Today in Ranger history

Discussing the history of Army Rangers.

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On October 12, 1802, Joseph G. Swift and Simon M. Levy become the first two graduates of the U.S. Military Academy, West Point. Both men are commissioned as second lieutenants in the Corps of Engineers.
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For his actions on this day in history, Douglas MacArthur received the Medal of Honor for his service in the Philippines Campaign, which made him and his father Arthur MacArthur, Jr., the first father and son to be awarded the medal. He was one of only five men ever to rise to the rank of General of the Army in the US Army, and the only man ever to become a field marshal in the Philippine Army.
Citation: For conspicuous leadership in preparing the Philippine Islands to resist conquest, for gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty in action against invading Japanese forces, and for the heroic conduct of defensive and offensive operations on the Bataan Peninsula. He mobilized, trained, and led an army which has received world acclaim for its gallant defense against a tremendous superiority of enemy forces in men and arms. His utter disregard of personal danger under heavy fire and aerial bombardment, his calm judgment in each crisis, inspired his troops, galvanized the spirit of resistance of the Filipino people, and confirmed the faith of the American people in their Armed Forces.
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Re: Today in Ranger history

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From Tara Ross:

On (almost) this day in 1859, John Brown launches a raid at Harpers Ferry. He hoped to incite a slave rebellion, but the effort fell flat on its face.

Brown was an abolitionist who had long been involved in attempts to end slavery. Nor did he mind a little violence, if it would help his objectives! “Not for him was the Christ-like martyrdom of Uncle Tom,” historian James M. McPherson writes. “Brown’s God was the Jehovah who drowned Pharaoh’s mercenaries in the Red Sea; his Jesus was the angry man who drove money-changers from the temple.”

In this spirit, Brown hatched a plan: He would seize a federal arsenal near Harpers Ferry. Once he captured the arsenal, with its arms and ammunition, he believed that slaves would flock to him and take up arms. They could fight their way to freedom.

As early as 1858, Brown tried to recruit men for his raid, but he kept running into problems. Even Frederick Douglass refused to help, advising Brown that he would “never get out alive” and the plan would “array the whole country against us.”

By October 1859, Brown was hiding on a farm near Harpers Ferry with 21 men. Frustrated by failed attempts to recruit more volunteers, Brown and his men decided not to wait any longer. They swung into action on the night of October 16.

Initially, things went smoothly. The raiders captured the federal complex with relative ease. They temporarily stopped trains. Ironically, a free black man at the train station became their first casualty.

Word soon got out about the raid. Local militia began flocking to the area. Before too long, Brown was trapped. He had hostages, one of whom was a great-grandnephew of George Washington! The President dispatched the Marines.

Those Marines were led by none other than Colonel Robert E. Lee!

By this point, Brown was holed up in the fire-engine house adjacent to the arsenal. Lee prepared to invade, using battering rams and bayonets. Bayonets would help his men to avoid inadvertently harming a hostage.

The federal force finally stormed the engine house on October 18. In a matter of minutes, Brown and his raiders were captured. Ten of Brown’s men had been killed over the course of the raid, including two of his sons.

The Justice system moved fast in those days! Brown was quickly tried and convicted of inciting a slave insurrection, murder, and treason against the Commonwealth of Virginia. He was hanged mere weeks after his raid, on December 2.

Before his execution, Brown had written a letter: “I John Brown am now quite certain that the crimes of this guilty, land: will never be purged away; but with Blood.”

He was right, but had he contributed to the truth of the statement with his own decisions?

The effects of the raid would reverberate for years to come. Brown’s willingness to use violence seemed to confirm the worst fears of many Southerners. By contrast, many Northerners viewed Brown as a martyr.

The raid was yet another domino that fell, worsening the deep division between North and South.
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On this date in Ranger History - October 16, 2007:

The Regimental Special Troops Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment is officially activated at Fort Benning, Georgia. RSTB was activated provisionally July 17, 2006 as a response to the demands of the war on terror and the changing nature of Ranger operations. The activation of RSTB provided the 75th Ranger Regiment and the U.S. Army Special Operations with an increased operational capability to sustain combat operations. Then Lt. Col. Brian Eifler and Command Sgt. Maj. Dennis Smith were the first official command team of the Battalion.
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On this day in U.S. Army SF history......19 Oct 1965 – Det A217, 5th Special Forces Group A) fought in the Battle of Plei Me, Vietnam.

