What was Ranger School like for you?

[RRDTm3]

The school sucked....but not as bad as living with my EX-wife.

ya, she sucks too

[Jim]

Its alot funnier now.

The understatement of the week!

[rangertough]

I got stuck guarding the equipment while we were doing the log walk rope drop, and slide for life.

As luck would have it I got to be the last sum bitch to do the log walk rope drop, since I was the last one, there was alot of RI's with some "free" time. Those RI's put their free time to good use, the fuck with me for about 1\2 hr. while I was on the top step, I got do the Karate Kid kick thing, spin like a ballerina, jumping jacks, monkey fuckers, and on and on and on. Its alot funnier now.

I forgot all about that.

Tough

[MarineRanger]

Miserable, fun, exciting, challenging .... anything but boring.

I got caught in the Raspberry bushes during heli rappels ... by the Colonel !!! Both he and my RI Plt Commander together. They were 5 ft. away from me. I looked them both in the eyes and they were watching me, looking at my hand, full of berries ... and for a moment, I actually contemplated the idea of jamming that handful of raspberries into my mouth, consequences be damned. Ever try to take away your dog's food dish while he's eating. At that moment , I felt like that hungry dog and did not want to give up my food.

After all, I was already busted ... by the Big Boys. I was sure they were going to expel me from school right on the spot. And send me home with no chance to recycle.

Fortunately, I came to my senses, forced myself to loosen my fingers and let those raspberries drop to the ground.

I think that's the only reason they didn't kick me out. They certainly had every cause to do so. I guess from their perspective, it was a "watcha gonna do now PL" moment.

I went 0-4 in 1st phase, but entered 2nd phase with a 1-3. I'm not going to share how I did that, but I will tell you I promptly failed my first patrol in mountains and became 1-4, so I was right back behind the eight ball again.

I got back-to-back patrols at the very end of Florida, so I was unable to zombie at all, or eat for the last two days in the field. And for at least the last week or more, I had no Ranger buddy and no map (RIs took it away from me). Sleep was no longer even a concept, and I was unaware of my hunger. It was a primeval 'mammoth hunter' surviving on the edge, type of experience.

My RI for my 9th and final patrol, his nickname was "No Go". And that ain't even the half of it.

Twice I managed to technically qualify myself for recycling due to patrol failures, but still found a way to advance. And two other times I should have been thrown out of school. Much worse than the berry incident. I think I even got myself banned from the gator lounge.

Some other highlights ... I was sick the day of the PT test at my marine base. My First Sergeant, a Ranger himself, refused to postpone the test. It was now or never. I accomplished everything even tho I threw up half way through, but I failed the run by over a minute. He allowed me to retest the next day.

And having to run several of the Queen's obstacles over and over again. I think I ran the cargo net alone 60-70 times. Having to peer out my own marine Ranger Buddy. Having to rescue my second buddy from hallucinations in the swamp. Having a one in a million rappelling mishap from which, after avoiding injury, I had to extricate myself. Midnite, and having the RIs send me off creeping into the darkness of the swamp by myself, buck naked and barefoot in my birthday suit, to accomplish a special task to help the rest of the Bn.

Early in 3rd phase, I screwed up so bad in front of the whole battalion ... everybody saw it. I thought the RIs were going to slap me in handcuffs, and march me off the base. But I stayed and accepted the fact that I had lost any chance of getting the tab. And that the RIs were just going to punish and torture me first before throwing me out .... if I was stupid enough to stick around.
Fuck it ... If they didn't physically remove me, I wasn't going to leave.

Being a Marine, I knew nothing of what to expect from the course except that, even if I passed, I would never be allowed to wear my tab on my marine uniform. I did not understand 'recycling', and thought it was a death sentence, I was determined to avoid it. I think that gave me an edge.

At the end, almost my whole squad had been wiped out. It was only me, and Army Capt. Mike H. left standing. (and a worthless gray ghost) I got chosen for point a lot in 1st phase, and out of all those guys, I always picked on Mike to be my compass man. The RIs even made sure I would end up leading the whole battalion as point man, for the very first full size patrol. Mike was kind enough to offer me a ride to his home where I could get a cab to the airport, more easily. I weighed 129 lbs at the end.

