Photo By Staff Sgt. Thomas Moeger | This graphic was created using Adobe Photoshop 2025, Sept. 23, 2025. It depicts three...... read more read more
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For most members of the Ohio Army National Guard, service typically looks like one weekend a month and two weeks a year. But for those seeking a slot in the rigorous U.S. Army Ranger Course, the commitment extends far beyond the 60-plus days attending the school itself.
It takes substantial preparation along with prerequisite training and assessments before they even get the opportunity to walk through the school’s gates, with the goal of earning the coveted black and yellow Ranger tab. Ultimately, the commitment is, in addition to many other things, a test of their perseverance and heart — an assessment of who they really are as a Soldier and a person.
First Lt. Amanda Daniel, a platoon leader with Company A, 148th Infantry Regiment, set her sights on earning the Ranger tab before she ever wore the uniform. As she sat at her Military Entrance Processing Station, just beginning her journey, she read an article about Ranger School.
“I decided, then, that was going to be one of my goals,” Daniel said.
Later on, with a class slot secured, Daniel recalled how unrelenting the first days of Ranger School were — wake-ups before dawn to conduct physical fitness tests and combat water survival assessments; the expectations were set, and the pace was grueling.
“You (eventually) see why they do it,” Daniel said. “When you get further into school and there’s so many instances where you’re not sure (and ask yourself), ‘Am I capable of this?’... but you do it anyway.”
Sgt. Grant Blumenthal, a sniper with Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 148th Infantry Regiment, said Ranger School will test Soldiers’ mental toughness and physical stamina like they’ve never endured, and possibly make them question whether they can or even want to continue. The experience provides an opportunity to assess one’s own intestinal fortitude — do you have the courage, grit and inner strength to face adversity, hardship and difficulty; the resilience and character to persevere and finish what you start, regardless of what aspect of your life it is?
“I think when you quit, every time after that, it becomes easier and easier to quit. And I’ve quit things in the past,” Blumenthal said. “(Following completion of Ranger School), the only way you’re going to get me to quit now is if you physically make me unable to continue.”
For National Guard Soldiers to earn a spot in Ranger School, they must first complete Ranger Training Assessment Course, or RTAC, a two-weeklong preliminary requirement designed to physically and mentally test the Soldiers in the same capacity conducted during the actual course.
To better prepare for RTAC, the 1-148th Infantry Regiment developed a program designed to strengthen and equip candidates for the challenges of Ranger School. Daniel’s hope is for this program to not only prepare Soldiers for Ranger School but also for it to grow to support their success in every Army school that can advance their careers.
“I hope to see it expand to beyond Ranger School, because there are a lot of schools in the Army that are exceptionally beneficial — schools that help develop leadership and other skills that we need throughout the Army National Guard,” Daniel said.
New officers in the OHARNG, unless prior enlisted, don’t share the same experiences as the noncommissioned officers in their units. Daniel said that by attending schools, she can forge a relationship of mutual respect and perspective with the NCOs she serves with.
“As a platoon leader, especially if you aren’t prior enlisted, you don’t have a lot of experience that the NCOs around you do,” Daniel said. “Being able to go to school and build some of your own experiences myself, so that I feel like we can combine our shared knowledge and become a force multiplier. Taking the experience that I’m able to have, combined with their real-world experiences, I think we work together very well to increase the lethality of our platoons.”
In contrast to how Daniel pursued her Ranger tab after becoming a commissioned officer, Pfc. Charles Dimuzio, an infantryman with Troop C, 2nd Squadron, 107th Cavalry Regiment, enlisted in the OHARNG with Ranger School locked in his sights.
After raising his right hand, Dimuzio completed 22 weeks of One Station Unit Training, or OSUT, a combined training of both Basic Combat Training and Advanced Individual Training. Immediately following OSUT, he attended the five-week Ranger Team Leader Initiative, a Guard-specific program designed to prepare junior enlisted Soldiers for RTAC and Ranger School. After roughly 27 weeks of training, he got his opportunity.
“That (pathway) really appealed to me, because Ranger School, in my mind, is the premiere leadership school,” Dimuzio said. “I thought that if I could do that early on in my career, it would set me up for success later on.”
Dimuzio graduated from Ranger School on a Friday. Two days later he left for Basic Airborne Course, his path to career success already well underway.
“The experiences that it (Ranger School) put me through, really showed me how important it is to be flexible and to be adaptable,” Dimuzio said. “Another huge thing Ranger School has shown me is how important confidence is in leadership.”
He acknowledges that confidence can’t be taught, but it can be earned at Ranger School. By stepping into leadership roles, facing success or failure, and being given the space to grow, Soldiers learn how to lead more effectively.
“If you have officers and NCOs who are Ranger tabbed in your unit, you are statistically way less likely to have casualties in combat,” Dimuzio said.
For the OHARNG, the mission may often look like one weekend a month, but the reality is that Soldiers must always be prepared for the unexpected. Training opportunities like Ranger School reinforce the mindset that, even in the Guard, Soldiers are professionals first.
Possessing the discipline to push yourself and lead under pressure isn’t just about receiving a Ranger tab, it’s about building habits that could save lives one day.
“Ranger School makes you a better leader in the military, but it also makes you a better leader in all aspects of life,” Dimuzio said. “Being in the National Guard is a luxury, because we are able to do the military thing and we are also able to have a civilian job. I can tell you, without a shade of doubt, going to Ranger School and getting that experience has made me much more of a leader in all aspects of my career field.” For these three Soldiers, Ranger School represents more than just a tab. It’s about building better leaders for the National Guard, for their units and life outside the uniform.
| Date Taken: | 08.30.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 12.31.2025 15:35 |
| Story ID: | 555437 |
| Location: | US |
| Web Views: | 800 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, The Soldiers behind the tab: 3 OHARNG members discuss challenges, benefits of attending Army Ranger Course, by SSG Olivia Lauer, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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