Photo By Sgt. Asher Atkinson | U.S. Army and Romanian Soldiers pose for their class photo moments after graduating...... read more read more
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The Sabalauski Air Assault School out of Fort Cambell, Kentucky sent instructors to conduct its second iteration of the course this year for forward deployed units on Mihail Kogalniceanu Air Base, Romania. The first iteration had 69 U.S. Army Soldiers graduate in May 2025. Class 801-25 had 82 candidates graduate from the course on 4 Sept. 2025. The class consisted of over 200 U.S. Army Soldiers and six Romanian Soldiers.
The course began with day zero where Soldiers were immediately tested on their physical endurance and strength with a two-mile run, followed by a form of corrective physical punishment or “smoking” to prepare them for an obstacle course challenge. Their shouts to every executed movement with the words “Air Assault” echoed throughout the morning. The obstacle course tested the candidate’s ability to complete ladder and rope climbs, wall clearing, and maneuvering through and over several other wooden structures. If more than one of the obstacles was not cleared, that Soldier would be dismissed from the course immediately.
The SAAS intends to bring more lethality, unit cohesion, and to increase readiness by teaching about different aircrafts, conducting air assault missions, and sling load operations with forward deployed units on rotation so if they do deploy to other nations, they'll be better prepared for air assault operations. The skills taught in this class during the MKAB, Romania iterations are available for NATO Soldiers as well.
“I think it's a really unique opportunity just to teach other nations about air assault operations,” said Staff Sgt. James Shell, Senior Instructor for the Sabalauski Air Assault School. “Not a lot of people get to go out there, say that they can instruct other nations and that they can earn a badge that those nations can wear. I think it's a cool experience and not just for us. Just talking to them, learning about their jobs, their armies, and how they operate versus how we operate.”
Air assault participants conducted physical and hands-on training to ensure that the Soldiers are physically fit and well-conditioned to conduct air assault operations. They also studied for multiple written examinations to test how much information they retained through the combat assault and sling load operation phase of the course during the first week.
The course the instructors and their candidates had to begin movement at midnight at the beginning of the repel phase to travel 6 to 8 hours by bus to Novo Selo Training Area, Bulgaria to repel from a 60-foot tower and travel back to Romania within the same day. Working with Romanian Soldiers came with issues such as potential language barriers. The “blackhats” wanted to pay extra attention to detail to ensure that our NATO allies didn’t have as much of a difficult time due to the possibility of misunderstanding one another so the course would run smoothly.
“It just gets us out of our comfort zone a little bit,” said Staff Sgt. Shell. “Teaching in another country, we have other soldiers who don’t speak English as well so it forces us to have to go more in depth and learn more about what we’re teaching because we have to explain what we’re teaching to soldiers who might not know English as well. It forces us to be more of an expert in our positions that we’re at right now.”
Having the opportunity to have completed one of the Army’s most difficult courses and achieve a badge is a time-honored U.S. Army tradition. Soldiers that are part of the air assault community carry a great sense of pride, honor and physical toughness.“The most rewarding part is watching the students graduate starting from day zero where they know absolutely nothing about air assault operations and then seeing them at the end of the course building confidence, physical readiness, attention to detail and just watching them go through the course to get to where they’re going,” said Sgt. Quintin Micek, Team 1 Instructor for the Sabalauski Air Assault School.
The 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) is the only air assault division of the United States Army. The 101st has consistently distinguished itself by demonstrating the highest standards of military professionalism since its activation in 1942. The division has been recognized for its mobility and adaptability, utilizing helicopters for rapid deployments and operations in various conflicts.
| Date Taken: | 09.05.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 09.06.2025 04:22 |
| Story ID: | 547311 |
| Location: | MIHAIL KOGALNICEANU, RO |
| Web Views: | 42 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, US and Romanian Soldiers Graduate the Sabalauski Air Assault School at MKAB, by SGT Asher Atkinson, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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