling professionalism and teaching newly arrived Soldiers about the heritage and lineage of the organization that they are now apart of. If a Soldier knows what his unit has done, what it has accomplished, and what they need to know to be an effective and important part of that unit, they will buy into the unit in a more genuine manner. They don't arrive at their first unit burned out and pissed off that they just had the hell beat out of them. They arrive knowing a little about their new unit determined to meet the standard and to live up to an impressive history while adding on to it in their own way.

We are still a nation at war. We need to hang on to the folks we have in uniform, treat them with respect, and keep them in the game. If we have been at war for the past 17 years and people still want to join up and do their part, they are here for the right reasons. Let's do our best not to run them out!

Just my thoughts on a Sunday morning......God bless you all.