CDT Philips attends Airborne School at Fort Benning, GA

August 20, 2014

This past summer I had the opportunity to attend the Basic Airborne Course at Fort Benning. The course is 21 days long and is separated into 3 one-week phases. The first phase is called ground week. Ground week consists of training on safe landing falls, single troop mock door exiting, and wearing a parachute harness and lateral drift apparatus. The second, or tower, week of training includes jumping from a 34-foot tower, practical use of the swing landing trainer, suspended harness apparatus, and mock door mass exiting procedures. Tower week involve qualifying on the various apparatuses and paratrooper techniques. In the final week, called jump week, we made 5 jumps from C-130J aircraft. The first two jumps were Hollywood, meaning parachute only, with the T-10D parachute. One jump was an adept option and the other was a mass exit. Adept option is an exit technique that involves 10 troopers from one side exiting then the opposite side door exiting during one pass. Mass exit involves both doors alternating exits.  The next two jumps were Hollywood jumps with the T11 parachutes. One of those jumps was a night jump. The last jump was a combat jump with a T11 parachute and combat gear. The training was a great experience into real army life. Airborne school is a unique experience where the students are composed of enlisted personnel, officers, as well as cadets. I was able to learn a lot from the other soldiers with their various experiences.