Introduction - NavyFlyer72

[Navyflyer72]

I think I'm prepared for the hazing I'm about to receive, only time will tell. I am a Mustang Navy officer (prior enlisted) helo pilot and fixed wing reconnaissance pilot. I've been in the Navy since 1990. To alot of folks on here, I'd be considered old. I probably am. So what is a Mustang Navy Officer doing on ArmyRanger.com you ask?

That's easy, I want to go to Ranger school. The hard part is explaining why I would want to do this to myself at my advanced age, and well, why a sailor would want to play in a soldiers realm.

I guess the easiest way to explain it is to say that after several deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan and having the honor of supporting a few groups filled with the most professional and capable soldiers I have ever been associated with. I want to learn more, I want to see behind the curtain, experience the leadership cauldron that Ranger school has been described to me by Rangers and see if, as old as I am, if I have it in me to humble myself (tough for an aviator, I know) and learn and perform at that level.

I am currently deployed to Afghanistan for the third time. A year long tour, that when it wraps up I will be 1 month into my 40th year on this rock. I've done my research and know that there have been much older gentlemen to go through and complete Ranger school, but I also read up on their pedigrees, Marine Force Recon types. I have no illusions that I lived a pampered life in Naval Aviation, it was a great lifestyle, but I no longer live it after sustaining an eye injury that took me out of the cockpit. Don't worry, I can see just fine (20x20), I just lack a bit of peripheral vision. Enough that the docs yanked my flight clearance and forced me to transition into Intel, which is where I have been supporting some of the most elite troops I have ever met.

So I guess my first question is this. How in the wold does a Navy guy compete for a Ranger school billet. Also, being a reservist now, I have time on my side and would be 100% ready to do this as no-cost TDY orders. On my dime.

If this is even a possibility, I'd like to know how. I'm in Kabul, but travel around with an MTT from time to time, so if you message me and don't get a response right away, I'm probably out, but I will check back frequently and reply as soon as I see messages.

Thanks for having this crusty old sailor on your pages. Oh, and I will get an avatar build shortly, I read the FAQ's.

RLTW
ATW

Regards,
George

[Steadfast]

Welcome Navyflyer72.

Thank you for your continuing service to our country. Stay safe on your Deployment Sir.

Although I myself never attended Ranger School there are many on here that may offer you advice to your questions.

I'm taking the liberty to move your introduction to the Active Military Forum Sir.

[CharlieRanger1FFV]

Welcome to the site, Navyflyer72


RLTW!!!

[Navyflyer72]

Thanks for all the responses. I think ZoneIV hits a few good points for me to consider. Let me provide some background to help you understand where I am coming from with this request. My reasons are both personal and professional. The personal reasons are mine and I have no inclination of sharing with anyone as I would expect many of you feel the same way. My professional reasons for wanting to attend Ranger school and many. You said it yourself that Ranger school is a small unit leadership course. When was teh last time you met an effective small unit leader in the Navy who was not in Special Operations, and yet the nave breaks down it's ranks into branches, which roughly equate to a squad, or in some cases a platoon. So the underlying leadership traits that you develop at Ranger school would just a aptly apply on a ship at sea, or on a FOB in Helmand, or on a patrol in the Asadabad Valley, right?
As an intelligence officer now, I find myself increasingly forward, in places where Army FAO types would feel more comortable and better trained to handle whatever situations they might encounter. Having worked for Rangers (75th) I know what they do, and I have no preconceived notion that I will ever participate in any of their missions. They are great at what they do, but there are thousands of people around who have a Ranger tab and have never been assigned to Regiment. But if you wear the tab, you understand the principles of leadership that make units like the 75th so effective. I believe that these same principles would work in any small unit.
So there are reasons, ego is definitely not one of them. Try being a pilot (who had an ego) and get grounded because of an accident, then pushed to the reserves because he was too late in the game to promote in Intel (after 15 years of service). I'mpretty confident any ego I had went away a long time ago.

I do appreciate your comments, they provided me the opportunity to evaluate what I want from this again. Which I have done several times (each day) and I keep coming up with the same answer, because the handful of leaders who I have respected the most and would follow anywhere, wore that tab. I believe Ranger school develops something within each graduate that helps them to become more effective leaders and I believe that that training will benefit me and the units that I am applying for orders to in the future.

I hope this didn't come across as defensive, or cocky, just trying to expain my reasoning a little more clearly.

RLTW

Cheers,
George

[Navyflyer72]

Thanks again for the insight. I know I have a steep hill to climb in getting a billet in this school. I think it's a worthwhile endeavor based off of the assignments I am pursuing. It will give me training and experience I otherwise would not have. Granted I am on my 5th deployment out here to CENTCOM (Iraq and Afg) and I have seen and experienced a lot, but sometimes people want to see that you punched certain tickets before they let you through certain doors.

I would ask that 39 year old Force Recon stud from your original post, or the 50+ year old Marine Colonel why they went, I would have thought that they would need to go even less than me, but they went.

I have found it true that anything worth doing, is never easy. And so it will be with this.

Thanks all for the welcomes, and I welcome more critical responses, it makes me think deeper and analyse this more than if everyone just said "good luck" or things like that.

RLTW

Cheers,
George

[Navyflyer72]

Analyze, not analyse...

[Navyflyer72]

My 5 deployments since 2001 have all been militay, I've never been a contractor and never had a civilian job, I've always been on active duty orders since I came off active duty in 2008:

- 2 voluntary deployments to Iraq flying Combat Reconnaissance missions as a fixed wing reconnaissance pilot.
- 1 voluntary Deployment to Afghanistan with SOF
- 1 voluntary Deployment to Afghanistan with a Special Collection Group
- This current deployment to Afghanistan was volun-told by the Navy as an embedded trainer, primarily training the ANA equivalent of SOT-A teams, and developing their immediate actions to attacks on their COP's and OP'S.

So you're probably right, there is no comparison at all to those guys other than my age. I'm sure my experience pales in comparison to what everyone else has done, but that doesn't change a thing about why I want to go. Like I said, it's personal and professional, it would help me to understand the guys I have been working with better and help them understand me. They will know that I have a similar perspective as them and a common bond. So while I may never be the XO of an Armor Company, when I am shoulder to shoulder with soldiers, sailors, marines and airmen (since I typically work in Joint/Combined units) downrange, I think it would be helpful for them to know that I am on the same page as them and that I'll do what needs to be done when the shtf.

Cheers,
George

[Worldweaver]

No reason for you to be there Sir. It's for cherry Lieutenants and dumb ass privates, both with about the same level of knowledge, and allows them to lead in a controlled "stressful" environment before leading men in combat. I don't think your reasons are misguided but your expectations of what to achieve in this course definitely are.

My perspective at least.

Welcome to the site Sir