The United States Army Ranger School is an intense nine-week long combat leadership course, oriented towards around small-unit tactics, and conducted in three separate three-week-long phases - at Fort Benning, Georgia, U.S.A., (the woodland terrain, 'Benning Phase'), at Camp Rogers and Camp Darby, Georgia, (the Mountain Phase) at Camp Merrill near Dahlonega Georgia, and Florida Phase at Camp Rudder, (Eglin AFB), Florida. The Desert Phase, conducted first at Fort Bliss, Texas and later at Dugway Proving Grounds, Utah was eliminated in 1995. The last Ranger School class to go through the desert phase was class 7-95. U.S. Army Ranger Tab (embroided) Copyright Public domain: United States Army. ... The United States Army is the largest and oldest branch of the armed forces of the United States. ... Fort Benning is a United States Army base, located southwest of Columbus in Muscogee and Chattahoochee counties in Georgia and Russell County, Alabama It is part of the Columbus, Georgia Metropolitan Statistical Area. ... Located at Eglin AFB, it is host to the so-called swamp phase of U.S. Army Ranger School. ... Eglin Air Force Base is a base of the United States Air Force that belongs to the Air Force Materiel Command; the Air Armament Center is the host unit. ... Fort Bliss is a census-designated place and US Army post located in El Paso County, Texas. ...

History

Ranger School was formed in 1950, during the Korean War, in order to train soldiers in Ranger tactics. The first class graduated in November of 1950. ^[1] Combatants United Nations:  Republic of Korea,  Australia,  Belgium,  Luxembourg,  Canada,  Colombia,  Ethiopia,  France,  Greece,  Luxembourg,  Netherlands,  New Zealand,  Philippines,  South Africa,  Thailand,  Turkey,  United Kingdom,  United States Medical staff:  Denmark,  Australia,  Italy,  Norway,  Sweden Communist states:  Democratic People’s Republic of Korea,  Peoples Republic of China,  Soviet Union Commanders...

Students

Many Ranger students come from the 75th Ranger Regiment, where completing and passing Ranger School is requirement for any leadership position, but many other students come from regular Army units, and return to them with greater leadership skills. Passing Ranger school is a de facto requirement for success as an infantry officer in the U.S. Army. The 75th Ranger Regiment—also known as the United States Army Rangers—is an elite light infantry special operations force of the United States Army Special Operations Command (USASOC) headquartered in Fort Benning, Georgia. ... Infantry of the Royal Irish Rifles during the Battle of the Somme in World War I. Infantry are soldiers who fight primarily on foot with small arms in organized military units, though they may be transported to the battlefield by horses, ships, automobiles, skis, bicycles, or other means. ...

Since the 1950s, students have received a copy of Rangers Standing Orders, a version of the guidance Major Robert Rogers composed for his unit, Rogers' Rangers. There are two versions of the Rangers Standing Orders of Major Robert Rogers. ... This does not cite any references or sources. ... Rogers Rangers was an independent company of rangers attached to the British Army during the French and Indian War. ...

Training

Ranger School training centers on a basic scenario: the flourishing drug operations of the enemy forces, “the Cortinian Army,” must be eradicated. To do so, the Rangers will have to take the fight to the enemy's territory, the rough terrain surrounding Fort Benning, the mountains of northern Georgia, and the swamps and coast of Florida. Ranger students are given a clear mission, but they determine how best to execute it.

Field instruction is the majority of the coursework; students carry gear weighing around or over 100 lbs. (45 kg), while spending each day planning and executing patrols, reconnaissance, ambushes, and raids against widely dispersed targets, followed by a stealthy and elusive movement to a new patrol base to again begin the planning cycle for the next mission. Training during the course averages roughly 20 hours per day, with students sleeping only an average of 3.4 hours a night, while eating two, or fewer, meals per day. This is only an average, however; on some days students may get the opportunity to sleep more or less (and on some nights, not at all). Heavy mental and physical fatigue are the result; a climate of high psychological stress is cultivated by the R.I. (Ranger Instructor) in order to simulate the stress of extended combat operations.

Training Capabilities

Ranger School students will participate in three airborne, and several air-assault operations throughout the duration of the course, relying on C-130 cargo planes, as well as UH-60 (Blackhawk) and Chinook helicopters, for insertion and extraction. The students also have the ability to call-in and utilize close air support in the form of Apache attack helicopters and AC-130 Spectre gunships during many of their missions. All aircraft are provided by other nearby units as part of a training co-operative.

Benning Phase

Fort Benning is the home of the Ranger Training Brigade and its 4th Ranger Training Battalion, which hosts the “crawl” phase of Ranger School, where students learn the fundamentals of squad-level mission planning. This phase is critical to success, as it lays the groundwork for the “walk” and “run” phases. At Benning, training is separated into two parts, the Ranger Assessment Phase (RAP) and Camp Darby.

The Ranger Assessment Phase has traditionally included:^[2]

• Army Physical Fitness Test (APFT) requiring:

• Push-ups - 49+
• Sit-ups - 59+
• Chin ups - 6+
• 2 mile run in running shoes in 15:12 minutes or less
• Concluding with 6 chin-ups.

