Ranger enlistment question
Ranger enlistment question
For too long I was under the impression that several different MOS's could be Rangers. I mean Ranger as in, finished the School, tan beret, and Ranger tab. My recruiter told me that the ONLY MOS that can be a "full fledged Army Ranger" is infantry. Is this correct? I'm new to how this all works so any details would be greatly appreciated. I was looking forward to being a 21B Combat Engineer, but they told me that if I went that route, then I would only be "Ranger qualified" and never get to actually DO any Ranger missions. Are they just full of it? Or is all that correct so far? Thanks in advance.
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K.Ingraham
- Ranger
- Posts: 6143
- Joined: January 25th, 2005, 11:59 am
Well, your recruiter has a few things confused, which is common.
On one hand is the 75th Ranger Regiment. The Regiment is made up of many MOSes, all of whom are "full fledged" Rangers. The 11 series men in the line platoons get to play with guns more, the intel weenies get to be responsible for killing more bad guys than the shooters are likely to ever see & the medics are the best trained emergency care workers on the planet, and the cooks turn out some really killer omellets every morning, to single out a few.
Regimental Rangers are all graduates of RIP or ROP (depends on rank) and belong to a regiment whose founding document charges it with becoming the finest light infantry in the world. They are demonstrably the finest commandos anywhere. They earn a scroll shaped unit insignia and a much cooler looking beret than the rest of the Army.
On the other hand, there is a challenging school, open to most male members of the Army, graduates of which earn an embroidered tab that they get to wear above their unit insignia. These graduates are also called Rangers. They return to their units.
Anyone in a leadership or staff position in the Regiment are also Ranger School grads, as are the vast majority of the junior members with more than a few months in the unit.
"Outsiders" frequently confuse RIP/ROP with Ranger School and also seem to think that the Regiment is just a marauding band of misanthropic knuckle dragging eleven series gun nuts. This stereotype is false, many of us stand upright and Ranger Silverback to the contrary, most of our knuckles do not come close to the ground.
If you enlist with an Option 40, you'll attend basic, an MOS school, jump school & then RIP. Once you've passed the sternest test of all - managing to remain in the Regiment for your first six to ten months - then you'lll probably get a shot at Ranger School.
Decide what it is that you really want. If you decide on becoming a combat engineer, make damn sure you get an Airborne option in your contract ('Option 4' I think? Anyone?). Accept no nonsense about how you can volunteer after you graduate basic etc etc - that's the oldest scam in the recruiting book.
If you want to be a full time, go places and meet interesting, exotic people who hate America & then kill them & break their stuff; then the Ranger Regiment is for you. You'll even learn how to play with some explosives, just like the Engineers.
If you really just want to learn a trade, drive great big tracked construction vehicles, learn land surveying or drive nails and stuff - go for that 21 series thingie you mentioned, there aren't any of those in our Regiment. Just go Airborne so that you'll be serving with better motivated and trained soldiers than you'll generally see in the "Big Army".
Of course, if you want to learn a trade & excel in it, have frequent travel, work with the most motivated soldiers anywhere; then sign nothing without that Option 40. The Regiment has wheeled vehicle mechanics, all sorts of clerks, parachute riggers, intelligence and computer specialists of several varities, great medics and cooks and radio communicators of great technical skill. I don't know the number but there's more than twenty MOSes in the Regiment. Lots of trades to choose from - got the brains to function alongside of any of them? There's a big push right now to fill the so-called "soft skill" slots. It is no easier to pass RIP and gain entrance into our beloved Regiment, but it might make getting the Option 40 easier so you'll at least have a chance to try.
Regardless, you'll have to be in as good a shape as any candidate just out of infantry school, but that will be up to you. Yesterday is not too late to improve your fitness.
I just blew wayyyy too much time spelling all this out for you. Now go wander around the forums that apply to you, most anything you might ask is already in here.
Do more PT, lots more, even if you decide to become a leg engineer.
