Ft Bragg closes its Air Assault School....

via Military.com

The DeGlopper Air Assault School on Fort Bragg is shutting down, officials announced through the school's Facebook page Friday.

"The decision to close the school involves funding and the reduction of borrowed military manpower on Fort Bragg," the Facebook pages states. "We are honored and privileged to have trained some of the most professional and lethal soldiers in the U.S. Army."

A spokesman for the 18th Airborne Corps, which the school falls under, said the decision was made this week by Lt. Gen. Paul LaCamera, commander of the 18th Airborne Corps.

A page for the school on Fort Bragg's website states its purpose has been to "train soldiers in the conduct of air assault operations, sling load operations, rappelling operations from an aircraft and through mental and physical training to develop their leadership, self-confidence and aggressive spirit."

Officials recommended those wanting to attend air assault school consider the Sabalauski Air Assault School at Fort Campbell, Kentucky; the Warrior Training Center at Fort Benning, Georgia; or the Light Fighter School at Fort Drum, New York.

Story here. 

Was never impressed by the rope work or focus on rapelling.  HRST Master ties it off, checks the setup and you hope he knows his shit (and 99.99% of the time they do).

What impressed is the sling loading.  The "baby" loadmaster training for helos.

That impressed and will be missed.

The school lives on but I think we can look at the Ranger Course to see where this is headed.

Its just not cool anymore...at least for Soldiers.  The badge hunters will still attend but they're doing too much of this on a daily basis to be bothered with attending a course.

For Marines?

I think we should start incorporating at least a few bits into our NCO and above training.  Parts of the aviation centric Marine Corps will endure despite more than a few pieces suffering from an inevitable budget cut.

Becoming more capable with our helos in a dispersed/distributed operating concept is something we should embrace.  We can't depend on the boys with the red tabs on their trousers to get it done.  This is a capability that should be part of every Expeditionary Squad...sling loading should be fundamental across the force.

U.S. Marines Helicopter Support Team – Basic Landing Support Specialist Course