As luck would have it. Just prior to Ranger School, I spent 2 weeks bouncing around in amtraks, doing joint military maneuvers in the Mojave desert. Got back on a Friday, had Saturday off, and on Sunday, I boarded my flight from Cali to Georgia. Funny thing. While patrolling in the Mojave, I basically captured a Ranger Captain. Thanks to my Navajo point man who saw the Captain before he saw any of us. We creeped on him to less than 100 ft. of his position on the mountainside above us, and got set up. He had disappeared back behind cover again, so I used myself as bait to draw him out. It worked. The Ranger thought I was alone, and he was going to take me prisoner. Until he realized I had drawn him into my ambush of a dozen marines, and he was practically surrounded. I had a quick conversation with Capt. Gray Ghost, before I let him run away. My hands were tied, there was nothing else I could do. We were given orders not to touch 'enemy' soldiers, and we were out of time.

It may sound like I was a total screw up in RS, but for every terrible thing I had done, I did something totally outstanding to make up for it. And when the RI's needed someone to step up to the plate that they could really count on ... I was their "go to" man.

The last couple of hours of the course on my 9th patrol, they split us, and I had to lead 1/2 the platoon on maneuvers. "No Go" was gone. He had already given me a failing grade for the patrol. And he made darn sure everyone knew about it. But even tho I had already failed the whole course .... again, ... I was still in charge. When they split us, the remaining RI seemed to take a back seat, and it felt like the guys that were left, really became "my men" .... and I began to feel as if I were one of the RIs, myself. My men were all bleary-eyed and ragged, some more so than others, but I could still see respect and even awe, in some of those eyes, as they reclined on the ground, exhausted. Watching me strut around with that heavy pack, wound up, fired up, taking charge and working the situation. Heck, I think I even saw a little bit of awe behind the Instructor's eyes when he finally relieved me of duty. I was still all wound up, and hoping I could get a 10th patrol. I didn't know the class was over, and he was looking at me like, 'Jeezus kid ... you can calm the fuck down now'.

And during that last hour or so, the RI directed me to do a "special" maneuver. It was something I had done twice during the course. The first time I had to do it, I didn't think it was even physically possible and was sure I hadn't heard the orders correctly. It was a bad one. It was brutal.

And now we were all faced with doing it again. Only, one Batt could not do his part because of his feet. Which meant we would all be screwed if I couldn't find a way around the problem. I could not let my men down even though I had failed the course.

On the day of graduation for the rest of my class ... they reversed my last patrol.
And I attended the graduation ceremony, and got my tab.

I want to thank all my RIs for an excellent course, even No Go. In retrospect, a course that was excellently tailored to the individual. I don't know if it was by design, accident, or good fortune. Maybe a little of all 3. And a special thank you to my RI Plt. Sgt .... I think he was the only one that backed me up when the rest of the RIs wanted to see me thrown out or recycled.

And for any parents reading, the RI and Medic were there in less than a minute to evaluate my second Ranger buddy, and they did escort him out of the swamp immediately.

Personally, I was so blessed, I went thru the whole course without a scratch or a blister, not even a runny nose.

In Ranger School, every punishment is a reward, and every reward ... a punishment.

The point is, if you got an asterisk next to your name, or a target on your back, you are going to get better training.

And you are going to have better stories to tell than the rest of the guys.

[Roster#253]

Not all that different from many of the experiences already mentioned. However, I kinda did something that ya' never really want to do at RS...I sorta stood out, but not in a bad way.

To my knowledge, somehere in the RI hooch down at 6th RTB in Eglin, painted black and gold, are a pair of my combat boots...size 16. Now, I never saw them after this, but I gave them up per the request of the RI's who wanted to keep "Ranger Big Foot's" wheels for posterity.

Sure would like to know if those boots are still down there...anywhere.

[fatboy]

Sweet Jeeeebus! How in the fuck did you end up with size 16 Leather personnel carriers? I would hazard a guess that they are still somewhere down there, maybe in the 6th RTB museum that my class "remodeled". Probably right next to a few beer cans that somehow ended up inside the wall there.

[boscounderfoot]

I really enjoyed it, the rooms were well appointed and the service was wonderful. I got a pretty bad sunburn the first week and the RI's were great, they carried my ruck for me. The couple of nights we camped out in the woods were great, we had fires and our own tents. The food was pretty good too, I totally recommend going if you haven't. :lol:

[LJ_602]

Do they still do the raid in RS where you take a pen full of live chickens and rabbits and split them up to kill and cook, or has PETA put a stop to that?

