ASSLT/Airborne

[Cadet35]

About a week ago I was very blessed to receive the opportunity to attend one of these two schools this summer. I’m looking for a professional opinion regarding whether one is more beneficial than the other to attend. I’m an 11A hopeful so I believe if all works out that I would attend Airborne before Ranger school down the road. I’m enticed by AAS’ demanding nature and if I wouldn’t have the chance to go later on in my career, I think AAS is the right choice. Thoughts?

 

[USMA2026Cadet]

We had a girl in our battalion who chose AASLT over Airbone for that exact reason- when she commissions the Army will send her to Airborne but probably not AASLT, and she wanted to do both. It's a good idea!

 

[emwvmi01]

I am not seeing that at all. Airborne slots are very tight on AD but if you go to the light Divisions you can get AASLT pretty easily. Having graduated both I would also say I would rather do Airborne at 21 and AASLT later in life than reverse which is what I did.

Airborne was more physical but more fun and a great chance to get to know your future Soldiers.

Air Assault is physical but also mental and I didnt see quite the interactions with classmates.

 

[USMAZoo98]

As a previous 11A, my experience was get the Air Assault opportunity out of the way first. There were far more slots in a given fiscal year for Airborne than Air Assault. And if you are going to Benning for the Infantry Officer Basic course, you have a better chance at securing an Airborne slot. If you are thinking about going to Ranger School after BOLC, you are "almost" guaranteed the opportunity to go to Airborne beforehand. It was much more difficult to secure slots for Air Assault once in the regular Army. @emwvmi01 may know the current environment better, so don't discount that recommendation. If you are going to branch Infantry, you have a reasonably good shot at getting both at some point in your career.

 

[Army245bday]

About a week ago I was very blessed to receive the opportunity to attend one of these two schools this summer. I’m looking for a professional opinion regarding whether one is more beneficial than the other to attend. I’m an 11A hopeful so I believe if all works out that I would attend Airborne before Ranger school down the road. I’m enticed by AAS’ demanding nature and if I wouldn’t have the chance to go later on in my career, I think AAS is the right choice. Thoughts?

I would do AASLT.

I think it’s easier to get ABN later on as an officer. I told my daughter to put AASLT first choice as her MIAD after plebe year. She will get ABN automatically if she gets assigned to Ft Bragg, Vicenza, or JBER.

I did AASLT in my late 20s. I think it was more physically demanding to me that ABN.

Psychologically, ABN was definitely more challenging. Jumping out at 1200 ft, or even the 34 ft tower, was mentally difficult for me. Physically, it was easy to keep a 9-min mile pace for 4 miles. Had to do a lot of pull-ups. I was a field grade officer then so the black hats didn’t give me a hard time when I didn’t do as much pull-ups as the younger kids.

You get treated much better as an officer at ABN school too than as a cadet.

If you’re going infantry, then ABN school is pretty much as done deal for you anyway after BOLC. You’ll want the ABN wings, a Ranger tab, and an EIB.