CDT Berg attends Airborne School at Ft. Benning, GA

August 27, 2015

This summer I was fortunate enough to attend Airborne school, thanks to the help of our great Cadre at Clemson. Airborne school is three weeks long, and separated into three phases: ground week, tower week, and jump week. The first couple weeks we learned everything needed to complete 5 jumps from an aircraft during jump week. You learn all about the basics of landing, exiting the aircraft, and the T-11 parachute. Repetition is the name of the game the first couple weeks at airborne. The Jumpmaster instructors will drill the proper techniques in to make sure you never forget. Some things I will surely forget, but phrases like “feet and knees together airborne” will never leave me. During the first two weeks, you will get to jump out of the 34ft tower, swing off of the 12ft swing landing trainer, and if you’re lucky your class might get to use the iconic 250ft towers. It all culminated with me completing 3 regular day jumps, 1 day jump with a combat load, and my final jump which was a night jump with a combat load. Jumping out of the plane can only be described as one of the coolest things I have ever done. The night jump in particular was incredible. Right before I jumped out of the plane, I saw nothing but total black. After I exited and my main parachute opened, however, there was lightning from a storm several miles away that was lighting up the sky.  It was incredibly memorable. Other than becoming Airborne qualified, another huge benefit from going to Airborne school was that it gave me the opportunity to connect and work with several enlisted Soldiers and Officers across all branches. Most Airborne students are junior enlisted, along with several NCOs and Officers, therefore, I was able to gain a lot of insight from hearing about their experiences. It offered an environment entirely different from that of ROTC, and so it was great getting a better feel for what Army life was like. All in all it was an awesome experience.