U.S. Army Airborne School: Basic Airborne Course Weeks and Wings

The U.S. Army Airborne School is the three-week Basic Airborne Course at Fort Benning, Georgia, where volunteers from every branch learn to conduct static-line parachute operations and earn their parachutist wings. The course is run by the 1st Battalion, 507th Parachute Infantry Regiment, and trains Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, and Marines together.¹ Training splits into Ground Week, Tower Week, and Jump Week, and graduates leave having made five jumps from military aircraft.

Who Can Attend

Every student is a volunteer. You need a confirmed reservation in the Army Training Requirements and Resources System (ATRRS) and orders assigning or attaching you to the 1/507th PIR. Show up without a valid reservation or proper orders and you get sent back to your home unit.² Candidates over 35 must obtain an EKG and a medical age waiver before enrolling.³

Physical Entrance Test

Airborne School uses its own entrance fitness test, separate from the Army Combat Fitness Test. Students must hold a flexed-arm hang for 10 to 20 seconds, reach 80 inches overhead to connect a snap hook to the anchor line cable in full combat equipment, and run three miles at a nine-minute-per-mile pace or faster.⁴ The three-mile run is where many candidates wash out before training even begins.

Medical Paperwork

Medical fitness is governed by AR 40-501, Chapters 2 and 5, along with DoDI 6130.03.⁵ You need to arrive with a completed DD Form 2808 (Report of Medical Examination) dated within 24 months of your class start date. Hearing is screened separately, and anyone rated H2 or H3 needs a waiver. Missing paperwork or an expired physical means disqualification during in-processing.²

Day Zero

The first day is entirely administrative. Students report in duty uniform with at least ten copies of their orders, their DD Form 2808, an ID card, and two complete sets of identification tags.² Inspections are unforgiving. Students have been dropped for issues as minor as worn soles on running shoes or missing ID tags. After clearing the administrative gauntlet, students receive barracks, equipment, and platoon assignments.

Ground Week

Ground Week builds the physical memory that keeps paratroopers from getting hurt on landing. The centerpiece is the Parachute Landing Fall, which channels impact through five points of contact in sequence: the balls of the feet, the calf, the thigh, the buttocks, and the pull-up muscle of the back.⁶ Students drill it in sawdust-filled pits until the movement is automatic.

Mock Door exercises simulate the inside of an aircraft, walking students through standing up, hooking the static line to the anchor cable, shuffling to the door, and exiting. The 34-foot tower then introduces real height and harness tension. Students jump from it while attached to a cable so instructors can see exit form and body position. It is the first moment in training where the ground looks genuinely far away.

Tower Week

Tower Week puts students under an open canopy at real altitude. The 250-foot towers, in continuous use since 1941 and 1942, hoist students up beneath a fully deployed parachute and release them for a controlled descent.⁷ Students practice steering the canopy and executing landing falls from a height that punishes sloppy technique.

The Swing Landing Trainer suspends students in a harness and swings them toward the landing area, forcing them to judge approach angle and time the landing fall while in motion. The Mass Exit Trainer drills the spacing and timing needed when a full stick of paratroopers leaves an aircraft in rapid succession. Bunching up or hesitating in the door creates dangerous conditions for everyone behind you, so the drill runs until the class gets it right.

Jump Week

Jump Week is where it all comes together. Students make five static-line jumps from C-130 Hercules or C-17 Globemaster III aircraft flying at 1,250 feet.⁸ Before each jump, jumpmasters verify every paratrooper’s identity and equipment during manifesting. Early jumps are “slick,” meaning students carry only the parachute system and their basic uniform.

Difficulty escalates. Later jumps add a combat load with a rucksack and a modular airborne weapons case. The final jump combines combat equipment with night conditions, giving students their first experience of a tactical entry where they cannot see the ground clearly during descent. If weather or a mechanical issue scrubs a jump day, training extends until all five jumps are complete.⁸

Graduation and Wings

After the final jump and equipment turn-in, graduates are recognized at a ceremony held at the Airborne Walk on Fort Benning. Graduation typically falls on the last duty day of the training week, usually a Thursday, at 0900 from April through September and 1100 from October through March.⁹ Families are welcome.

Parents or grandparents who are themselves Airborne School graduates may pin wings on their graduate during the ceremony after being identified and vetted beforehand. After the formal pinning, all guests are invited onto the formation area to pin their graduate and take photos. Department of Defense policy strictly prohibits “blood wings,” the old practice of pressing unpinned wings into a graduate’s chest.⁹

Washouts, Injuries, and Recycling

Airborne School has a meaningful attrition rate. An Army orientation course designed to prepare new soldiers for the physical demands improved graduation rates to roughly 89 percent, up from around 60 percent before the orientation existed. About one in ten students still does not finish.

When an injury or medical issue develops during training, the battalion can recommend a medical drop or a recycle into a later class. Students are permitted to recycle only once. If the condition will not improve enough for the student to train at full capacity, they are dropped from the program. Students get a total of 72 hours of sick call time across the entire course, and battalion and brigade commanders make the final decisions on all medical drops and recycles.¹⁰

Jump Pay After Graduation

Earning your wings comes with a monthly pay bump. As of October 2025, Army static-line parachutists serving in designated airborne roles receive $200 per month in hazardous duty incentive pay, up from $150. Military free-fall parachutists earn $240 per month.¹¹ To keep the pay, service members must perform at least one jump within a qualifying three-month period. Exceptions cover circumstances outside the jumper’s control, such as aircraft unavailability, temporary duty for military education, or bad weather.

Senior and Master Parachutist Badges

The basic parachutist badge earned at graduation is the starting point. Two higher ratings recognize experience and leadership.

Senior Parachutist

The Senior Parachutist Badge requires a minimum of 30 jumps, including 15 with combat equipment, two night jumps (one as jumpmaster of a stick), and two mass tactical jumps culminating in an airborne assault problem at battalion level or above. The individual must be rated excellent in character and efficiency.¹²

Master Parachutist

The Master Parachutist Badge is the highest parachutist qualification. It requires at least 65 jumps, including 25 with combat equipment, four night jumps (one as jumpmaster), and five mass tactical jumps. All prerequisite jumps must be by static line. Candidates must also have graduated from a recognized Jumpmaster Course or served as jumpmaster on a combat jump or 33 noncombat jumps, and they must have accumulated at least 36 months on jump status with an airborne unit.¹³

1
U.S. Army Maneuver Center of Excellence. 1st Battalion, 507th Parachute Infantry Regiment – Basic Airborne Course
2
U.S. Army Maneuver Center of Excellence. Basic Airborne Course – In-Processing
3
U.S. Army Human Resources Command. What Soldiers Need to Attend Airborne School
4
U.S. Army Maneuver Center of Excellence. Basic Airborne Course – Entrance Requirements
5
U.S. Army Maneuver Center of Excellence. ARTB Schools Physical Examination Checklist
6
U.S. Army Maneuver Center of Excellence. T-11 Pre-Jump Study Guide
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U.S. Army Maneuver Center of Excellence. Fort Benning Historic Trail – Parachute Jump Towers
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U.S. Army Maneuver Center of Excellence. Basic Airborne Course – Airborne Jump Week
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U.S. Army Airborne School. Basic Airborne Course Graduation Information
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U.S. Army Maneuver Center of Excellence. Student Information – Medical Requirements
11
Defense Finance and Accounting Service. Hazardous Duty Incentive Pay (HDIP) Rates
12
GovInfo. 32 CFR 578.76 – Senior Parachutist Badge
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GovInfo. 32 CFR 578.79 – Master Parachutist Badge