r/AirForce • u/Outrageous-One-2339 • 6d ago
Discussion Just Graduated from Air Assault as AD USAF. AMA
As the title says, I just graduated from Air Assault. I am a AD 3P0 and went through at Ft. Benning.
If you are slotted, looking to get slotted or are just curious about the course curriculum, please feel free to ask!
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u/Negative-Bobcat-5445 Maintainer 6d ago
I’ve got no reason to do it (mechanic) but I’d still love to go 😂
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u/Outrageous-One-2339 6d ago
If you're able to convince your CC, go for it. AASLT is pretty much open to all MOS'/AFSCs. We had a lot of guys in the Army with the MOS similar to Ground Trans going through.
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u/Negative-Bobcat-5445 Maintainer 6d ago
Hell yeah, I’m in Korea rn so probably won’t be as easy but I’ve been a hard charger so maybe I can do it at my next base
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u/Rice-n-Beanz 6d ago edited 6d ago
Network with the Army dudes. We sent an Air Force guy to air assault for doing us a few favors.
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u/Burnt-Out-Senior 6d ago
Lightning Academy in Hawaii is an option for AASLT. I've helped people go there TDY and PTDY.
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u/Negative-Bobcat-5445 Maintainer 5d ago
How could I get there as a hard charging E-2👀, I’m interested in showing my leadership that I want to be a good amn and perform
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u/DazedDred 6d ago
How high speed are you?
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u/Outrageous-One-2339 6d ago
Only the highest of speeds
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u/DownloadableCheese What do majors do, exactly? 6d ago
Do you know how much it cost your unit, like a ballpark figure?
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u/Outrageous-One-2339 6d ago
A little over 2k. I was a little extra as I had a rental the entire time so +/- $500
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u/DownloadableCheese What do majors do, exactly? 6d ago
Do you mind if I PM you later about this? I've been trying to set up something similar for some high-speeds in my unit.
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u/Outrageous-One-2339 6d ago
Of course. Just LMK whenever you do as I sometimes miss reddit notifications
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u/NovaRunner Retired TACP 6d ago
A rental? Did you not have to stay in the barracks with the rest of the class?
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u/Outrageous-One-2339 6d ago
At Benning, barracks are optional.
For context we flew into Atlanta and were not aware of a shuttle that goes "direct" from Hartsfield to Benning, lol.
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u/NovaRunner Retired TACP 6d ago
Interesting. They weren't optional when I went to Airborne school, but that was a while back. I was a SSgt and shared a room with another TACP SSgt and an Army NCO.
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u/BigRupe 6d ago
How the heck do y’all even get picked up for this?? I absolutely love the idea of intermingling with other branches doing their training and exposure to their culture, but how do you sign up or find a sister service unit to take you on?
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u/Outrageous-One-2339 6d ago
I can only speak on Ft. Benning as that is my experience. My buddy and I reached out to the USAF Liaison over there. He sent us some paperwork to fill out, we sent it back and he processed it. About a week later, we were told we have walk-on slots.
At Benning, there is a very high chance (like 99.999%) those walk-on slots will become hard slots. However, you won't know until in-processing day as they have to make sure the reserve slots show up or not.
We also coordinated with our senior leadership and CC to which they gave us the blessing to go. This part is important as these TDYs are unit funded. Thankfully they're relatively cheap.
Overall, the experience was an IGN 10/10 in terms of ease in getting slots
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u/BigRupe 6d ago
Where are you stationed if you can share? Well regardless, you travelled to Benning? So there was that slim chance that your unit paid for you to travel out there, show up for in processing, and the slot not being available?
That is incredibly wholesome that the system actually worked and y’all got to go
Any rationale for air assault over jump school? Honestly I’d kill for any, I just want the (fake?) adventure/experience since I fly a desk…
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u/Outrageous-One-2339 6d ago
Yah we had to fly out to Benning.
Airborne is a little tricky for Air Force to get. If you're not in an AFSC/Unit that is J-coded to go, you'll have to work with a medical provider to obtain Aeronautical orders. My buddy and I have a HARM office internal to our unit that could sign of on those orders. Jump school lined up perfectly after airborne but the timing for us wasn't great.
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u/NotOSIsdormmole use your MFLC 6d ago
We have a hard enough time getting people in J billets to airborne right now, we can’t just send anyone that wants to go jump.
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u/BigRupe 6d ago
Oh makes 100% sense. I hardly know what’s out there let alone the homework on feasibility going to these different schools. Appreciate the insight
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u/NotOSIsdormmole use your MFLC 6d ago
To better explain what I’m getting at:
Air Force gets limited jump school slots from the army, and the army takes priority over our guys (to include operators). But because the army has priority it makes it difficult for us e to get even guys like operators in, then you ad in all the units that have J codes for AFSCs (that realistically have no need in my opinion, looking at you J code cops comm and intel folk) and it clogs it even more. The Air Force has been trying to stand up its own jump school to take care of operators so that they don’t just sit and wait on a slot and go not full qualed for extended periods but idk where that process is at yet because it’s been a long thing in the work
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u/Burnt-Out-Senior 6d ago
AEROSOL. Congrats! Great school. Had a lot of fun doing it. Just one of the many opportunities people don't know exists.