No killing and cooking of animals these days, however in Florida we did some raids where there were MREs we took.

You get 2 MREs a day now (didn't happen in mountains a couple of times) one before you go to sleep and one when you wake up. Untill Florida you have to figure out when to eat on your own. I still lost about 30lbs anyway.

Ranger School was fuckin' horrible. Myself and other other guy from Ranger Batt were the only infantry in out squad in Darby so we never got much sleep because it always took them forever to do anything, and they resented the two of us always trying to help square them away.

Mountains seemed like the RIs were trying to kill you. Climbing up these steep ass hills all day and getting to where the patrol base was supposed to be and just getting smoked all night, 5 min to eat, and it seemed like I was RTO or FO every other fuckn' day.

Florida was where everything came together and you actully get to run the patrol like you want. But my penis was always rubbed raw from the sand as well as my lower back. I think I gained the most from this phase, I liked how this phase applies what you learned in the other two. I got to do it twice even! The first time in Florida for my first patrol the PL before me didn't leave a radio with ORP security so they got kidnapped, then when I took over as PL they were still gone and we had to carry their equiptment. We took mortars and when someone threw down one of their rucks his nods came out because they wern't tied down and later when we found out they were missing eveyone in leadership NO GOed.
For my 2nd Patrol I had it on the day of the "Weaver" and the platoon droned out and gave up, I was a squad leader and everyone in leadership got a No Go then too.
But my second tour in Florida I passed both patrols and got the hell out of there. You learn alot about yourself there.

[Furious George]

Another old post, but one worthy of revival, in my opinion.

My assigned Ranger Buddy (FA from the 82d) turned out to be a psycho dickhead...he screwed me, first, on the 12-miler in 1st Phase (I cramped up in one of my hammies during a break, I couldn't stand up when we were told to resume and he just looked and said, "You're on your own.") The second was in Desert Phase. I was PL for the mission the night before, my buddy was my RTO. It was the possibly the last mission and we were heading back to garrison the next day. After our morning inspection and all sensitive items were accounted for, I told my "buddy" to put the radio back in his ruck and we would exchange equipment at the rear (we were taking Deuce and 1/2's back, so no rucking). This A-hole starts yelling at me, stating that I told him that once the mission was over, he was done as RTO and wouldn't have to hump the PRC-77 anymore. I just looked at him (in front of the RI's) and told him that it was no big deal and to get the job done. Well, to my surprise, as well as the rest of the platoon, this "buddy" of mine's eyes grew freakishly wide, he starts shaking and the next thing I know, he has one of his hands around my neck, choking me. It was probably the last, or next to last mission before graduation. After my squad pulled him off me, we had a squad meeting (minus psycho).

Here was the dilemma, this guy was FA and didn't spend a lot of time away from home. He was married and just had a newborn right before class...do we recycle his stupid ass for his conduct, or do we pass him so he can get back to his family and some sort of normalcy in his life. We picked the latter. He passed and stood with us on graduation day.

Now, here's the irony. Since he was FA and not too many FA's go to Ranger School (at least, back then) this jackass was seen as a prize to his unit. His brigade CDR. flew down from Bragg on a UH-60 to personally pin his tab on him, accompanied by brigade CSM. (Do I lauIgh, or do I cry?)...I never saw that SOB again, even though his unit was probably less than a 1/2 mile away from mine.

To this day, I feel we did an injustice to Rangers everywhere and for that, I apologize.

RLTW

[Lefty]

You want to know what it is like?

Come up to my place for a "short course"

Ranger Lefty, Sorry to Necropost but I would take that offer in an Instant if it is still available.

What is your location?

[centermass]

My RI for my 9th and final patrol, his nickname was "No Go".

No Go Rondeau. Almost anyone in that era remembers him.

Fun times. Wish I could do it all over again......


To add- must be a record for editing a post. Marines....gotta love em.

[Lefty]

Ranger Lefty I am currently located in Oklahoma for a more exact location PM me, I am honored your considering this for me.

Not an operational concept due to location and current diversion to higher priorities.