ROTC cadets attending the Air Assault course at Fort Knox, Ky., navigate an obstacle that requires them to leap from one beam to the next, landing on their stomachs and flipping over the obstacle. This cycle, 167 of the 226 students were Reserve Offi...

An Air Assault student swings onto a wood beam on one of the obstacles of the confidence course. Students must swing up onto the beam, landing on their feet, or they are a no-go. A student may attempt each obstacle twice. If they can not complete an ...

A thick blanket of fog obscured the morning light peeking over the eastern horizon as air assault students lined up on a drill pad at Fort Knox, Ky., prodded by the sharp orders from cadre in black shirts and caps.

It was nearly sunrise, but the students' day had started hours ago, at 3 a.m., with the initial inspection. Already, about 10 students had been dropped for failure to comply with the strict packing list for such defaults as not having two identification tags on them or worn soles on their running shoes.

This was Day Zero, and the students wouldn't get to rest again until they completed the confidence course and a two-mile run.

The second cycle of air assault training, hosted by U.S. Army Cadet Command's 1st Brigade at Fort Knox, kicked off Wednesday, Aug. 5.

This is the third year the course has been held, and when it wraps up Aug. 17, five cycles, comprising more than 1,000 ROTC cadets and Soldiers, will have gone through air assault training at the Fort Knox program.

This year's first cycle saw 208 students enter Day Zero. By the end of the 10-day course, 182 graduated, 144 of whom were ROTC cadets. The current cycle started with 226 students, of which 167 were cadets.

Air assault school consists of 10 days of hands-on and classroom training. While the course boasts plenty of adrenaline-pumping aspects such as rappelling from a helicopter from 70 feet up and hooking up a Humvee to a hovering Black Hawk, the course is equally rigorous in its academic aspects. Students spend days in the classroom, learning to identify different types of aircraft and their load capacities, pathfinder hand signals and how to guide in a chopper for a landing.

The course is run by the Mobile Training Team from Fort Campbell, Ky., where the Air Assault School is based. Aviators from the Kentucky National Guard and Army Reserves usually provide aircraft.

The course at Fort Knox was started to provide more training opportunities for ROTC cadets. ROTC gets a limited number of training slots in schools such as airborne and mountain warfare, and cadets often get bumped for Soldiers.

The course has been a resounding success since its inception in 2007, said Jeff Markle, 1st Brigade ROTC's chief of training programs.

"Our training slots fill up fast," Markle said. "This is a course in high demand."

There is so much demand, Markle said, plans are under way to add a third cycle next year.

"The cadets love it because it's tough," he said. "It gives them a taste of Army training that is unlike anything they have experienced up to this point in their careers."