Ranger School for SF Qualified

[MtnGoat]

Originally Posted by Foggy Bottom

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?

FB - Your on a firing range right now.. engage your 25 and 50 meter targets. Let the ones out at 250m and 300m move towards you and get them late.

If your think of going SF, pick that target first. If it is Ranger School, pick it. Focus!!

You have all your answer here. So engage your targets!!

Just my .02

[Foggy Bottom]

The answers provided far exceeded what I was hoping for and in less than 24 hours. Thanks to all, I hope to return the favor by putting the information to good use.

My actual 25m target is Engineering BOLC, successful PL time (50m), then Selection (100m). I'm not sure I can realistically create any plan that extends past that.

Going to Ranger school is a bridge I'll cross when the time is more appropriate. While I anticipate it would be invaluable training and perhaps a life-changing experience, it potentially creates some obstacles in terms of timing and possible injury. I think it all depends upon circumstances between the Army and civilian employment.

Thank you again for taking the time.

[MVP]

IMHO I do not belive it makes a hill of beans for an officer to go to Ranger school. Best TL i ever had was ranger qual'd but spent 3 years in a Bn before coming to an A-Tm. Worst I had was also a ranger school grad...

BLUF: Ranger school does make a new TM Ldr less of the newbie (MHO of course!) and does not guarantee any level of maturity. Perhaps a version of PLDC for SF officer candidates would be of more benefit.



MVP

[1stindoor]

Originally Posted by MVP

BLUF: Ranger school does make a new TM Ldr less of the newbie (MHO of course!) and does not guarantee any level of maturity. Perhaps a version of PLDC for SF officer candidates would be of more benefit.



MVP

Just to keep you up to date...Primary Leadership Development Course no longer exists...it's now the Warrior Leaders Course (WLC).

[MVP]

Thanks, I'm stuck in the Coke days before the Pepsi generation...

MVP

[Powder]

This one looks like it's been dead for a while but I want to confirm some RUMINT flying around amongst the men who've done it already.

One of the Lt's in my unit claimed that he had several NCO's in his Ranger class whom had just graduated Q Course but had not reached group yet. Has anyone ever heard of this happening as a recent SOP?

The Lt went through Ranger post 2011 and knowing how quickly things can change it seems like a reasonable course of action that NCO's are going through Ranger prior to getting to group.

[Peregrino]

It happens. We pushed for this two years ago. Given budget reductions (schools cost money) and unit desires to get their people as quickly as possible after graduation, future opportunities will be limited. We tried to get at least the 18As sent but that's proving difficult too.

[craigepo]

When I went through Ranger school (class 9-90)(roster number 119, pfc, 2/75, 180 pounds of ass-stompin' madness), we had an 18C from 1st group go through. The RI's terrorized that guy "Special fuckin' feces, get over here". The guy did a great job, but sometimes he really wanted to crawl into a hole.

[mark46th]

As a FOG, I am unsure what the importance of Ranger Scool has become. If it is that important, why don't they extend Phase I to nine weeks?

[hotshot]

Originally Posted by Powder

This one looks like it's been dead for a while but I want to confirm some RUMINT flying around amongst the men who've done it already.

One of the Lt's in my unit claimed that he had several NCO's in his Ranger class whom had just graduated Q Course but had not reached group yet. Has anyone ever heard of this happening as a recent SOP?

The Lt went through Ranger post 2011 and knowing how quickly things can change it seems like a reasonable course of action that NCO's are going through Ranger prior to getting to group.

It is not a reasonable course of action to send a newly minted SF Soldier to Ranger school, as he already has received the training necessary to be a successful member of an ODA. Remember, Ranger Qualification doesn't always equal success in the SFQC and that works both ways.

As previously mentioned, these "initiatives" change with the winds and will continue to do so. I recently sent several CPT's to Ranger School following graduation, most of them earned the leadership awards while there; as they should.

Lastly, Ranger school is probably the easiest school to obtain a hard slot for in SF due to the current optempo. Rarely do SF guys want to go walk around in the woods for 3 months when they are only home 10 months out of the year.

CH

[Basenshukai]

Originally Posted by MVP

IMHO I do not belive it makes a hill of beans for an officer to go to Ranger school. Best TL i ever had was ranger qual'd but spent 3 years in a Bn before coming to an A-Tm. Worst I had was also a ranger school grad...

BLUF: Ranger school does make a new TM Ldr less of the newbie (MHO of course!) and does not guarantee any level of maturity. Perhaps a version of PLDC for SF officer candidates would be of more benefit.



MVP

You have completely missed the point of the Ranger Course experience and its potential significance to an officer's professional formation. It is not to make him "less cherry", making appear to be more of a man, or to give him instant respect. Those may be additional and incidental to the successful completion of that training. But, if that's all you - or the officer sees - the message with regards to the purpose of that course has been lost.

[UWOA (RIP)]

I'm an FOG, too. So I guess posting to a two-year-old query helps me go back in time, yet provides a window forward to those who come across this during their search for information along this line ....

Besides all the cogent information provided above, you will find the biggest stumbling block to attending Ranger School is funds availability. I say that having been the S-3 for a Ranger company (LRRP) in the Indiana National Guard. Even though our mission demanded Ranger qualified soldiers, we still had difficulty getting slots/funds. Even though decades have passed the situation probably remains nearly the same -- you will be competing with huge numbers of active duty folks as well as graduating West Point classes. When I attended, I was assigned to 10th SFG (A). My ranger buddy in the Florida phase was one of two NG soldiers in the class ... two out of probably 350 (counting recycles) in that training cycle -- not a lot -- even though we also had Marines, Canadians, Thais, and SEALs in the class. My ranger buddy was from 19th Group, if that tells you something.

Bottom line, complete SFQC first; you'll have a better chance of going to Ranger school then ... and be better prepared to successfully complete the course -- that's if you have what it takes to complete SFQC.

As has been said here in other posts -- they're two completely different "animals".

.

[sinjefe]

Originally Posted by Basenshukai

You have completely missed the point of the Ranger Course experience and its potential significance to an officer's professional formation. It is not to make him "less cherry", making appear to be more of a man, or to give him instant respect. Those may be additional and incidental to the successful completion of that training. But, if that's all you - or the officer sees - the message with regards to the purpose of that course has been lost.

You do realize he wrote that 2 years ago, right?

[Basenshukai]

Originally Posted by sinjefe

You do realize he wrote that 2 years ago, right?

Even if it was written ten years ago, it does not change the validity of the answer. How many times do we tell new members of this forum to use the "search" button to find answers to questions that have been posted in the past? If there is a "statute of limitations" to our threads, let's start deleting the old ones.

[sinjefe]

MVP, the guy you quoted, has been around for awhile and is a QP.