document_title: Shotgun slug

question_text: maximum effective range of a 12 gauge slug

text: Shotgun slug

text: Uses[edit]

text: Shotgun slugs are used to hunt medium-large game at short ranges by firing a single large projectile rather than a large number of smaller ones. In many populated areas, hunters are restricted to shotguns even for medium to large game, such as deer, due to concerns about the range of modern rifle bullets. In such cases a slug will provide a longer range than a load of buckshot, which traditionally was used at ranges up to approximately 25 yards (22.8 m), without approaching the range of a rifle.

text: Law enforcement officers are frequently equipped with shotguns. In contrast to traditional buckshot, slugs offer the benefits of accuracy, range, and knock-down power while avoiding stray pellets. Further, the shotgun allows the operator to select the desired shell a variety of situations such as a less-lethal cartridge such as a bean bag round or other Less lethal slugs. A traditional rifle would offer greater range and accuracy than slugs, but without the ammunition choices and versatility.[1][2][3]

text: Design considerations[edit]

text: The mass of a shotgun slug is kept within SAAMI pressure limits for shot loads in any given shotgun shell load design. Slugs are designed to pass safely through any choke, though accuracy may suffer. The internal pressure of the shotshell load will actually be slightly higher than the equivalent mass slug projectile load, due to an increased resistance that occurs from a phenomenon known as shot setback. Common 12 gauge slug masses are 7⁄8 oz, 1 oz, and 11⁄8 oz, the same as common birdshot payloads.

text: Comparisons with rifle bullets[edit]

text: Shotgun slugs (12 gauge) achieve typical velocities of approximately 1800 fps for 1-oz. (437.5 grain) slugs, for an energy of over 3,100 ft-lbs (4200 J). In contrast, a .30-06 bullet weighing 150 grains at a velocity of 2600 fps achieves an energy of 2,250 ft-lbs (3051 J). However, a shotgun slug has greater air resistance and slows more quickly than a spitzer bullet fired from a rifle. Shotgun slugs thus are best suited for uses over shorter ranges than rifle bullets. However, for hunting in built-up populated areas, shotgun slugs (with regard to range) are considerably safer than rifles, with maximum ranges typically under 400 yards, in comparison to maximum ranges of several miles for errant projectiles from rifles.

text: Types[edit]

text: Full-bore slugs[edit]

text: Full-bore slugs, such as the Brenneke and Foster types use a shuttlecock method of stabilization by placing the mass at the front of the projectile. The lightweight rear automatically corrects through aerodynamic forces to keep the nose pointed forward. Saboted slugs are designed for rifled shotgun barrels and are stabilized through gyroscopic forces from their spin.

text: Brenneke slugs[edit]

text: The Brenneke slug was developed by the German gun and ammunition designer Wilhelm Brenneke (1865–1951) in 1898. The original Brenneke slug is a solid lead slug with ribs cast onto the outside, much like a rifled Foster slug. There is a plastic, felt or cellulose fiber wad attached to the base that remains attached after firing. This wad serves both as a gas seal and as a form of drag stabilization. The "ribs" impart a small amount of rotation to the projectile as it travels down the bore. This rotation does not impart gyroscopic stabilization, rather it improves accuracy by correcting for manufacturing irregularities.[4] Additionally, the ribs decrease contact surface with the bore, reducing friction and increasing velocity. The ribs also deform through the choke more readily than a solid slug would, thus reducing pressure and wear on the choke to safe levels.[5]

text: Since the Brenneke slug is solid, rather than hollow like the Foster slug, the Brenneke will generally deform less on impact and provide deeper penetration (see terminal ballistics). The sharp shoulder and flat front of the Brenneke (similar in dimensions to a wadcutter bullet) mean that its external ballistics restrict it to short-range use, as its accuracy is similar to that of an American Foster slug while retaining the improved penetration and slug integrity of the Brenneke design.

