Your fears are manifest, JAGWARriors: After nearly 9 months of silence, Fort Bragg’s DeGlopper Air Assault School is officially shutting down. That’s a huge blow to the Army JAG Corps experience.
Open since 2013, the DeGlopper Air Assault School afforded paralegals and Judge Advocates lucky enough to be stationed at Fort Bragg an easier path towards negotiating the most fun two weeks you can have in the Army.
Physically challenging, devilishly silly, and intellectually demanding, the Air Assault School experience tested the mettle of those who got the opportunity. From the obstacle course, to the in-class instruction punctuated by capricious smoke sessions, to rappelling out of rotary wing aircraft and the follow-on pre-dawn 12-mile ruck march, the DeGlopper course kick-started the ambitions of myriad JAG Corps members committed to developing their Solider skills in line with their legal acumen.
And because so many commands are located at Bragg, over its six year run the DeGlopper Air Assault School catered to scores of 27-series folks from XVIII Airborne Corps (its parent unit), the 82nd Airborne Division, 3rd Expeditionary Sustainment Command, U.S. Army Special Operations Command, 1st Special Forces Command (Airborne), and a slew of other Bragg-based tenant units.
If you were one of the select few 27As/27Ds fortunate enough to exploit this opportunity, commit yourself to paying it forward: upon attaining the lofty mantle of leadership, be sure to send the worthy under your charge to the Air Assault Schools still in operation, to wit, the Sabalauski Air Assault School at Fort Campbell, the Warrior Training Center at Fort Benning, or the Light Fighter School at Fort Drum.