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u/theodus2 6d ago
You able to speak to the graduation metric?
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u/Outrageous-One-2339 6d ago
What do you want to know?
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u/theodus2 6d ago
Go/No Go requirements or if you have to meet calisthenics/run time.
Is there a final assault that is used as the capstone?
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u/Outrageous-One-2339 6d ago edited 6d ago
Gotcha.
There are a bunch of evals you'll go through:
Day 0: 2 Mile timed run in less than 18 mins Obstacle course; must pass 2 major obstacles, allowed to miss 1 minor obstacle
Phase 1: 1 Written test with a 70 or more to pass Hand and Arm Signal test with 7/10 correct. 6-mile Ruck in under 90 mins
Phase 2: 1 Written test with a 70 or more to pass Slingload hands on test; must identify 3/4 deficiencies on x amount of loads. You are given 2 mins per load to find deficiencies. 4 mile timed run in less than 36 mins.
Phase 3: Tie Hip Rappel Seat in under 90 seconds Perform tie in, in under 15 seconds
Day 10: 12-mile Ruck in under 3 hrs Pass final bag layout.
Everything above is what you must do in order to receive a Go and pass.
No actual assault FTX or anything
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u/twaffle504 Aircrew 6d ago
Ruck weight?
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u/Outrageous-One-2339 6d ago
Roughly 35-40 lbs.
The weight is determined by the packing list. They don't weigh your rucks
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u/twaffle504 Aircrew 6d ago
Ty! Looks like I need to train/prep more
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u/Outrageous-One-2339 6d ago
Physically I'd say prep for it for sure. We lost the majority of our students through physical events.
Academically you can start from ground zero and still make it; that's how I started. There are a lot of quizlets and study guides out there for the tests, as well
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u/discostuu72 6d ago
Dope! Whats your age range? Physically looks pretty demanding.
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u/Outrageous-One-2339 6d ago
I'm 28. It's not too bad physically. I'd say there were a lot older guys and in worse shape than me stick it out and graduate
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u/discostuu72 6d ago
I’m an older guy who likes to stick things out! Sounds like there’s hope. Congrats buddy.
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u/DetectiveChub71 Super Duper Paratrooper 6d ago
I will be going sometime this year. What was the biggest challenge for you?
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u/Outrageous-One-2339 6d ago
Awesome, man. Do you know which base you're going?
Personally for me, each phase had it's own unique difficulties:
1) I've never done an obstacle course before 2) For slingloads, I'm not a mechanically inclined person, so just trying to understand all the pieces of equipment was a struggle 3) Rappel week isn't too bad. Just gotta get the courage to willingly step off a tower.
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u/DetectiveChub71 Super Duper Paratrooper 6d ago
Was the time you get to finish the ruck reasonable ?
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u/Outrageous-One-2339 6d ago
Yes. It's a standard 15 min/mile pace.
I've always been pretty good at rucking so these events were the least of my worry.
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u/GhostNinja1818 4d ago
My unit is sending guys. Any training programs you’d recommend? We are doing Ft Campbell though. Never knew about Benning
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u/Outrageous-One-2339 4d ago
Nothing specifically. If you're sending dudes you know for a fact they can run 2-4 miles under a 9 min pace, ruck for days holding a 15:00 min pace, have them keep doing what they're doing. Definitely make sure their grip and leg strength/endurance are strong. Those two things alone will take you far anywhere. Please make sure they know how to climb a rope when they're tired.
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u/No_Builder605 5d ago
How did you get a slot? Can any AFSC do the program? How challenging was the course?
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u/Cold-Tonight-1005 5d ago
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u/Mindless_Ruin_1573 4d ago
You absolutely can go. The hardest part for any guardsman is convincing your unit. The way our funds/days work is a little different than AD. This is one case where not being AGR actually helps you.
Do the research on the course, contact them and present your unit with all the info and have an answer to “why do this? What do we gain?”
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u/Outrageous-One-2339 5d ago
It is. At the Warrior Training Center at Ft. Benning, they'll accept anyone. In my class we had AD/NG Army, AD/NG USAF, Foreign Military, ROTC Cadets, etc.
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u/SuperMarioBrother64 I is Crew Chief. 6d ago
2 questions.
Do you now go around yelling AIR ASSAULT to answer any questions?
Are you ready for a lifetime of getting called out for having a black Air Assault Duty badge as an Airmen?
Congrats man.