text: Foster slugs[edit]

text: A Foster slug, invented by Karl M. Foster in 1931, and patented in 1947 (U.S. Patent 2,414,863) is a type of shotgun slug designed to be fired through a smoothbore shotgun barrel. It was designed to enable deer hunting in the Great Depression using smoothbore, choked shotguns. Foster cast them by hand from soft lead, filed grooves on their exteriors, and sold them to his neighbors to improve hunting potential to feed their families. The Foster is the standard American domestic shotgun slug; they are sometimes referred to as "American slugs" to differentiate them from the standard "European slug" design popularized earlier by Brenneke. Some sportswriters have consistently referred to these slugs as a "Forster" slugs, conflating the name with the Forster Brothers who manufactured reloading tools during the same time frame, so "Forster slug" is an alternate spelling that is commonly seen in the popular press of the 1930s for describing these slugs.

text: The defining characteristic of the Foster slug is the deep hollow in the rear, which places the center of mass very near the front tip of the slug, much like a shuttlecock or a pellet from an airgun. If the slug begins to yaw in flight, drag will tend to push the lightweight rear of the slug back into straight flight, stabilizing the slug. This gives the Foster slug stability and allows for accurate shooting through smoothbore barrels out to ranges of about 75 yards (69 m).

text: Most Foster slugs also have "rifling", which consists of ribs on the outside of the slug. Like the Brenneke, these ribs impart a rotation on the slug to correct for manufacturing irregularities, thus improving precision (i.e., group size.)[6] Unlike traditional rifling, the rotation of the slug imparts no significant gyroscopic stabilization.[7] The ribs also minimize the friction on both the barrel and projectile and allow the slug to be swaged down safely when fired through a choke. Foster slugs can safely be swaged down much more than Brenneke slugs, when fired through a choke, being hollow, however recommendations are generally for cylinder bore or improved cylinder chokes.

text: Roll-crimping is traditionally used to close a shotgun shell containing a Foster slug. This increases the difficulty for handloading Foster slugs. During the 1930s, though, many if not most shotgun shells were roll-crimped over an overshot card, and hand tools for putting a roll crimp on a paper shell were readily available and very inexpensive.

text: Saboted slugs[edit]

text: Saboted slugs are shotgun projectiles smaller than the bore of the shotgun and supported by a plastic sabot. The sabot is traditionally designed to engage the rifling in a rifled shotgun barrel and impart a ballistic spin onto the projectile. This differentiates them from traditional slugs, which are not designed to benefit from a rifled barrel (though neither does the other any damage). Due to the fact that they do not contact the bore, they can be made from a variety of materials including lead, copper, brass, or steel. Saboted slugs can vary in shape, but are typically bullet-shaped for increased ballistic coefficient and greater range. The sabot is generally plastic and serves to seal the bore and keep the slug centered in the barrel while it rotates with the rifling. The sabot separates from the slug after it departs the muzzle. Saboted slugs fired from rifled bores are superior in accuracy over any smooth-bored slug options with accuracy approaching that of low-velocity rifle calibers.

text: Sabot variations

text:
BRI
Brenneke Rubin
Gualandi / Palla Gualbo

text: Wad slugs[edit]

text: A modern variant between the Foster slug and the sabot slug is the wad slug, sometimes called a "drive key slug", or just a "key slug". This is a type of shotgun slug designed to be fired through a smoothbore shotgun barrel. Like the traditional Foster slug, a deep hollow is located in the rear of this slug, which serves to retain the center of mass near the front tip of the slug much like the Foster slug. However, unlike the Foster slug, a wad slug additionally has a key or web wall molded across the deep hollow, spanning the hollow, which serves to increase the structural integrity of the slug while also reducing the amount of expansion of the slug when fired, reducing the stress on the shot wad in which it rides down a barrel. Also, unlike Foster slugs that have thin fins on the outside of the slug, much like those on the Brenneke, the wad slug is shaped with an ogive or bullet shape, with a smooth outer surface. The wad slug is loaded using a standard shotshell wad, which acts like a sabot. The diameter of the wad slug is slightly less than the nominal bore diameter, being around 0.690 inch for a 12-gauge wad slug, and a wad slug is generally cast solely from pure lead, necessary for increasing safety if the slug is ever fired through a choked shotgun. Common 12 gauge wad slug masses include 7⁄8-oz. and 1-oz. wad slugs, and they are loaded in a traditional shotshell wad intended for variously loading among 7⁄8-oz., 1-oz., or 11⁄8-oz. shotshells. Depending on the specific stack-up, a card wad is also sometimes located between the slug and the shotshell wad, depending largely on which hull is specified, with the primary intended purpose of improving fold crimps on the loaded wad slug shell that serves to regulate fired shotshell pressures and improve accuracy.

