THE ROAD TO BECOMING A RANGER

http://www.shadowspear.com/2009/01/75th-ranger-regiment/

I. BASIC COMBAT TRAINING (BCT) + MOS TRAINING

II. AIRBORNE SCHOOL (3 WEEKS)
III. RANGER ASSESSMENT AND SELECTION PROCESS (RASP) (8 WEEKS)
RASP 1 is an 8 week selection course for soldiers in the ranks of Private to Sergeant that is broken
down into Phase 1, which is three weeks long; and Phase 2, which is five weeks long. Ranger
candidates will learn the basics of what it takes to become a member of an elite fighting force.
Candidates are tested on their mental and physical capabilities, while learning the advanced skills all
Rangers are required to know to start their career with the 75th Ranger Regiment.
RASP 1/Phase 1 Requirements
To begin RASP 1, Phase 1 a minimum score of 60% in your age
group
To continue on to RASP 1, Phase 2, a minimum score of 70% in
your age group
12 mile forced march in 3hrs with a 45 lb rucksack
5 mile run in 40 minutes or less
Attain 80% on the following tests:
Ranger First Responder Test & Trauma Lanes
Ranger Standards Test
Ranger History Test
Combat Navigation (Day & Night)
Pass the following:
Peer Evaluations/RASP Selection Board
Psychological Screening
RASP 1/Phase 2: Weeks 4-8 Advanced Ranger Skills Training
To pass RASP 1/Phase 2 a minimum score of 80% of your age group
Combat Drivers Course
Hand-to-hand Fighting & Combatives Certification
Ranger Advanced Tactical Marksmanship Training
Combat Explosives and Breaching Course
FRIES Training Fast Roping & Combat Extraction
RASP 2
RASP 2 is a 21-day selection course for Senior Non-Commissioned Officers in the rank of StaffSergeant and above, all Officers and Warrant Officers. Candidates are tested on their physical and
mental capabilities while learning the special tactics, techniques and procedures that set the Regiment
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apart, and learning the expectations of leading and developing young Rangers to be the Regimental
leadership of tomorrow.
Upon successful completion of RASP, candidates will don the khaki beret and 75th Ranger Regiment
Scroll, knowing that they are a U.S. Army Ranger, and a member of one of the finest and most
distinguished Army units in the world.
RASP 2 Major Events
Week 1
APFT, a minimum score of 80% in your age group required to continue
5-mile run, a time of 40 minutes or less is required to continue
12 mile ruck march, within 3 hours
History and Standards Written tests, must score 80% or more
Week 2
M9 Qualification
CQM Tables
Airborne Operation
FTX, 24-36 hours
Week 3
Psychological Assessment
RASP Board
IV. RANGER SCHOOL
Initial career development requires that all members of the 75th Ranger Regiment attend and pass
Ranger School and earn their Ranger Tab. A Ranger cannot become a leader within the 75th Ranger
Regiment if he hasnt successfully completed and graduated from Ranger School.
The unofficial motto of Ranger students from the Regiment is With a tab, or on a slab that they
will return to the regiment either with their Ranger Tab or dead. This may be a variation of the Spartan
mothers directive to their soldier sons, to return With your shield, or upon it.
Upon successful completion of all 3 phases of Ranger School, the new Ranger is awarded the Ranger
Tab and returns to his unit, a fully qualified and operationally deployable Ranger. The three phases take
place at Fort Benning, Camp Frank D. Merril in Dahlonega, Georgia, and Eglin Air Force Base in
Florida.
The United States Army Ranger School is an intense 9-week long combat leadership course, conducted
in three 3-week phases at Fort Benning, GA (woodland terrain, Benning Phase), Camp Merrill,
Georgia (Mountain Phase), and Camp Rudder (Eglin AFB) (Swamp Phase). The Fort Bliss, Texas
(Desert Phase) was phased out more than 10 years ago. Ranger School training centers on a basic
scenario: the flourishing drug operations of the enemy forces, the Cortinian Army, must be eradicated.
To do so, the Rangers will have to take the fight into enemy territory, the rough terrain around Fort
Benning, the mountains of North Georgia and the swamps and coastal areas of Florida. The Rangers
students are given a clear mission, but its up to them to determine how best to carry it out.
Fort Benning is the home of the Ranger Training Brigade and its 4th Ranger Training Battalion, which
hosts the crawl phase of Ranger School, where students learn the fundamentals of mission planning at
the Squad level. This phase is critical to success, as it lays the groundwork for phases two and three, the
walk and run phases.
At Benning, students must successfully complete the Ranger Assessment Phase, which includes many
of the tasks Best Ranger Competition spectators have become familiar with: the Malvesti Field Obstacle
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Course, the Darby Queen, the Prusik climb and the log-walk-rope-drop. Here they also learn the basics
of close combat, using a pugil stick, a knife or bare hands.
At the 5th Ranger Training Battalion, the students learn mountaineering skills, and at the 6th Ranger
Training Battalion, they must demonstrate tactical and technical proficiency in swampy terrain leading a
platoon-sized patrol. This phase includes small boat operations and an extensive do-or-die fieldtraining exercise.
All in all, Ranger School students will participate in three airborne operations and 10 air-assault
operations. They are evaluated on their ability to lead at various levels in various situations. Part of the
evaluation is a peer evaluation, and a failing peer evaluation can result in disqualification from the
course.
If a student performs successfully but suffers an injury that keeps him from finishing, he may be
recycled at the discretion of the battalion or brigade commander, meaning hell be given an
opportunity to heal and finish the course with the next class.
Field instruction composes the majority of the course. While in the field, students carry gear weighing
as much as 45 kg (100 pounds), spending each day planning and executing attacks on widely dispersed
objectives, followed by a rapid movement to a new patrol base to begin the planning cycle yet again.
Training during the course averages 19.4 hours per day. Thus, students average only a couple hours of
sleep every night, and two or fewer meals per day. This leaves them heavily fatigued throughout the
course. A common piece of folk wisdom reported by students is that they begin the Ranger course at
their lifetime peak of physical fitness, but due to the punishing training they find themselves degraded
to a lifetime low of physical fitness upon completion of the course. Only one-third of those who attempt
the course pass.
V. ADVANCED SCHOOLS & TRAINING
Career development requires that all members of the 75th Ranger Regiment successfully complete
Ranger School, earning the Ranger Tab. Rangers in direct combat MOSs are not permitted to become
leaders within the 75th Ranger Regiment without the Ranger Tab. Rangers in non-combat MOSs are
strongly encouraged, as well.
Throughout their time in Ranger Regiment, Rangers may attend many types of special schools and
training. Some of these schools include: military free-fall; combat diver qualification course; survival,
evasion, resistance & escape (SERE); jumpmaster; pathfinder; Combatives Instructor; first
responder/combat lifesaver; language training; Mountain Warfare School; and many types of shooting,
driving, and assault procedures training. Rangers with specialized jobs may also attend various special
schools and training related to their job scope. MOS 13F (forward observers) may attend naval gunfire
training and close air support courses; medics will attend the special operations combat medic course;
communications specialists attend joint communications courses.