Ranger School
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The United States Army Ranger School is an intense 9-week long combat leadership course, conducted in three 3-week phases - at Fort Benning, GA (woodland terrain, 'Benning Phase'), Camp Rogers, Georgia (Mountain Phase), and Camp Rudder (Eglin AFB) (Swamp Phase).
Training during the course averages 19.4 hours per day. Thus, students average only a couple hours of sleep every night, and two or fewer meals per day. This leaves them heavily fatigued throughout the course. Most students are in the best physical condition of their lives at the beginning of the course, and by the end some can barely manage one pushup. Field instruction composes the majority of the course. While in the field, students carry rucks (called 'ticks') and gear weighing as much as 45 kg (100 pounds), spending each day planning and executing attacks on widely dispersed objectives, followed by a rapid movement to a new patrol base to begin the planning cycle yet again. Graduates of the school earn the coveted Ranger Tab, and are called U.S. Army Rangers.
Many Ranger students come from the 75th Ranger Regiment, where passing Ranger School is a requirement for any leadership position, but many other students come from regular Army units, and return with increased leadership skills. Passing Ranger school is a de facto requirement for success as an infantry officer in the U.S. Army.
External links
Official sites
- GoArmy.com Ranger Website (http://www.goarmy.com/ranger)
- Ranger Training Brigade (http://www.infantry.army.mil/rtb/)
- US Army Rangers History (http://www.benning.army.mil/rtb/HISTORY/histopen.htm)
- Ranger Tab Information (https://www-perscom.army.mil/tagd/tioh/Badges/ranger%20tab.htm)
- Ranger Handbook (http://www.benning.army.mil/rtb/ranger/HDBOOK/TABLEOFCONTENTS.htm)