text: It is also possible to fire a wad slug through rifled slug barrels, and, unlike with the Foster slug where lead fouling is often a problem, a wad slug typically causes no significant leading, being nested inside a traditional shotshell wad functioning as a sabot as it travels down the shotgun barrel.

text: Published load recipes for wad slugs are available on the Hodgdon website under shotshell reloading, as well as from Lee Precision, who additionally sells molds for casting drive key slugs from pure lead.

text: Accuracy of wad slugs falls off quickly at ranges beyond 75 yards (70 m), thereby largely equaling the ranges possible with Foster slugs, while still not reaching the ranges possible with traditional sabot slugs using thicker-walled sabots.

text: Unlike the Foster slug which is traditionally roll-crimped, the wad slug is fold-crimped. Because of this important difference, and because it uses standard shotshell wads, a wad slug can easily be reloaded using any standard modern shotshell reloading press without requiring specialized roll-crimp tools.

text: Plumbata slugs[edit]

text: A plumbata slug has a plastic stabilizer attached to the projectile. The stabilizer may be fitted into a cavity in the bottom of the slug, or it may fit over the slug and into external notches on the slug. With the first method discarding sabots may be added. And with the second, the stabilizer may act as a sabot, but remains attached to the projectile and is commonly known as an “Impact Discarding Sabot” (IDS).

text: Plumbata variations

text:
Brenneke plumbata
Dangerous game (a.k.a. Gualandi boar)
Impact Discarding Sabot (IDS)

text: Steel slugs[edit]

text: There are some types of all-steel subcaliber slugs supported by a plastic sabot (the projectile would damage the barrel without a sabot). Examples include Russian "Tandem" wadcutter-type slug (the name is historical, as early versions consisted of two spherical steel balls) and ogive "UDAR" ("Strike") slug and French spool-like "Balle Blondeau" (Blondeau slug) and "Balle fleche Sauvestre" (Sauvestre flechette) with steel sabot inside expanding copper body and plastic rear empennage. Made of non-deforming steel, these slugs are well-suited to shooting in brush, but may produce overpenetration. They also may be used for disabling vehicles by firing in the engine compartment or for defeating hard body armor.

text: Improvised slugs[edit]

text: Wax slugs[edit]

text: Another variant of a Great Depression–era shotgun slug design is the wax slug. These were made by hand by cutting the end off a standard birdshot loaded shotshell, shortening the shell very slightly, pouring the lead shot out, and melting paraffin, candle wax, or crayons in a pan on a stovetop, mixing the lead birdshot in the melted wax, and then using a spoon to pour the liquified wax containing part of the birdshot back into the shotshell, all while not overfilling the shotgun shell. Once the shell cooled, the birdshot was now held in a mass by the cooled paraffin, and formed a slug. No roll or fold crimp was required to hold the wax slug in the hull. These were often used to poach deer during the Depression.

