Spouses Air Assault

Spouses from 101st Combat Aviation Brigade, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault,) attended a family orientation at the Sabalauski Air Assault School at Fort Campbell, Ky., November 15, 2013.

Soldiers don't always share the entirety of what goes on during the duty day. Physical and mental exhaustion, particularly going through air assault school, known as the ten toughest days in the Army, can get in the way of sharing what the Soldier may see as an every-day experience.

"The Soldiers don't always tell us everything that they're doing every day," said Michelle Zimmerman, family readiness group advisor, 6-101st CAB. "The instructors really broke things down, probably more than they would for their own participants. Being able to come out and see what they go through, it's exciting. I'm proud of the Soldiers that accomplish this. This shows the families that this is not an easy task."

The event, organized by 6th Battalion, 101st CAB, "Shadow of the Eagle," was held to give the families insight about what it's like to attend Air Assault School. The orientation consisted of a tour of the Air Assault School and a demonstration of the obstacle course. The experience was capped by an opportunity to rappel off the Air Assault School 34-foot tower.

"We had some ladies approach us," said Zimmerman. "They wanted to do an event to see what was required of their Soldier. My husband went through it recently. After hearing what he did for the ten days, I wanted to come out and see it for myself."

Even though this was an opportunity to get out and see what their spouses go through, this was a great chance for fun and camaraderie.

"It gives them an opportunity to do something different," said Lt. Col. Dave Zimmerman, commander, 6-101st CAB. "I think it's a good team-building event for the spouses of 6-101st CAB and 2nd Squadron, 17th Cavalry Regiment. I think it's a great event for them. I think it opens their eyes a little bit about what their Soldiers go through."

The orientation was designed to be informative and enlightening about what is asked of the Soldiers attending air assault school, rappelling off the 34-foot tower had to be part of the equation.

"It's absolutely fun, I really recommend to all the wives to come out and try it," said Kasey Lowery, member 2-17 CAV FRG. "It was very hard because I'm afraid of heights, but I did it. This was a great experience. It gave me a lot of insight about what the guys go through. There's a lot of waking up early and there's a lot thrown at them during this ten-day process."

Due to an ankle injury, Michelle Zimmerman was not able to rappel off the wall with the rest of her comrades. She was still looking forward to going off the tower.

"With this experience we'll be able to go back and tell others what we saw and learned," she said. "Hopefully we'll be able to try this again in the spring. I'm not normally an adventurous person, but coming out here and seeing everything makes me think that I'd get out and try it."

In spite of the enthusiasm, some of the participation was cut by rain. The response of all the participants encouraged the command team at 6-101st CAB to look forward and plan something for when the weather is better.

"Because of the rain and weather we lost some participation," said Lt. Col. Zimmerman. "Absolutely we'd like to do this again. I think we'll try again in the spring and try to open it up to the whole brigade."