Rangers caught in the PC crossfire

[thedrifter]

Rangers caught in the PC crossfire

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Posted: May 27, 2003
1:00 a.m. Eastern


? 2003 David H. Hackworth


Rangers have always been my favorite soldiers. My admiration for them probably started at age 10 when I watched Spencer Tracy in the movie "Northwest Passage" ? or perhaps it was the daring deeds of Darby's Rangers in Africa, Sicily, Italy and France. For sure, seeing Rangers in action in Korea and Vietnam was the clincher. And once I was hooked, I've remained one of their biggest fans.

Since the Korean War, the Infantry Center at Fort Benning, Ga., has been training individual Rangers at the conventional Army's most demanding course. Upon completion, these proud Ranger graduates have always infused the rest of the Army with the high standards of professionalism required to prepare men for battle and to make it through the horror of combat.

Ranger training has never been easy. Darby set the standard in 1942 while forging the first U.S. Ranger battalion. "We trained from early morning till late at night, seven days a week," he wrote. Ironman physical conditioning, speed marches, difficult obstacles and exacting discipline were just part of the drill. And there was always that infamous in-your-face stress created by the Ranger Instructors and designed to weed out those who would fall apart in a firefight.

About half of Darby's highly motivated initial volunteers didn't make it. In the years since, this 50 percent attrition mark has continued to be the norm.

While the rest of the U.S. Army has lowered its standards to the point where seasoned war vets find today's combat training a joke and the crusty salts who fought at Anzio, Osan and Dak To refer to what passes for most training as "an invitation to get killed," Rangers have fought lowering the training bar and have consistently turned out hardened studs whom commanders in the field would fight to get.

That is until Maj. Gen. Paul Eaton, the guy who runs Fort Benning today, was told by a few recent Ranger graduates that they were turned off by Ranger School because some of their RIs were meanies and actually yelled and cursed at them and even made them do pushups when they goofed up. Others complained in writing that they'd been sleep-deprived and that the training was too difficult.

For the record, the RIs ? hardened vets who know what it takes to win and walk away alive ? were merely following the battle-tested Darby practices of creating maximum stress, teaching attention to detail and passing on the proven tactics and techniques that have worked so splendidly for our Rangers in a bunch of bad scraps.

But serving Rangers say Eaton went ballistic. He assembled the RIs and gave these tough, dedicated warriors ? most with 12 to 15 years of service ? a tongue-lashing they'll never forget.

About the time this general-officer temper tantrum occurred, an investigation was launched. Magnificent soldiers such as Command Sgt. Maj. Bobby Lane, a combat Ranger with 23 years of superior service, were relieved, and other equally fine soldiers' careers went down the toilet.

Why?

Because clueless Generation Xers with a few months in the Army ratted out these heroes to a general who then overreacted.

The effect?



RIs are now no longer allowed to swear in the presence of a student. Nor can they raise their voices or use pushups as punishment. Students wear sneakers instead of boots and are coddled as if they were at a Boy Scout Jamboree instead of preparing for a kill-or-be-killed rendezvous on a hillside in Afghanistan or a patch of desert in Iraq.

When an RI complained to his boss that today's training environment is like "walking on eggshells," the colonel ? who caved for those potential stars flickering in the breeze along with the rest of the Ranger colonels who didn't come to their fine RIs' defense ? said, "Good, that's the way I want it."

When Ranger students were recently caught writing "obscene graffiti" on a Ranger vehicle, RIs asked their colonel to boot the guilty from the school. The colonel passed. Could he be afraid of the students complaining again to Eaton?

Pray our future enemies will be as weak as the Iraqis. Because down the road, we might not have real Rangers to Lead the Way as they have for the past 250 years.





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Col. David H. Hackworth,

? 2003 WorldNetDaily.com, Inc.


Sempers,

Roger

[Seascamp]

If one has a look at the current DOD vision of a leaner, meaner, more high-tech military, then conflicts can be seen directly in the path ahead. My take is that to realize the vision, a lot more Rangers and people like them are going to be needed. Plus, these ?new? Rangers are going to have to have a lot more going than grads of a very tough and thorough selection and training course. For right or for wrong, a lot of current instructors have to be reviewed for compatibility and the curriculum will probably need some serious revamping. There is a lot of wisdom in the concept of ?If it ain?t broke, don?t fix it?. But on the other hand when the selection process falls far behind demand and future needs, adjustments are coming and I?m thinking that is what is on the plate. I this instance, I?m not sure ?PC? is the driving force but I definitely see conflict between the DOD vision and what can realistically be realized given current practices and infrastructure.
I went through this long ago when the USN shifted from one form of gun-rich surface combat ship with lots of armor to high-tech fast and sleek ships with no guns to speak of, little armor and a crew size whittled to about one third. The rough and tough, rocks and shoals Navy Chiefs no longer had their way and things got real dicey with plenty of unhappiness among the more traditional Navy people. Given a choice I would have much rather served before or after the transition, but not during it. Seems like I?m hearing the same words all over again with the discussion about the Rangers. Anyway, that's my opinion.

Scamp

[1IDVET]

Sometimes Hackworth is a little off the mark.

FORT BENNING, Ga. -- U.S. military technology, accelerating American dominance over allies and rivals at a dizzying pace, is driving enemy forces to scatter and hide where they are vulnerable only to that most humble and low-tech weapon -- the infantry grunt.

The lessons emerging from the global war on terrorism suggest the Pentagon will come to depend heavily on infantry to track down and root out terrorists and guerrillas, to assault Saddam Hussein's last defenders in their hide-holes, to provide security and stability in postwar nations like Afghanistan, and to offer a reassuring American presence in volatile regions from the Korean peninsula to southern Europe and Africa.

Full Story

Other stuff.
Ranger Course Sample PT

Ranger Course Pamphlet

I am not convinced yet.


Here's a good Ranger site.
ArmyRanger.com