text: Cut shell slugs[edit]

text: Yet another expedient shotgun slug design is the cut shell. These are made by hand from a standard birdshot shell by cutting a ring around and through the hull of the shell that nearly encircles the shell, with the cut traditionally located in the middle of the wad separating the powder and shot. A small amount of the shell wall is retained, amounting to roughly 1/4 of the circumference of the shotshell hull. When fired, the end of the hull separates from the base and travels through the bore and down range. Cut shells have the advantage of expedience. They can be handmade on the spot as the need arises while on a hunt for small game if a larger game animal such as a deer or a bear appears. In terms of safety, part of the shell may remain behind in the barrel, causing potential problems if not noticed and cleared before another shot is fired.[8][9]

text: Guns for use with slugs[edit]

text: Many hunters hunt with shotgun slugs where rifle usage is not allowed, or as a way of saving the cost of a rifle by getting additional use out of their shotgun. A barrel for shooting slugs can require some special considerations. The biggest drawback of a rifled shotgun barrel is the inability to fire buckshot or birdshot accurately. While buckshot or birdshot will not rapidly damage the gun (it can wear the rifling of the barrel with long-term repeated use), the shot's spread increases nearly four-fold compared to a smooth bore, and pellets tend to form a ring-shaped pattern due to the pellets' tangential velocity moving them away from the bore line. In practical terms, the effective range of a rifled shotgun loaded with buckshot is limited to 10 yards or less.[10] Iron sights or a low magnification telescopic sight are needed for accuracy, rather than the bead sight used with shot, and an open choke is best. Since most current production shotguns come equipped with sighting ribs and interchangeable choke tubes, converting a standard shotgun to a slug gun can be as simple as attaching clamp-on sights to the rib and switching to a skeet or cylinder choke tube. There are also rifled choke tubes of cylinder bore.

text: Many repeating shotguns have barrels that can easily be removed and replaced in under a minute with no tools, so many hunters simply use an additional barrel for shooting slugs. Slug barrels will generally be somewhat shorter, have rifle type sights or a base for a telescopic sight, and may be either rifled or smooth bore. Smooth-bore shotgun barrels are quite a bit less expensive than rifled shotgun barrels, and Foster type slugs, as well as wad slugs, can work well up to 75 yards in a smooth-bore barrel. For achieving accuracy at 100 yards and beyond, however, a dedicated rifled slug barrel usually provides significant advantages.

text: Another option is to use a rifled choke in a smooth-bore barrel, at least for shotguns having a removable choke tube. Rifled chokes are considerably less expensive than a rifled shotgun barrel, and a smooth-bore barrel paired with a rifled choke is often nearly as accurate as a rifled shotgun barrel dedicated for use with slugs. There are many options in selecting shotguns for use with slugs.

text: Improvements in slug performance have also led to some very specialized slug guns. The H&R Ultra Slug Hunter,[11] for example, uses a heavy rifled barrel (see Accurize) to obtain high accuracy from slugs.

text: Reloading shotgun slugs[edit]

text: Shotgun slugs are often hand loaded, primarily to save cost, but also to improve performance over that possible with commercially manufactured slug shells, which often cost over US$35 (2013) for a small box. In contrast, it is possible to reload slug shells with hand-cast lead slugs for less than $0.50 (2013) each. (The recurring cost depends heavily on which published recipe is used. Some published recipes for handloading 1 oz. 12 ga. slugs require as much as 49 grains of powder each, whereas other 12 ga. slug recipes for 7⁄8 oz. slugs require only 25 grains of powder.

text: Shotguns operate at much lower pressures than pistols and rifles, typically operating at pressures of 10,000 psi, or less, for 12 gauge shells, whereas rifles and pistols routinely are operated at pressures in excess of 35,000 psi, and sometimes upwards of 60,000 psi. The SAAMI maximum permitted pressure limit is only 11,500 psi for 12 gauge 2¾ inch shells, including slug shells, so the typical operating pressures for many shotgun shells are only slightly below the maximum permitted pressures allowed for safe ammunition.[12] This small safety margin, and the possibility of pressure varying by over 4,000 psi with small changes in components, require great care and consistency in hand-loading.

text: Legal issues[edit]

text: Shotgun slugs are sometimes subject to specific regulation in many countries in the world. Legislation differs with each country.

