What did you do with your son this weekend??

[jbour13]

Infantry School Command Sergeant Major Tackles Ranger Competition With Son

Apr 20, 2007
BY Bridgett Siter

FORT BENNING, Ga. (Army News Service, April 20, 2007) - The most curious partnership in this year's Best Ranger Competition may be Command Sgt. Maj. Doug Greenway and his son, Staff Sgt. Brandon Greenway.

The father-son team will set a number of precedents in this weekend's competition. At 47 and feeling "not a day over 46," the senior Greenway will be the oldest competitor in the history of the BRC, now in its 24th year.

The pair is also the first father-son team to compete in the BRC.

The command sergeant major said he hopes his age will help them. Historically, older competitors have done much better than the younger. And with more than 30 years of service between them, the Greenways have twice as much military experience as more than half of their competitors.

Doug, the Infantry School sergeant major, said their single greatest advantage may be their desire to compete together with no goal other than to finish the race.

"This is my last big hooah," said Doug, who will retire May 4. "I get to do this with my boy - that's what this is all about. We just want to do it and finish together. If we were focusing on winning, yeah, I'd be a little nervous right now."

Doug earned his Ranger tab in 1980. He was serving with the 75th Ranger Regiment when Brandon graduated from basic training on Sand Hill more than four years ago. Doug pinned Brandon's 3rd Battalion scroll on his sleeve a short time later.

They jumped together in 2003; it was Brandon's first. Doug was the Ranger Training Brigade command sergeant major when Brandon graduated from Ranger School three years ago. And last week, Doug pinned on his son's staff sergeant stripes.

The two have toyed with the idea of competing in the BRC together for years, but unit missions or deployments always got in the way. Collectively, the father and son have deployed five times with the rangers.

Their strategy going into the competition is simple, said Brandon, a squad leader with the 4th Ranger Training Battalion - they'll take it one step at a time.

(Ms. Bridget Siter writes for the Fort Benning "Bayonet.")

http://www.army.mil/-news/2007/04/20...tion-with-son/

[The Reaper]

Well done, gents.

Where does the reporter for the base newspaper get off calling the Infantry School CSM "Doug"?

She needs to lock up and address CSM Greenway appropriately.

TR

[Gypsy]

Originally Posted by jbour13

At 47 and feeling "not a day over 46," the senior Greenway will be the oldest competitor in the history of the BRC, now in its 24th year.

Good luck to CSM Greenway and SSG Greenway!

[504PIR]

As there are likely a few people that have served with or personally know SGM Greenway I thought it was a good article to post.





Father, son team up for Ranger competition

By Gina Cavallaro - Staff writer
Posted : Thursday Apr 19, 2007 5:33:29 EDT

As competitors ramp up for this weekend’s Best Ranger Competition, one two-man team has already made history.

Command Sgt. Maj. Doug Greenway and his son, Staff Sgt. Brandon Greenway, are the first father-son team known to sign up for the brutally demanding competition. They are each first-time competitors.

Father and son began training in December for the events that begin 6 a.m. Friday at Fort Benning, Ga.

“We’ve been doing lots of road marching and stuff like running, the obstacle course, hands-on events, weapons, land navigation,” the younger Greenway said.

“He’s been giving me tips on running, he’s a big runner, and I’ve been helping him with some of the weapons stuff because he hasn’t done much of that since he’s been sergeant major,” Brandon Greenway said.

The event, he said, is something his father has wanted to do together for some time, “but the timing was always off because I kept deploying,” Brandon Greenway said. “I feel it’s exciting. It’s like a landmark.”

It’s more than a landmark for his father, who at 47 will become the oldest competitor in the 24-year history of the competition.

“I feel as good or even stronger than when I came into the Army. I don’t heal as fast but, other than that, I’m ready,” said Doug Greenway.

The elder Greenway is command sergeant major for the Infantry Schools and is retiring May 4 after 28 years on active duty, 20 of which were spent in 75th Ranger Regiment.

Brandon Greenway joined the Army 4 1/2 years ago and has deployed twice to Iraq and once to Afghanistan with 3rd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment.

Doug Greenway recalled how he watched his son leave high school, where he was in Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps, join the Army, go to Airborne School and then succeed in the Regimental Indoctrination Program and Ranger School.

“I got to pin the Ranger scroll on his left arm, I pinned on his Ranger tab after Ranger School and I got to see him come back three times from doing his duty to his country,” Doug Greenway said. “This [competition] is the pinnacle of what I could ever do with him.”

The 60-hour, no-sleep endurance competition is so tough that typically after the first night, during which there is a road march of 24 miles or more, less than half the two-man teams remain standing.

The road march, in Brandon Greenway’s estimation, is a potential weak point for the father-son team.

“It’s just a hard event to do. I think the rest of the events we can pull each other through,” he said. “We’ve always done things together.”

The older Greenway is confident he and his son will pull through to the end, he said, predicting “maybe I’ll have to carry his ruck at some point.”

“We’re not in this to win. We’re just out to have a good time, shoot some bullets, jump out of an airplane and cross the finish line with our rifles held high,” Doug Greenway said with a hearty laugh.

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[The Reaper]

So did jbour when he posted about the same event.

Merged.

TR