FORT BENNING, Ga., (Feb. 4, 2015) -- Students of C Company, 1st Battalion (Airborne), 507th Parachute Infantry Regiment, at the U.S. Army Basic Airborne Course are fast approaching their first jump. Before their plummet, however, they face their most realistic jump scenarios during tower week.
In this week, the cadre enforce everything they've taught the students up to this point, said Capt. Nefjoveny Rosa, C Co. commander, 1- 507th PIR.
Students learn the five basic points of performance before tackling any challenge in BAC. The points of performance are:
•Proper exit, check body position and count.
•Check canopy, gain canopy control.
•Keep a sharp lookout during entire descent.
•Prepare to land.
•Land.
"It's more advanced than ground week," Rosa said. "It is where they build on what they learned during ground week."
Students jump individually and only conduct those first three points of performance in ground week, Rosa said. At tower week, they conduct the first and second points of performance, they react to malfunction and they lower their combat equipment, Rosa said.
Demonstrations and explanations are used during the malfunctions portion of tower week, Rosa said. This allows cadre to emphasize the dangers in static line parachuting while clearly stating that proper training and good reaction can mitigate risk.
Here, students experience critical, realistic jump scenarios from mock-tower mass exits of four Soldiers at a time exiting the 34-foot tower to parachute landing from the 250-foot free tower, one of the greatest experiences of Airborne School, Rosa said.
Every student must jump again from the 34-foot towers, but this time they jump four students at once, just as they would perform a mass exit from the aircraft in the following week. Rosa said the 250-foot free tower is a critical piece in BAC training, yet not all students will tackle it.
"If you come through Airborne school and you get to jump out of the 250-foot free tower; it's definitely the most fun," Rosa said.
Amidst the 250-foot free tower, students are rigged with a T-11 harness and a T-10 D canopy. Rosa said the T-10 D canopy is a modified parachute for the purpose of jumping out of the tower.
"While the tower gives them a lot of confidence, by going up to that height it also gives them confidence in their ability to pull (the safety) slip and land properly," Rosa said.
A detail team hooks Soldiers up to be hoisted in the air from the tower. From the ground, looking up at their fellow students, many Soldiers are apprehensive about the lift, but Rosa said being let go and parachuting to the ground is very easy.
Spc. Orri McGraw, 3rd Battalion, 2nd Air Defense Regiment, from Fort Sill, Oklahoma, said he was confident in his ability to conquer the tower.
"Activity, motivation ... was always there from the leadership and teachers," McGraw said. "There was never a discouraging moment."
For BAC student Capt. Victoria Wallace from Fort Bragg, North Carolina, the sight of the tower was a bit unsettling, but she said it turned out to be the best possible preparation for overcoming the fear of jumping out of an aircraft.
"One of the main things that catches your eye is the 250(-foot free tower)," Wallace said. "As you're moving into week two, it's the most anticipated event - I think I would say more than the jump itself. It's something we see all the time; it's being referenced."
Despite the nerves she had going into it, Wallace said she completed the challenge of the 250-foot free tower with no trouble.
"I think doing it makes (you feel) you can conquer all," she said. "I don't think that the plane is going to be any more difficult than (the 250) is."
Other methods used to prepare students for their jump include the use of apparatuses such as the improved swing landing trainer, the suspended harness one and suspended harness two, a rig ex and go through a malfunctions class.
In the rig ex, students rig their combat equipment for the jump, whereas in the malfunctions class, the Airborne School cadre, or black hats, demonstrate parachute malfunctions from the 250-foot free tower.
The malfunctions portion explains the reason behind malfunctions, things students can do to prevent malfunctions and ways to react when they happen.
"I think (the cadre) are all very safe and they really deal with the people concept of training," Wallace said. "They are trying to get that (safety) engrained in your brain because it will save your life."
Conquering fears and experiencing malfunction are critical pieces in navigating tower week, Rosa said, but just as in ground week, repetition will aid students in getting everything right once they become airborne.
"The hands-on activity, as far as the different recovery drills and going through them once, twice, three times until you get it right, that's the most helpful part," McGraw said.
Following the repetition in ground week and the realistic scenarios in tower week, students will tackle the final and most anticipated jump week.
"It is very valuable in allowing the student to gain confidence and us to observe that student conduct that third, fourth and more importantly, that fifth point of performance," Rosa said.
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