United States Army Air Assault School
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The Sabalauski Air Assault School (TSAAS) is a FORSCOM TDA unit located at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. It was renamed after Command Sergeant Major Walter James Sabalauski in 1994.
Their primary task is training leaders and soldiers assigned to the 101st Airborne Division (AASLT), other Army units and U.S. armed services in several courses annually. These courses include: Air Assault, Pathfinder, Pre-Ranger, Basic Airborne and Jumpmaster Refresher, Rappel Master and Fast Rope Insertion/Extraction (FRIES)/Special Patrol Insertion Extraction (SPIES) Master courses. TSAAS is also home to the Division's Parachute Demonstration Team.
Air Assault school deals with making soldiers qualified to conduct airborne helicopter operations. Proper sling load techniques, knots, and fast roping are among the things taught there. The school itself is 10 days long and also features a 12 mile ruck march.
The 101st Airborne, a jump unit that conducted numerous jumps during WW2, is now an Air Assault unit. Thus, the Airborne tab over the unit's Screaming Eagle does not imply that the soldier is qualified to jump out of airplanes. Once in the 101st, soldiers who are not Air Assault qualified go to a special physical training program once a week to prepare for the school. It is commonly referred to as Air Assault PT and is focused on obstacle climbing and a 2 mile run.
The school itself in Fort Campbell, Kentucky, (home of the 101st Airborne Air Assault) has instructors who are referred to as Air Assault Sergeants. It is open to both males and females. The school is composed of learning helicopter insertion techniques, rigorous training, and tedious packing lists; one missing item could cause the student to fail the school immediatly.
In 1998, a new 34 ft tower was completed and phase three began to train on that facility. On 17 December, 1999 the new Sabalauski Air Assault School facility was dedicated and for the first time in several years all phases of instruction will be conducted at one facility. Over sixty classes are run annually, training over 8,000 soldiers per year.
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