09-17-2011, 12:35
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#1
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Asset
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Washington, DC
Posts: 15
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Ranger School for SF Qualified
How is it determined whether or not a current (or prospective) Special Forces qualified soldier attends Ranger school? I understand that many, for example officers coming from combat arms branches, will be Ranger qualified prior to even being considered for Special Forces; or soldiers coming out of Ranger Battalion. If someone's intent is to join Special Forces, how is a decision made to send someone to Ranger school?
My specific situation is that I intend on attending a combat arms branch BOLC in the near future through ARNG. From now until meeting the TIS/rank requirements to attend SFAS, should I actively be seeking a spot in Ranger school or would 19th/20th Group send me prior to SFAS/SFQC? Or do individuals typically self-select on whether or not they wish to attend for their own professional development?
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Foggy Bottom is offline
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09-17-2011, 12:42
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#2
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Quiet Professional
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Tampa
Posts: 2,496
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Based on your post, I think you have a number of misconceptions.
How is it determined that someone goes to Ranger School?
1. They are in a unit that has Ranger School slots
2. They are in a job that supports them going to Ranger School
3. They VOLUNTEER to be placed on the Order of Merit List (OML) to go to the school
4. They pass whatever "pre-Ranger / RIP / ROP / RASP" acronym dejour that shows they have the motivation to not go and waste a school slot that someone else would be successful at.
Ranger School is an Infantry Leader's Course. Plain and simple.
__________________
Primum non Nocere
"I have hung out in dangerous places a lot over the years, from combat zones to biker bars, and it is the weak, the unaware, or those looking for it, that usually find trouble.
Ain't no one getting out of this world alive. All you can do is try to have some choice in the way you go. Prepare yourself (and your affairs), and when your number is up, die on your feet fighting rather than on your knees. And make the SOBs pay dearly."
The Reaper-3 Sep 04
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Eagle5US is offline
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09-17-2011, 12:54
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#3
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Asset
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Washington, DC
Posts: 15
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Eagle5US
Based on your post, I think you have a number of misconceptions.
Ranger School is an Infantry Leader's Course. Plain and simple.
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I believe the misconception you detected on my part is directly related to the reason for my question. Thank you for taking the time to answer.
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Foggy Bottom is offline
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09-17-2011, 12:57
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#4
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Quiet Professional
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Tampa
Posts: 2,496
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No Worries...
It was a statement, not a ding.
Glad to help.
__________________
Primum non Nocere
"I have hung out in dangerous places a lot over the years, from combat zones to biker bars, and it is the weak, the unaware, or those looking for it, that usually find trouble.
Ain't no one getting out of this world alive. All you can do is try to have some choice in the way you go. Prepare yourself (and your affairs), and when your number is up, die on your feet fighting rather than on your knees. And make the SOBs pay dearly."
The Reaper-3 Sep 04
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Eagle5US is offline
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09-17-2011, 13:15
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#5
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Quiet Professional
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Savannah, GA
Posts: 2,292
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FB,
19th or 20th will not send you to Ranger School prior to SFAS. They won't send you before the SFQC either. If you have enough time to go to Ranger School, then you need to be spending that time getting 18series qualified so that you can be of some use versus being a pit that just soaks up training $$ and a spot. Think about it.
AFTER you pass SFAS, you could make your desire to attend ranger school AFTER the SFQC known and maybe things will line up for you.
If going to Ranger school is a primary goal of yours then try and work it thru the unit you are in... before getting into the SF pipeline.
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The Main Thing is to keep the Main Thing the Main Thing
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abc_123 is offline
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09-17-2011, 14:14
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#6
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Asset
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Washington, DC
Posts: 15
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Quote:
Originally Posted by abc_123
If you have enough time to go to Ranger School, then you need to be spending that time getting 18series qualified so that you can be of some use versus being a pit that just soaks up training $$ and a spot.
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^^^This specifically clears up what was on my mind...
While reading through various materials, I noticed a number of things that drew my attention to the possibility of attending Ranger school. For example, in LTC Martin's book, "Get Selected for Special Forces" it incorporated memorization of the Ranger Creed as part of its preparation. Additionally, in a 20th Group Flier, it specifically says this as a requirement for Officers:
"- Ranger qualified or be willing to go to Ranger school"
It seems my suspicions were unfounded. Thanks again for taking the time. I'm going to go do PT now.
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Foggy Bottom is offline
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09-17-2011, 15:38
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#7
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Quiet Professional (RIP)
Join Date: May 2007
Location: Carriere,Ms.
Posts: 6,922
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When I was in the service in the mid '50's, all Infantry 2nd Lt.'s had to be either Airborne or Ranger qualified......... 
Big Teddy 
__________________
I believe that SF is a 'calling' - not too different from the calling missionaries I know received. I knew instantly that it was for me, and that I would do all I could to achieve it. Most others I know in SF experienced something similar. If, as you say, you HAVE searched and read, and you do not KNOW if this is the path for you --- it is not....
Zonie Diver
SF is a calling and it requires commitment and dedication that the uninitiated will never understand......
Jack Moroney
SFA M-2527, Chapter XXXVII
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greenberetTFS is offline
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09-17-2011, 17:32
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#8
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Asset
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Austin, TX
Posts: 23
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Ranger School definitely helped me in SFAS and the Q. So if you can swing it while you're killing time before you are eligible for selection, go for it.