text: The Netherlands[edit]

text: Large game (deer and wild boar) hunting is only allowed with large caliber rifles; shotguns are only allowed for small and medium-sized game, up to foxes and geese. However, when a shotgun has a rifled barrel, it is considered a rifle, and it becomes legal for hunting roe deer, minimum caliber 5.56 mm and 980 joules at a 100 meters, and deer and wild boar, minimum caliber 6.5 mm and 2200 joules at 100 meters.

text: Sweden[edit]

text: Slugs fired from a single-barrel shotgun are allowed for hunting wild boar, fallow deer and mouflon, although when hunting for wounded game there are no restrictions. The shot must be fired at a range of no more than 40 meters. The hunter must also have the legal right to use a rifle for such game in order to hunt with shotgun slugs.

text: United Kingdom[edit]

text: Ammunition which contains no fewer than five projectiles, none of which exceed 0.36 inch (9 mm) in diameter, is not controlled by law. Slugs, which contain only one projectile and usually exceed 0.36 inch in diameter, are controlled under the Firearms Act, and require a firearms certificate—very strictly regulated—to possess. However slugs designed to expand, like all other expanding ammunition, are prohibited and require special permission such as for hunting.[13]

text: United States[edit]

text: Rifled barrels for shotguns are an unusual legal issue in the United States of America. Firearms with rifled barrels are designed to fire single projectiles, and a firearm that is designed to fire a single projectile with a diameter greater than .50 caliber (12.7 mm) is considered a destructive device and as such is severely restricted. However, the ATF has ruled that as long as the gun was designed to fire shot, and modified (by the user or the manufacturer) to fire single projectiles with the addition of a rifled barrel, then the firearm is still considered a shotgun and not a destructive device.

text: In some areas, rifles are prohibited for hunting animals such as deer. This is generally due to safety concerns. Shotgun slugs have a far shorter maximum range than most rifle cartridges, and are safer for use near populated areas. In other areas, there are special shotgun-only seasons for deer. This may include a modern slug shotgun, with rifled barrel and high performance sabot slugs, which provides rifle-like power and accuracy at ranges over 150 yards (140 m).


document_title: Urbina

question_text: where does the last name urbina come from

root

text: Urbina

text: Urbina is a Basque[1] surname. Notable people with the surname include:

tag: p

text:
Abraham Alvarenga Urbina (born 1974), Honduran lawyer and politician
Carlo Urbina (16th century), Italian painter, active in Crema
Jorge Urbina (born 1946), the Permanent Representative to the United Nations for Costa Rica
José de Urbina y Urbina, 3rd conde de Cartaojal (1761–1833), Spanish general during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars
María Lavalle Urbina (born 1908), Mexican lawyer and politician, first female president of the Mexican Senate
Marcos Urbina (born 1985), defender currently playing for the club Monarcas Morelia
Oscar Urbina Ortega (born 1947), Colombian prelate of the Roman Catholic Church
Rafael Simon Urbina (born 1899), Venezuelan rebel fighting against the dictatorial regime of Juan Vicente Gomez
Ricardo M. Urbina (born 1946), United States District Court Judge in Washington, DC
Silvia Urbina, Chilean singer and researcher in folkloric music of Chile
Susana Urbina (born 1946), Peruvian-American psychologist
Tomás Urbina (c. 1877–1915), general in the Mexican Revolution
Ugueth Urbina (born 1974), former relief pitcher in Major League Baseball
Ian Urbina (born March 29, 1972), investigative reporter for The New York Times

tag: ul


document_title: United States Army Airborne School

question_text: how many times do you jump in airborne school

text: United States Army Airborne School

text: History[edit]

text:
U.S. Army Airborne School, circa 1943

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Office of War Information film on U.S. Army parachute training during WW II

tag: table

text: In 1940, the War Department approved the formation of a test platoon of Airborne Infantry under the direction and control of the Army's Infantry Board. A test platoon of volunteers was organized from Fort Benning's 29th Infantry Regiment, and the 2nd Infantry Division was directed to conduct tests to develop reference data and operational procedures for air-transported troops.

