Photo By Giancarlo Casem | Sgt. 1st Class Jeffery Beaudion, a Pre-Ranger Course instructor, gives last-minute...... read more read more
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FORT IRWIN, Calif. - After 72 hours of some of the toughest and most grueling challenges soldiers may face, 21 Troopers from the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment stood in formation reciting the Ranger Creed at a graduation ceremony at Fort Irwin, Calif., Aug. 5.
The course is designed to prepare Soldiers aspiring to go to Ranger School, said Sgt. 1st Class Jacob Diaz, the senior Ranger Instructor for the Pre-Ranger Course. Soldiers not only get a taste of what to expect from Ranger School, it is also a chance for them to find out what their weak points and improve on them.
“I learned that I can definitely push myself a lot harder,” said 2nd Lt. Timothy Johnson, F Troop, 2nd Squadron, 11th ACR. “From day one, there was that voice in my head telling me to quit; I just kept telling it to shut up and pushed on until I made it.”
In order to successfully complete the Pre-Ranger Course, soldiers must first pass the Ranger Physical Fitness Test. Day 1 saw the course start with 48 names on the roster, by the end of the RPFT, that number would dwindle drastically. The RPFT is a modified version of the Army Physical Fitness Test. In order to pass the RPFT, soldiers must perform at least 49 push-ups and 59 sit-ups. Instead of a 2-mile run, Rangers must run five miles in under 40 minutes. The final event of the test is the chin-up which they must do at least six repetitions.
After the RPFT, the soldiers conducted one of the most physically challenging tests, the Combat Water Survival Test. Wearing the full Army Combat Uniform with boots and a load-bearing vest and carrying a training weapon, soldiers walked off the high board into the pool below. While in the water, the soldiers must remove the vest and then swim the length of the pool. After everyone had completed that phase of the test, they then had to tread water for at least 10 minutes.
“After the water training we gave them classes on tactical leading procedures, ambushes and setting up patrol bases,” Diaz said. “We gave them leadership classes all the way down from team leader all the way up to platoon level.”
On the second day of the course, the soldiers started the land navigation course at the early hours of dawn, well before the sunrise. The land navigation course tested the soldiers skills at navigating at night as well as during the day. The soldiers ended their long day at the obstacle course. The class was divided up into two-man teams and both soldiers had to finish the obstacle at the same time. Teamwork and leadership played a big role in the obstacle course, a lesson that resonated with the Soldiers throughout the entire Pre-Ranger Course.
“I got a lot good leadership classes from our Ranger Instructors here,” said Johnson, a native of Dublin, Calif. “They taught us a lot about what it takes to be a Ranger and the difficulties that they each individually faced at Ranger School.”
Johnson added that it was important for junior leaders such as himself to be able to lead his soldiers and the Pre-Ranger Course develops personal leadership skills.
On the final day of the course, the soldiers began the physical and mental ordeal of a 12-mile road march. In order to pass the event, the soldiers must finish the march in less than three hours, a daunting task for many of them given the physical fatigue and exhaustion the past two days took on their bodies.
In the end, out of the 48 names that originally signed up for the course, only 21 stood in formation Thursday afternoon. The 21 soldiers received certificates of completion, but only two received graduate honors, Spc. David Sanchez of Fury Troop and Sgt. Edward Suggs of 58th Combat Engineer Company, Regimental Support Squadron.
The two graduates earned the coveted spots to be placed on the next class at Ranger School. The other soldiers in the formation have the option of tackling the next Pre-Ranger Course later in the fall. For some soldiers such as Johnson however, the next class will not start soon enough.
“If they start again tomorrow, I’d go back out,” he said.
| Date Taken: | 08.05.2010 |
| Date Posted: | 08.09.2010 13:16 |
| Story ID: | 54218 |
| Location: | FORT IRWIN, CALIFORNIA, US |
| Web Views: | 269 |
| Downloads: | 8 |
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