• Combat Water Survival Assessment
• Water Confidence Test, conducted at Victory Pond
• 5-mile formation run in 40 minutes or less
• Combination Night/Day land navigation test
• Modern Army Combatives Program (MACP) training, conducted for several hours nightly in the sawdust pits
• 3.2-mile "buddy run" (in pairs) with rifle, kevlar helmet, and LBE (Load Bearing Equipment, with full canteens), all while in ACU's (Army Combat Uniform) and combat boots
• A 1.63 mile terrain run, followed by the Malvesti Field Obstacle Course, featuring the notorious "worm pit": a shallow, muddy, 25-meter obstacle covered by knee-high barbed wire. The obstacle must be negotiated - usually several times - on one's back and belly
• Demolitions training and airborne refresher training
• A tactical forced foot march to Camp Darby, which is reportedly 12 miles long, but in actuality, remains, from start-to-finish (Camp Rogers to Camp Darby) around 16-miles

The emphasis at Camp Darby is on the instruction in and execution of squad combat operations. The Ranger student receives instruction on airborne/air assault operations, demolitions, environmental and "field craft" training, executes the infamous "Darby Queen" obstacle course, and learns the fundamentals of patrolling, warning and operations orders, and communications. The fundamentals of combat operations include battle drills (React to Contact, Break Contact, React to Ambush, Platoon Raid), which are focused on providing the principles and techniques that enable the squad-level element to successfully conduct reconnaissance and raid missions. The Ranger student must then demonstrate his expertise in both leadership and support roles through a series of cadre and student led tactical operations. As a result, the Ranger student gains tactical and technical proficiency, confidence in himself, and prepares to move to the next phase of the course--the Mountain Phase. Combatives FM 21-150 Figure 4-1, Vital Targets. ...

Mountain phase

During the Mountain Phase, students receive instruction on military mountaineering tasks as well as techniques for employing a platoon for continuous combat operations in a mountainous environment. They further develop their ability to command and control a platoon size element through planning, preparing , and executing a variety of combat missions. The Ranger student continues to learn how to sustain himself and his subordinates in the adverse conditions of the mountains. The rugged terrain, severe weather, hunger, mental and physical fatigue, and the emotional stress that the student encounters afford him the opportunity to gauge his own capabilities and limitations as well as that of his "Ranger Buddies".

In addition to combat operations, the Ranger student receives five days of training on military mountaineering. During the first three days of mountaineering (Lower) he learns about knots, belays, anchor points, rope management and the basic fundamentals of climbing and rappelling. His mountaineering training culminates with a two day exercise (Upper) at Yonah Mountain applying the skills learned during Lower mountaineering. Each student must make all prescribed climbs at Mt. Yonah to continue in the course. During the FTX, Ranger students perform a mission that requires the use of their mountaineering skills. Combat missions are directed against a conventionally equipped threat force in a Mid Intensity Conflict scenario. These missions are conducted both day and night over an eight day field-training-exercise (FTX) and include moving cross country over mountains, conducting vehicle ambushes, raiding communications/mortar sites, and conducting a river crossing or scaling a steep sloped mountain. The Ranger student reaches his objective in several ways: cross-country movement, airborne insertion into small, rugged drop zones, air assaults into even smaller landing zones on the sides of mountains or an 8-10 mile foot march over the Tennessee Valley Divide (TVD). The stamina and commitment of the Ranger student is stressed to the maximum. At any time, he may be selected to lead tired, hungry, physically expended students to accomplish yet another combat mission. At the conclusion of the Mountain Phase, the students move by bus or parachute assault into the Third and final (Florida) Phase of Ranger training, conducted at Camp Rudder, near Eglin AFB, Florida.

Florida phase

The Third Phase of Ranger School is conducted at Camp James E. Rudder (Auxiliary Field #6), Eglin AFB, Florida. Emphasis during this phase is to continue the development of the Ranger student's combat arms functional skills. He must be capable of operating effectively under conditions of extreme mental and physical stress. This is accomplished through practical exercises in extended platoon level operations in a jungle/swamp environment. Training further develops the students' ability to plan for and lead small units on independent and coordinated airborne, air assault, small boat, and dismounted combat operations in a mid-intensity combat environment against a well-trained, sophisticated enemy.

The Florida Phase continues the progressive, realistic OPFOR (Opposing Forces) scenario. As the scenario develops, the students receive "in-country" technique training that assists them in accomplishing the tactical missions later in the phase. Technique training includes: small boat operations, expedient stream crossing techniques, and skills needed to survive and operate in a jungle/swamp environment.

The Ranger students are updated on the scenario that eventually commits the unit to combat during techniques training. The 12-day FTX is a fast-paced, highly stressful, challenging exercise in which the students are further trained, but are also evaluated on their ability to apply small unit tactics/techniques. They apply the tactics/techniques of raids, ambushes and movement to contact to accomplish their missions. The capstone of the course is the extensively-planned raid of the "Cortinian" Army's island stronghold. This small boat operation involves each platoon in the class, all working together on separate missions to take down the cartel's final point of strength.

