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Air Assault School begins in northern Iraq

Army News Service

Release Date: 9/21/2003

By Spc. Blake Kent

QUAYARAH, Iraq (Army News Service, Sept. 21, 2003) -- Soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division began air assault school in an unlikely place --- Northern Iraq.

The six- and 12-mile road march, along with the four-mile run, has been discontinued due to the time restraints said Capt. Brian Beckno, the commander of the Sabalauski school.

"For the people who think this is going to be a cake walk, they are going to be sadly mistaken," Beckno said. "The academic standards are the same here as back in Fort Campbell. But, this does give an opportunity for soldiers who wouldn't normally make it through because of the obstacle course."

"All of the physical part of the school was taken out," said Beckno, "We do have climbing ropes though. Upper body strength is very important for rappelling, so the ropes give us a general idea of the condition of the soldiers.

"There are some things that are different, but we aren't giving anything away out here."

This is the first time the school has been set up on foreign soil, but with the turn-over that has been occurring with the 101st, which has been very mission driven in the past years, the training here was greatly needed, Beckno said. The training gives soldiers the knowledge they need for working around aircraft, and builds the confidence the soldiers may not have had with the repelling, he added.

One of the school's first graduates, Sgt. 1st Class Brad Bonnell, Company C, 3rd Battalion, 327th Infantry Regiment, said the course is going how he expected.

"We, of course, are all excited about being the first class in history to have done the training in a combat zone," said Bonnell, a Columbus, Ohio native.

"It has been a huge effort from many people to get us here," Beckno said. "We didn't just show up ready to go."

Some contributions came from engineering units in Iraq, that built a repelling tower, as well as other units that supplied both equipment and time in setting up the school, including painting murals on the school's buildings.

The six-day course provides two days of classroom training, two days of sling-load training and two days of repelling, said Beckno. Soldiers will learn how to sling-load a Humvee, a Howitzer and various cargo loads, as well as receive an aircraft orientation for the Apache, the Black hawk, and the Chinook.

(Editor's note: Spc. Blake Kent is a journalist with the 22nd Mobile Public Affairs Detachment in Iraq.)