text: First Lieutenant William T. Ryder volunteered and was made the test platoon's platoon leader, Lieutenant James A. Bassett was designated assistant platoon leader, and forty-eight enlisted men were selected from a pool of 200 volunteers. The platoon moved into tents near Lawson Army Airfield, and an abandoned hangar was obtained for training and parachute packing.

text: Lieutenant Colonel William C. Lee, a staff officer for the Chief of Infantry, recommended that the test platoon be moved to the Safe Parachute Company at Hightstown, NJ and train using parachute drop towers from the 1939 New York World's Fair. Eighteen days after forming, the platoon was moved to New Jersey and trained for one week on the 250-foot free towers, which proved to be particularly effective – drops from the tower added realism otherwise impossible to duplicate outside of an airplane drop, and proved to the troopers that their parachutes would function safely.

text: Impressed, the Army purchased two and erected them on what is now Eubanks Field at Fort Benning. Two more were later added, and today three of the original four towers are still in use. Parachute landing training was often conducted by the volunteers jumping from PT platforms and from the back of moving trucks to allow the trainees to experience the shock of landing.

text: Less than forty-five days after it was formed, members of the test platoon made their first jump from a Douglas B-18 Bolo bomber over Lawson Field on 16 August 1940. Lieutenant Ryder and Private William N. (Red) King became the first officer and enlisted man to make an official jump as paratroopers in the United States Army. On 29 August, the platoon made the first platoon mass jump held in the United States.

text: Members of the original test platoon formed the battalion cadre of the 501st Parachute Battalion, the first parachute combat unit. The second, the 502nd Parachute Infantry Battalion, was activated on 1 July 1941. As more airborne units were activated, a centralized training facility was organized at Fort Benning on 15 May 1942. Over time, the U.S. Army Parachute School has been known by a variety of names:

text:
The Airborne School (1 January 1946)
Airborne Army Aviation Section, The Infantry School (1 November 1946)
Airborne Department, The Infantry School (February 1955)
Airborne-Air Mobility Department (February 1956)
Airborne Department (August 1964)
Airborne-Air Mobility Department (October 1974)
Airborne Department (October 1976)
HHC, 4th Student Battalion (Airborne), The School Brigade (January 1982)
HHC, 1st Battalion, 507th Parachute Infantry Regiment, The School Brigade (October 1985)
HHC, 1st Battalion, 507th Parachute Infantry Regiment, attached to HQ, 11th Infantry Regiment (July 1991)
1st Battalion, 507th Parachute Infantry Regiment, Airborne and Ranger Training Brigade (April 2014)[1]

text: The former 4th Student Battalion (Airborne), The School Brigade provided command and control of Airborne School students from the 1960s until October 1985. During its existence, it was organized with a Battalion Headquarters and up to nine numbered companies, designated the 41st to 49th Student Companies. In the 1960s and 1970s, each Airborne Class normally included students from two different companies. By January 1982, the battalion was organized with an HHC (which took over the mission of the former Airborne Department), and the 41st to 45th Student Companies, with each Student Company providing command and control for one complete Airborne Class.

text: In October 1985, the assets of the 4th Student Battalion (Airborne) were used to reactivate the 1st Battalion, 507th Parachute Infantry Regiment, as part of the implementation of the U.S. Army Regimental System (USARS). The 1st Bn, 507th PIR was originally organized with six companies: Headquarters and Headquarters Company (HHC), to provide administrative support and conduct the Pathfinder and Jumpmaster Courses; four Line Companies (A, B, C, and D) to conduct the Basic Airborne Course; and Company E, a parachute rigger support company. Company D has since been inactivated.