After this op is completed, those students who have earned the right to graduate spend several days cleaning their weapons and gear in preparation to depart for Ft. Benning. At this time, students have earned P/X (Post Exchange, similar to a convenience store) privileges, and access to the "Gator Lounge", a place where students can, for the first time in several months, use a telephone, grab some nachos and a few beers, and watch television. Additionally during this short period, students are finally alloted 3 square meals a day (which is jokingly reputed to be so that he will not look so frighteningly malnourished when he sees loved ones at graduation). The graduation ceremony is held back where the class begun- at Camp Rogers on Ft. Benning. In an elaborate ceremony held at Victory Pond, students are pinned with the distinctive "Black and Gold" Ranger tab on their left shoulder (usually by a relative or respected Ranger Instructor). "The tab" will now be worn permanently above the soldiers unit patch.

Leadership Positions

A student's graduation is highly dependent on his performance in graded positions of leadership. This leadership ability is evaluated at various levels in various situations, and is observed while he is in one of his typically two graded leadership roles per phase. He can either meet the high standards and be given a "GO" by the R.I., or he can fail to meet this standard and receive the dreaded "NO GO". He must demonstrate the ability to meet the standard in order to move forward, and can thus only afford one blown patrol. His success will lie in his ability to essentially manipulate the men directly underneath his charge of leadership. At times, this will be as few as 2 to 3 men - while he may be given charge of up to an entire 50 or 60 man platoon. His success is dependent on the performance of these individuals, whom he must motivate and lead. Missions are broken up into 3 stages: planning, movement, and action on the objective. Key leadership positions, as well as important support positions like the medic and the RTO (Radio Transmission Operator), are reassigned for each of the three stages of a mission.

Peer Evaluations

Another part of the evaluation of the student is a peer evaluation; failing a peer evaluation (scoring less than a 60% approval rating from your squad) can result in disqualification, though usually only if it happens twice. Due to unit loyalties, certain individuals within a squad who may be "the odd man out" will sometimes be singled out by the squad arbitrarily. Because of this, someone who has been "peered out", or "peered", will be moved to another squad, sometimes within another platoon, in order to ensure that this was not the reason the student was peered. If it happens within this new squad, however, this is generally an indication that student is being singled out because he is either lazy, incompetent, or cannot keep up. At this time he will usually be removed from the course.

Recycling

If a student performs successfully, but suffers an injury that keeps him from finishing, he may be re-cycled at the discretion of either the battalion or the brigade commander; he’ll be given an opportunity to heal and finish the course with the next class. Students can also be re-cycled for failing a leadership evaluation on patrol; however, if a student fails patrols in a given phase twice, he will usually be offered a "day one re-start" and have to begin Ranger school from RAP week onwards. Day one restarts can also be given (the other option being removed from training, never to return) in the case of soldiers who fail patrol leadership positions and peer evaluations. In rare cases, those assessed of integrity violations (lying, cheating, stealing) will also be given the ability to take a day one restart, however these soldiers are usually permanently removed from course.

Historically, the graduation rate has been around 40%, but this has fluctuated in both directions at certain points. Only around 20% of soldiers make it through all three phases without having to repeat a phase.

Physical Effects

While there have been no publicly available, peer-reviewed scientific studies published on the physical effects of the Ranger course on students, it is not uncommon for these individuals to lose 35 - 50 pounds during the course. Common military folk wisdom has it that suffering through Ranger School takes a toll on the body not unlike years of natural aging; high levels of fight-or-flight and stress hormones (such as adrenalin, noradrenalin, and cortisol), along with standard sleep deprivation and consistent physical strain, prohibit the students full physical and mental recovery throughout the course. This has a "snowball effect" and takes quite a physical toll of the student, making even the simplest task difficult.

Common maladies during the course include extreme weight loss, dehydration, trench foot, heatstroke, frostbite, chilblain, bone fractures, tissue tears (ligaments, tendons, muscles), swollen hands/feet/knees, nerve damage/general loss of sensitivity in the limbs (which may or may not fully return), cellulitis, cuts requiring stitches, insect, and spider, insect and snake bites (brown recluse, fire ants, scorpion, water moccasin).

Students must also recover from a drastic change in their metabolic rate, brought on by the large calorie deficiency experienced during the course, in addition to the physical ailments and damage suffered by the body.

References

External links

• US Army Ranger School's homepage

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v • d • e United States Army Rangers
Rangers of the United States Army
French and Indian Wars	Church's Rangers • Rogers' Rangers
American Revolutionary War	2nd Legionary Corps • Armand's Legion • Knowlton's Rangers • Whitcomb's Rangers
American Civil War	7th Virginia Cavalry • Marion's Men • Mean's Rangers • Mosby's Rangers
World War II	1st Ranger Battalion • 2nd Ranger Battalion • 3d Ranger Battalion • 4th Ranger Battalion • 5th Ranger Battalion • 6th Ranger Battalion • Merrill's Marauders
Modern Rangers	Korean War Ranger Companies • 75th Ranger Infantry Regiment (Airborne) • 75th Ranger Regiment
See also	Ranger Creed • Ranger Memorial • Ranger Indoctrination Program • Ranger Orientation Program • Ranger School • Rangers Standing Orders