The Siege of Plei Me (Vietnamese: Bao vây Plei Me) (19–25 October 1965) was the beginning phase of the first major confrontation between soldiers of the communist North Vietnamese Army (PAVN) and the U.S. army during the Vietnam War. The lifting of the siege by South Vietnamese forces and American air power was followed by the pursuit of the retreating North Vietnamese from 28 October until 12 November, setting the stage for the Battle of Ia Drang. Plei Me was an isolated U.S. Army Special Forces and Civilian Irregular Defense Group (CIDG) camp in the Central Highlands of South Vietnam defended mostly by Montagnard tribesmen.
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Re: Today in Ranger history

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n this day in U.S. Army SF history.......19 Oct 1994 – Honorary Special Forces LTC Martha Raye died.

Maggie.....

During the Vietnam War, she was made an honorary Green Beret because she visited United States Army Special Forces in Vietnam, and she helped out when things got bad in Special Forces A-Camps. Becauseof those actions, she came to be known affectionately by the Green Berets as "Colonel Maggie." She continued her relationship with the Green Berets for the rest of her life. She built a guest house for Green Berets on the grounds of her home in Los Angeles and made many trips to Fort Bragg and other Special Forces Posts throughout her life. In 1988, the Special Forces Association Convention held in Fayetteville, NC carried the theme of "Honoring COL Maggie".
Maggie died of pneumonia on October 19, 1994, after a long history of cardiovascular disease. Martha Raye was 78 years of age, and residing in Los Angeles at the time of her death.

On November 2, 1993, Martha Raye was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, by President Bill Clinton, for her service to her country.

The patriotism she showed in her tours during World War II, the Korean Conflict, and the Vietnam Conflict earned her the nickname "Colonel Maggie."

Because of her work with the USO during World War II and subsequent wars, special consideration was given to bury her in Arlington National Cemetery upon her death. At her request, she was ultimately buried with full military honors in Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

Martha has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
One for motion pictures and one for television
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Re: Today in Ranger history

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From Tara Ross:

On (almost) this day in 1774, a letter is written about an “infamous and rascally affair.” You’ve heard of the Boston Tea Party, but did you know that Annapolis had one, too?

Both the Boston and Annapolis Tea Parties were driven by the hated tax on tea. In 1773, the Boston Tea Party had been a relatively civilized affair. Unfortunately, the Annapolis Tea Party stemmed from the actions of an irate mob.

That mob meant to enforce an agreement not to import tea – at all costs!

The series of events had begun months earlier when a merchant named Anthony Stewart dispatched his brigantine, the Peggy Stewart, to London. Stewart hoped to sell the vessel, but a buyer couldn’t be found. Instead, the ship’s captain brought the Peggy Stewart back to Annapolis, carrying the most profitable cargo available.

It was an unfortunate turn of events! The cargo included more than 50 indentured servants and 2,320 pounds of “that detestable weed tea.” Did the captain know that he was carrying the tea when he left the London port?

Evidence is conflicting, but one theory is that he was tricked into carrying the tea by Stewart’s business rival!

Either way, the Peggy Stewart arrived in Annapolis on October 14, 1774. By then, the captain had discovered that the cargo included tea. He had another problem, too: Rough weather in the Atlantic had damaged the ship, and the servants aboard the ship were not in great health.

These people needed to disembark quickly! There was just one complication: Stewart could not get them off the ship unless he paid the tax on the cargo—ALL the cargo, both the servants and the tea. If he refused to pay the tax, the ship would be forced to return to London, despite the fact that it was in no shape to make the return trip.

What was Stewart to do? Pay the hated tax? Or let the men aboard the ship die on their way back to England?

He paid the tax.

Local Patriots were incensed. What should be done about the man who had paid the hated tea tax? Could Stewart destroy the cargo and deliver a written apology and explanation? Would that be enough? The matter festered for days until a public meeting was finally held on October 19.

That meeting did little to squash the mob scene that would follow! Locals did not think that burning the cargo was enough—they wanted Stewart to burn his ship, too! A mob went to Stewart’s house to present their demands. They constructed a gallows in front of his house. There was talk of tarring and feathering Stewart. Stewart began to fear for his physical safety.

Would you believe that Stewart’s wife was in their house welcoming a new baby into the world during all this? What a crazy conflict of emotions inside that house!

Stewart finally agreed to emerge from the house and burn his ship. He later recounted that he didn’t want to comply, but “his Wife being then ill in Child Bed, apprehensions of the Consequence to Her and His Family, should he expose Himself any longer to the Fury of a lawless Mob, prevailed on him . . . .”

In the end, Stewart ran the Peggy Stewart aground in full view of his house. There, “with her sails and colours flying,” he “voluntarily set fire to the tea; and in a few hours the whole, together with the vessel, was consumed in the presence of a great number of spectators.”