text: Curriculum[edit]

text: Ground week[edit]

text: The first week of the Basic Airborne Course is dedicated to teaching prospective troopers how to land properly to minimize the potential for injury and general familiarization with the T-10D and T-11 parachute. The T-10D is a round-shaped parachute, and the T-11 is a square-shaped parachute both using static line extraction with a descent rate of 18–23 ft/sec and 16–20 ft/sec respectively, dependent on the weight and equipment outfitting of the individual jumper. Prospective troopers are taught how to wear the parachute harness correctly and how to use the special training gear. During Ground Week, prospective troopers will spend the majority of time learning, practicing, and perfecting their Parachute Landing Fall (PLF) and proper exit technique from the aircraft.

text: To practice the PLFs, soldiers will jump from platforms of various heights into sand or pebble pits, simulating the final stage of parachute landing. This maneuver teaches a soldier to transfer the energy of his fall (landing) up the sides of the lower legs and knees, all the way up to side of the upper body. During this period Black Hat instructors closely observe and correct the prospective troopers body position and technique making corrections. This week culminates in practice landings from the Lateral Drift Assembly, a 'zip line' type assembly which simulates making contact with the ground traveling at speed and in various directions. In many cases the first use of the 34-foot tower is made at the end of this period of training.

text: To continue to week 2, prospective troopers must pass all jump training test as well as the standard Army Physical Fitness Test (APFT) in the 17–21 year old range, regardless of the prospective trooper's actual age. Ground week is the phase of training in which the largest number of personnel washout. Depending on circumstances personnel who fail to advance are either dismissed from the course outright or less commonly recycled back to an earlier class for additional training.

text: Tower week[edit]

text: The second week of Jump School concentrates on the jump towers. Prospective troopers will continue using the 34-foot tower in addition to the swing-landing trainer, a suspended harness trainer, and occasionally the 250-foot tower. Soldiers will become familiar with the mock door trainer to simulate mass exit training (how to exit an aircraft in flight). Additionally, prospective troopers are taught the different phases of parachute flight from aircraft exit, through opening shock and chute deployment, then onto the deployment of the risers, steering the chute, and all the way to landing. One critical skill learned is how to identify a parachute malfunction and deal with it. This may involve emergency procedures including when and how to deploy the reserve parachute. Soldiers also learn about oscillation, landing falls, and how to recover from drag. The T-10D and T-11 parachutes are partially steerable using the parachute risers and students are taught the different techniques to steer their chutes into the wind and aim for the Point of Impact at the center of the Drop Zone. The second week completes a soldier's individual skill training and begins building team effort skills. Once successfully completing the skills required and the physical fitness requirements, a soldier progresses to jump week.

text: Jump week[edit]

text:
U.S. Army Airborne School-Jump Week

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Description of the third week of Airborne School, known as "jump week"

text: Finally, soldiers get to practice their new skills while jumping out of real aircraft in flight. The C-130 or C-17 aircraft pick up the paratrooper students in front of the hangar at Lawson Army Airfield. From there it is a very short flight to Fryar Field (commonly referred to as "Fryar Drop Zone"), where all of the training jumps are accomplished. Fryar Field is named after Private Elmer E. Fryar of the United States Army's 511th Parachute Infantry Regiment, who posthumously received the Medal of Honor for his actions in World War II.[2]

text: The Air Force aircraft fly at 1250 feet above the ground at an airspeed of about 130 knots. After the flight crew completes the pre-drop and slow-down checklists, soldiers rise out of their seats and move at the jumpmaster's direction to one of two paratroop doors (on each side of the aircraft). At "green light" one stick of soldiers exits the plane – jumpers continue to move to the door until the red light is illuminated. At that point the aircraft will begin its racetrack maneuver circling back to the beginning of the drop zone and continue to do this until all jumpers have jumped.