If that's what fits you best, go for it. You'll still be part of the finest army America has ever fielded.
On one hand is the 75th Ranger Regiment. The Regiment is made up of many MOSes, all of whom are "full fledged" Rangers. The 11 series men in the line platoons get to play with guns more, the intel weenies get to be responsible for killing more bad guys than the shooters are likely to ever see & the medics are the best trained emergency care workers on the planet, and the cooks turn out some really killer omellets every morning, to single out a few.
Regimental Rangers are all graduates of RIP or ROP (depends on rank) and belong to a regiment whose founding document charges it with becoming the finest light infantry in the world. They are demonstrably the finest commandos anywhere. They earn a scroll shaped unit insignia and a much cooler looking beret than the rest of the Army.
On the other hand, there is a challenging school, open to most male members of the Army, graduates of which earn an embroidered tab that they get to wear above their unit insignia. These graduates are also called Rangers. They return to their units.
Anyone in a leadership or staff position in the Regiment are also Ranger School grads, as are the vast majority of the junior members with more than a few months in the unit.
"Outsiders" frequently confuse RIP/ROP with Ranger School and also seem to think that the Regiment is just a marauding band of misanthropic knuckle dragging eleven series gun nuts. This stereotype is false, many of us stand upright and Ranger Silverback to the contrary, most of our knuckles do not come close to the ground.
If you enlist with an Option 40, you'll attend basic, an MOS school, jump school & then RIP. Once you've passed the sternest test of all - managing to remain in the Regiment for your first six to ten months - then you'lll probably get a shot at Ranger School.
Decide what it is that you really want. If you decide on becoming a combat engineer, make damn sure you get an Airborne option in your contract ('Option 4' I think? Anyone?). Accept no nonsense about how you can volunteer after you graduate basic etc etc - that's the oldest scam in the recruiting book.
If you want to be a full time, go places and meet interesting, exotic people who hate America & then kill them & break their stuff; then the Ranger Regiment is for you. You'll even learn how to play with some explosives, just like the Engineers.
If you really just want to learn a trade, drive great big tracked construction vehicles, learn land surveying or drive nails and stuff - go for that 21 series thingie you mentioned, there aren't any of those in our Regiment. Just go Airborne so that you'll be serving with better motivated and trained soldiers than you'll generally see in the "Big Army".
Of course, if you want to learn a trade & excel in it, have frequent travel, work with the most motivated soldiers anywhere; then sign nothing without that Option 40. The Regiment has wheeled vehicle mechanics, all sorts of clerks, parachute riggers, intelligence and computer specialists of several varities, great medics and cooks and radio communicators of great technical skill. I don't know the number but there's more than twenty MOSes in the Regiment. Lots of trades to choose from - got the brains to function alongside of any of them? There's a big push right now to fill the so-called "soft skill" slots. It is no easier to pass RIP and gain entrance into our beloved Regiment, but it might make getting the Option 40 easier so you'll at least have a chance to try.
Regardless, you'll have to be in as good a shape as any candidate just out of infantry school, but that will be up to you. Yesterday is not too late to improve your fitness.
I just blew wayyyy too much time spelling all this out for you. Now go wander around the forums that apply to you, most anything you might ask is already in here.
Do more PT, lots more, even if you decide to become a leg engineer.
If that's what fits you best, go for it. You'll still be part of the finest army America has ever fielded.
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2d Bn U.D. for 75th Ranger Regt Assn
2d Bn(Ranger)75 Inf 1975-'77
RS 9-76
Former mentor to RANGER XCrunner.
"I am well aware that by no means equal repute attends the narrator and the doer of deeds” Sallust ‘The Catiline Conspiracy’
2d Bn U.D. for 75th Ranger Regt Assn
2d Bn(Ranger)75 Inf 1975-'77
RS 9-76
Former mentor to RANGER XCrunner.
"I am well aware that by no means equal repute attends the narrator and the doer of deeds” Sallust ‘The Catiline Conspiracy’