In my case, 19th Group sent me after IOBC since I was already at Benning, but it just depends on the policy of your unit. If it were up to me, I would send all selected Officers to Ranger School before the Q.
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JRV3 is offline
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09-17-2011, 18:29
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#9
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Quiet Professional
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: N.E.WA
Posts: 1,137
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If you are an Officer in Combat Arms and Do Not have a Ranger Tab, then you should be seeking every venue and opportunity to attend.
As a brand new 18A on an ODA how are you going to lead combat proven NCO's who have all been to Ranger School? You need to bring everything that you can to the table in order to prove to everyone that you deserve to be in that position.
FYI, there is a certain CPT in my AO that decided not to take a day 1 recycle at Ranger school because he was assigned to go to our forward Bn. When the GRP COC caught wind of his refusal do you actually think that he got to go to the Forward Bn, or do you think he ended up as the Grp-3 shop bitch boy?
Go to Ranger School as soon as you can and be successful.
Surrender is not a Ranger word.............
__________________
"Most of us here can attest that we never took the easy way. Easy just is............easy. Life is a work in progress, and most of the time its a struggle." ~ Me
"Every normal man must be tempted at times to spit upon his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats." -Henry Louis Mencken (1880-1956)
"A Government that is losing to an insurgency is not being outfought, it is being out governed." Bernard B. Fall
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LongWire is offline
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09-17-2011, 18:46
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#10
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Quiet Professional
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: Fayetteville, NC
Posts: 204
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Best Advice
Joe,
You always give the best advice. I hope I will never need it but, glad it will be there.
Stay safe,
sf
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You either have a tab or a story.
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stfesta is offline
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09-17-2011, 18:50
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#11
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Guest
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I can not think of a better way to spend aprox 76 days in un-interrupted training.
Last edited by wet dog; 09-19-2011 at 01:40.
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09-17-2011, 19:49
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#12
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Asset
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Washington, DC
Posts: 15
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Quote:
Originally Posted by LongWire
Go to Ranger School as soon as you can and be successful.
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Roger.
For some reason, the means with which you delivered your message made the hairs on my neck stand up.
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Foggy Bottom is offline
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09-17-2011, 20:30
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#13
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Quiet Professional
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: Occupied Pineland
Posts: 4,701
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All right. IF you are an officer AND if you pass the SFQC AND you are not already Ranger qualified, THEN you will be given an opportunity to attend Ranger School. We (USASFC(A)) will pay for it, SWCS (4th Bn) will put you on orders and send you in the gap between SFQC graduation and reporting to your first unit. There is a bit of controversy about this but the respective CGs and their G3s support the program so I don't expect it to change while we can still figure out how to scrounge funds for it. Fair warning - it's a one shot "with your shield or on it" course, especially for officers. NG officers will require a bit more effort (mostly earlier planning) but it's possible for them too. Bottom line - worry about passing the SFQC FIRST. That 25M target we're always talking about here.
__________________
A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and carries his banner openly. But the traitor moves amongst those within the gate freely, his sly whispers rustling through all the alleys, heard in the very halls of government itself. For the traitor appears not a traitor; he speaks in accents familiar to his victims, and he wears their face and their arguments, he appeals to the baseness that lies deep in the hearts of all men. He rots the soul of a nation, he works secretly and unknown in the night to undermine the pillars of the city, he infects the body politic so that it can no longer resist. A murderer is less to fear.
~ Marcus Tullius Cicero (42B.C)
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Peregrino is offline
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09-18-2011, 08:48
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#14
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Quiet Professional
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Savannah, GA
Posts: 2,292
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Perigrino-
How will USASFC(A) pay for NG officers? I think if you dig into that a little more you'll find that that is not the case. USASFC(A) does not have NG P&A funds.
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The Main Thing is to keep the Main Thing the Main Thing
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abc_123 is offline
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09-18-2011, 09:28
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#15
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Quiet Professional
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: Occupied Pineland
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Quote:
Originally Posted by abc_123
Perigrino-
How will USASFC(A) pay for NG officers? I think if you dig into that a little more you'll find that that is not the case. USASFC(A) does not have NG P&A funds.
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You're absolutely right; we don't. That's why NG officers need to identify themselves early (do I stay or do I go????  ). We've been finding P&A (our NG guys at the HQ are kick ass) for schools and activations. NTM - the NG SFG(A)s do a good job of redistributing assets/begging for more IF they get sufficient lead time. Yes - it is difficult; NO - it is not impossible. I'll check with the 4-1st SWTG Cdr or his 3 and get the skinny - I'm pretty sure they've already dealt with this.
__________________
A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and carries his banner openly. But the traitor moves amongst those within the gate freely, his sly whispers rustling through all the alleys, heard in the very halls of government itself. For the traitor appears not a traitor; he speaks in accents familiar to his victims, and he wears their face and their arguments, he appeals to the baseness that lies deep in the hearts of all men. He rots the soul of a nation, he works secretly and unknown in the night to undermine the pillars of the city, he infects the body politic so that it can no longer resist. A murderer is less to fear.
~ Marcus Tullius Cicero (42B.C)
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Peregrino is offline
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