text: A soldier must complete 5 jumps, normally including at least one night jump, to graduate Airborne School. During jump week, the schedule varies and soldiers will jump in a variety of configurations from unloaded Hollywood to fully equipped and loaded Combat jumps. Jump week can seem chaotic, with a large group of soldiers gathered in the ready-room waiting to be loaded onto the aircraft one chalk at a time. Immediately after landing on the Drop Zone (DZ), the soldiers collect their parachutes and other gear and meet back at the rally point on one side of the DZ, where they wait for a bus to take them back to Lawson Army Airfield to get ready for their next jump.

text: The jump schedule varies greatly based on class dynamics, weather, and aircraft. Graduation is normally conducted at 0900 on Friday of Jump Week at the south end of Eubanks Field on the Airborne Walk. However, if there is inclement weather, or other factors delay the scheduled jumps, graduation may be conducted on Fryar Drop Zone following the last jump. Guests and family members are welcome to observe all of the jumps at the DZ, attend the graduation ceremony, and participate in awarding the parachutist wings to the soldiers. On graduation day, families typically spend only a few minutes with their soldier, pinning on his or her new airborne wings. The soldier frequently departs Fort Benning that day or the following day, to attend another advanced military school or to report to another duty station.

text: Personnel[edit]

text: Instructors[edit]

text: The Airborne School instructors are commonly referred to as "Black Hats", due to the distinguishing black baseball caps with shiny brass rank insignia and parachutist badge that is part of the instructor's uniform.[3] However, all students at the school are required to address them as "Sergeant (or Petty Officer in the case of a Navy instructor) Airborne". A student's interaction with Black Hats consists largely of shouting, "clear Sergeant, Airborne!", and "not clear Sergeant, Airborne!" instead of yes or no. Instructors come predominately from the United States Army, however the Marine Corps, Navy or Air Force also provide instructors.[4] The reasoning is that because students from four military services attend the training, each service insists that they have at least one representative to ensure quality instruction. (An alternate reason for instructors from other services is that the U.S. Army requires fair compensation, called I-COMP, or Instructor Compensation, at a rate commensurate with the number of students put through the airborne course for that particular service.)

text: Students[edit]

text: The vast majority of students at Airborne School come from the U.S. Army. These include soldiers headed for assignments to the 82nd Airborne Division, XVIII Airborne Corps and its subordinate units, 4th BCT 25th Infantry Division, 173rd Airborne BCT, United States Special Operations Command and its subordinate units, 1st battalion 509th infantry regiment, the 1 battalion 143rd Infantry Regiment of the Texas ARNG, divisional Long Range Surveillance Units, the Ranger Assessment and Selection Program, or the Special Forces Qualification Course. Also Marine Recon units as well as ANGLICO Units attend. Recent BUD/S graduates, Navy EOD, USAF Combat Controllers, USAF Special Operations Weather Technicians, USAF Pararescuemen and USAF Tactical Air Control Party also attend the school in order to be jump-qualified. Summer cycles frequently include a substantial numbers of Army ROTC and West Point cadets along with occasional cadets from other service academies and college ROTC programs. Summer classes can swell to 600+ candidates. The US Coast Guard does not usually participate in Airborne training, as it does not directly relate to the service's Homeland Security and daily search-and-rescue (SAR) missions.

text: During in-processing, each student is given a roster number (with the prefix C, N, or A to identify a cadet, NCO, or officer, respectively, or simply a 3 digit number with no prefix for junior enlisted personnel), which is applied to the student's assigned equipment and used as identification throughout training.

text: All students are quartered in gender-segregated company barracks for the entire course except for officers, warrant officers, and senior non-commissioned officers (E7 and above), who are assigned to bachelor officer's quarters.

text: In December 1973 Pvt. Rita Johnson and Pvt. Janice Kutch became the first women to graduate from the Basic Airborne Course. They graduated from the 43rd Co., 4th Battalion, TSB.

text: Upon satisfactory completion of the course, the student is awarded:

text:
United States Army Parachutist Badge (commonly referred to as "Jump Wings")
Orders certificating authorizing its wear of the badge
P ASI (Additional Skill Identifier) regardless of branch of service or MOS.