Needless to say, these events sat badly with Stewart. He became a staunch Loyalist and eventually left the colonies.

In a strange twist, his home was later sold to a signer of the Declaration of Independence.
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18 OCTOBER 1943
29TH RANGER BATTALION DISBANDED. General Orders 27, 29th Infantry Division (DC, MD, VA) disbands the 29th Ranger Battalion (Provisional). Organized in December 1942 from volunteers drawn from the 29th Division, its 500-men undertook specialized training conducted by the famous British Commandos. The soldiers learned how to penetrate deep behind enemy lines, staging raids and gathering intelligence.

When the battalion was organized it was planned by the Army to disband the unit so its men could return to their former companies and teach these advanced skills to other members of the division. Some veterans of D-Day and the Normandy campaign credit these added skills to saving their lives.
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Re: Today in Ranger history

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Urgent Fury: U.S. Special Operations Forces in Grenada, 1983


https://www.defensemedianetwork.com/sto ... nada-1983/
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On October 27, 1943, a War Department decision establishes two special badges to provide special recognition for the infantry—the Combat Infantry badge (CIB) and the Expert Infantrymen badge (EIB). Higher standards are outlined for the CIB, which requires “duty in action against the enemy.”
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Re: Today in Ranger history

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From Tara Ross:

On this day in 1777, George Washington faces the possibility of mutiny. One of his officers had been working to undermine him—but now General Washington knew what was going on.

He wrote Brigadier General Thomas Conway, bringing things out into the open.

“[A] Letter which I receivd last Night,” Washington wrote, “containd the following, paragraph. . . . ‘Heaven has been determind to save your Country; or a weak General and bad Councellors would have ruind it.”

In other words, Washington was telling Conway: You’ve been bad-mouthing me behind my back, and now I know about it.

Yikes! Conway couldn’t have been too happy about THAT.

So what had been going on? Was it an actual insurrection or just discontent and grumblings in the army? It’s hard to know, and historians still disagree on the scope of the so-called Conway Cabal. Either way, Washington was facing a tough time. His army was then headed toward Valley Forge. He’d had several bad battle outcomes even as one of his generals, Horatio Gates, was basking in the admiration he’d earned for a" stunning victory at Saratoga.

Some people were beginning to think that Gates would be a better Commander-in-Chief than Washington.

Meanwhile, an officer by the name of Thomas Conway was dissatisfied for his own reasons. As early as October 1777, he’d been trying to get a promotion to Major General, but Washington was opposed. He didn’t think too much of Conway, writing that “his importance in this Army, exists more in his own imagination than in reallity.” Moreover, such a promotion would bypass other officers in the army, leading to discontent and possible resignations.

Conway was angry about the perceived slight. He dashed off a letter to Gates, hinting that Washington should be replaced. "Heaven has been determind to save your Country,” Conway wrote, “or a weak General and bad Councellors would have ruind it.”

Perhaps you won’t be surprised to hear that Washington soon heard about the letter. There were other signs of trouble, too, and the General was already beginning to suspect that some people were trying to remove him.

For one thing, Gates never reported his Saratoga victory directly to Washington. Instead, he reported it to Congress, leaving Washington to wonder what was going on with his own army. Moreover, a fair amount of griping was going on behind the scenes, and a Board of War was created to oversee Washington. Gates was appointed the President of that Board, and Conway was appointed its Inspector General.

You can imagine that Gates and Conway were able to create a lot of trouble for Washington in their new positions. Apparently, they hoped to make things so uncomfortable that he’d resign.

The Conway Cabal came to an end almost as quickly as it began. Gates had been too quick to accuse others of stealing the Conway letter—even as he tried to claim there was nothing wrong with that letter! In mid-January, Gates couldn’t (or wouldn’t) produce Conway’s letter for Congress. In the meantime, more Congressmen and army officers were catching on to what was happening. They rallied behind Washington. They needed him—and they knew it.

“The Conway Cabal achieved exactly the opposite of what had been intended,” historian James Thomas Flexner concludes, “Like a lightning rod, it released harmlessly fears, doubts, and resentments that might otherwise, as the long years of indecisive war rolled on, have massed until Washington was struck down. . . . [Instead,] Washington was recognized as the indispensable man.”
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Re: Today in Ranger history

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10 MOST ELITE SPECIAL FORCES IN THE WORLD


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7Quhnm-Z8A
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Re: Today in Ranger history

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This date in Ranger History: November 8, 1942

1st Ranger Battalion spearheaded the landings at Arzew, North Africa as part of OPERATION TORCH.

