Tuesday, May. 12, 2009

Relishing Ranger recall

This year’s David E. Grange Best Ranger Competition sure brought back memories of some of my “fun times” at Fort Benning.

No, I was never in the Best Ranger business. Those soldiers are in much better shape than I was ever in.

We need soldiers who can push themselves beyond the standards most soldiers meet.

My memories surround my surviving Ranger School itself.

There were times I wondered just what I had gotten myself into.

When I went to Auburn University, I wanted to learn all I could about the Army.

Three years of running around in the woods outside Auburn at all times of the day and night convinced me to go to Ranger School as a cadet.

I had gone to Airborne School the year before.

My very understanding wife would even get up at 3 a.m. to fix me breakfast, just so I could have fun on the weekends while I learned my new craft.

She didn’t get too grossed out when I ate bugs or did some other dumb things to show how tough I was. Marilyn even promised to mail me pogey bait (treats) while I was in Ranger School – the mark of a devoted bride!

So instead of summer camp with the rest of my ROTC cadets, I went to Ranger School. I don’t think I have ever been yelled at so much in my life.

I think the only thing I did right was to have my former Marine father give me a haircut before I signed in. Let me tell you I am one ugly guy with no hair and wearing Vietnam-era Army eyeglasses.

However, my hair was so squared away that my head was held up as an example for the cadets who arrived at about the same time as me.

They were sent flaming toward the barber shop. I was just sent flaming.

Thanks to being an ROTC cadet, we had an extra week added to the course so we could complete a few basic ROTC camp requirements.

So for about nine weeks, I tromped around the woods at Fort Benning, the mountains of north Georgia, and the swamps of Florida.

I’ve never been so wet or tired, before or since, as I was during those days.

I remember falling asleep on my feet and waking up when my face hit the ground (while an instructor was yelling at me).

I remember dreaming one night and waking up as I walked out of the perimeter thinking I was going on a patrol.

I remember seeing a fellow cadet beating on a tree for swallowing a quarter because he thought it was a soft drink machine. Those were fun times!

Ranger School taught me more about how people react under stress when hungry and tired than any book or school course ever might have.

One of the smartest things I did was to go to Ranger School because it taught me things about myself and other people that might otherwise have taken years and great pain to others for me to learn.

I am thankful for that opportunity to learn so much. I sure am glad that I went when I was young!

John M. House is a retired Army colonel who lives in Midland, Ga. His e-mail is housearmylife@aol.com.