The Rangers mission was to secure coastal artillery installations protecting the port of Arzew in preparation for the landing of 1st Armored and 1st Infantry Divisions in the initial stages of the liberation of North Africa.

The Rangers capture of Port Arzew was a tactical success in every aspect. Rangers secured the port and its lethal coastal artillery with minimal casualties.

By 4 a.m., November 8, 1942, Rangers signaled the main fleet that Arzew was secured.

Rangers Lead the Way!
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Re: Today in Ranger history

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From Tara Ross:

On this day in 1965, a massive blackout cripples the Northeast. At first, no one knew what to think! The Cold War was then being silently waged. Had a missile struck somewhere?

“Was there anyone whose mind was not touched,” the New Yorker would ask, “at least fleetingly, by the conviction that this was it—that the missiles were on their way, and Doomsday was at hand?”

The blackout came just as commuters were attempting to make their way home after a long day at work. Tens of thousands of people were caught on subways. Some were trapped in elevators. One pilot was preparing to land when the lights on the runway in front of him suddenly went out.

In at least one hospital, doctors were in the middle of surgery! Fortunately, an emergency generator was found and the surgery—a brain surgery—was completed.

Few immediately realized just how extensive the outage was. How could they? They’d lost access to TV. Information traveled slowly and mostly through battery-powered transistor radios. Finally, though, the scope of the crisis began to sink in: All or part of eight states, plus two Canadian provinces, had been affected—80,000 square miles!

Not everyone reacted well. One prison was forced to deal with a riot. In New York City, a few taxi cab drivers took advantage, charging outrageous fees to get stranded commuters home. To be fair, some commuters began waving down taxis, offering the outrageous fees to get home. smile emoticon:)

For the most part, however, the blackout showed Americans at their best: First responders working overtime. Subway travelers helping each other—walking down dark tunnels, grabbing the coat of the person in front of them, relying on a total stranger to help them find the streets above. Elevator shafts were broken to rescue those trapped inside. People endured the trial together, with good humor, in whatever airplane seat, hotel lobby, or subway car they happened to be stranded in. They shared their food, their candles, and their company.

Indeed, in some cases, stranded commuters developed friendships. One group of strangers was trapped in an elevator together for hours. They were finally freed, but then decided they had to meet again. They ended up forming a Blackout Club.

Another bright spot was the media: They take a lot of bashing today, but on that day in 1965, they represented the American press at its best.

One newsman did a television broadcast from New York—by candlelight! Another group of reporters from the New York Times was determined to publish, electricity or no electricity. The reporters borrowed a press in Newark and produced a 10-page edition of the morning paper. The Times was the only newspaper to accomplish this feat. In the meantime, photographers and journalists from Life Magazine were “trapped in a skyscraper,” according to their own account. Nevertheless, they immediately went to work, capturing the various stages of the blackout on film.

It would be about 13 hours before everyone had their power restored. The cause of the blackout was later determined to be a faulty relay in Ontario, Canada. That small switch began a series of events that cascaded throughout the power grid.

“[M]achines control us at least as much as we control them,” one reporter later wrote. “The machines are quite all right as long as they do what they are supposed to do, but we are now so dependent on them that when something goes wrong in our machines our lives are disrupted.”

True in 1965. Even more true today.
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Re: Today in Ranger history

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From Tara Ross:

On this day in 1921, an unidentified soldier from World War I was interred in a Tomb—the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. President Warren Harding spoke at the ceremony. He opened with these words:

"We are met today to pay the impersonal tribute. The name of him whose body lies before us took flight with his imperishable soul. We know not whence he came, but only that his death marks him with the everlasting glory of an American dying for his country."

Emblazoned on the back of the Tomb are the words:

Here rests in honored glory an American soldier known but to God

Later, other crypts were added, nearby, for unknown soldiers from World War II, Korea and Vietnam. (The Vietnam soldier was later identified, so that crypt is vacant today.) Did you know that the Tomb has no official name? This is why you hear the names "Tomb of the Unknown Soldier" and "Tomb of the Unknowns" used interchangeably.

Today, the Tomb is a tribute to those American soldiers who gave their lives for their country in these wars, without having their remains identified. The Tomb is guarded 365 days a year, 24 hours a day, in all sorts of weather. The sentinels who guard the tomb are the best soldiers from the elite 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment. These soldiers go through intense training and testing before they are qualified to be sentinels. The job is considered a great honor.

Happy Veterans Day! And a big thank you to all our military men and women for their service!
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