Introduction: Redcairo

[redcairo]

Good morning Rangers and others,

Many thanks for allowing my registration. My name is Palyne. I am a 47 year old female living in the Ozarks territory of the central US. I have 'some' college (back in the paleolithic era) and I've been in various areas of business management from traditional to IT for the last 28 years. Currently I manage int'l production for assessment content for university-level education for a global textbook publisher. In the evenings and weekends I am working on a few novels.

I asked permission to visit your fine board because one of the characters in a current novel who has written himself is an Army Ranger, about which I know absolutely nothing. I have done some reading online but it hasn't really answered the few questions I have so far. I was hoping if the locals didn't mind I might be able to ask a question now and then. I respect soldiers and have no wish to do anyone a disservice by misrepresenting something.

Many thanks and best regards,
Palyne

PS I attempted to set an avatar per the instructions but when I click on 'gallery' it is currently saying The website encountered an error while retrieving http://www.armyranger.com/bb/ucp.php?i=225. It may be down for maintenance or configured incorrectly. I'm sure that will resolve. Just mentioning why I didn't do that already.

[GoldCoast]

Welcome to the site. I am a little confused by the sentence structure of this sentence portion; "one of the characters in a current novel who has written himself is an Army Ranger". Is the character taking on a life of his own as you write - or is the character a writer?

[redcairo]

Thank you Ranger GoldCoast.

Some of the characters in the novel in question simply feel like they already exist and I'm writing it down, as opposed to my intentionally making it up in the ordinary way. (If there is an ordinary way. Maybe everyone differs.) I'm as surprised by what happens (and in suspense about their future) as if I'm their reader more than their writer, and miss them terribly when I'm not writing, as if they're friends I need to visit. It's like they're real and they have a certain basic character, and just a few key experience-points, and then the rest is up to me, but they play along interactively.

I hope that doesn't make me sound like a weirdo. Stuff 'writing itself' to a degree might be an increase in... fluency or something, a side-effect of personal stuff I guess, that I recently decided that writing is what I love and I've spent enough of my life on other people's widgets -- I'm going to carve time out of reality to do it no matter what. I made that decision and sat down with one story in mind, and by the end of the weekend I'd written the first ~25K words of a completely different story, like they all rushed through the door the minute I truly made a commitment and opened it.

One of the key characters becomes/is/was a Ranger. It feels like that's who and what the character already IS without regard to me. I respect him and for all I know, it's just the way it ought to be so I should go with it.

So, in the hope of not completely mucking up the details, I hoped to follow up with someone who could answer questions maybe with context, to tell me what is possible, so I can repair or rearrange anything I might have gotten wrong so far, and particularly for having some better context for expanding the period of the character's life where he is active in that role.

Best regards,
Palyne

[Jim]

Care to be more specific?

[redcairo]

Ranger Jim, thanks.

Here are some of my initial points-of-wondering. As I am so unfamiliar with all this, I apologize in advance if I mess up something just by the framing of a question, or ask something socially / politically incorrect (or incorrect for public discussion). I take critique well.

#1: Are soldiers ever 'socially' recruited by existing Rangers based on shared combat experiences and encouraged to apply?

#2: Is there a period of time (or rank) one must be prior to applying?

#3: What is the range of time it normally takes from applying to fully 'being' a Ranger?

Please note I am not asking these things for a solid single answer so much as "a range of possibility." I assume things vary.

#4: In the Marines they only say 'retired' never 'former' since you're considered a Marine for life. Is there anything like that with the Rangers, related to men who were previously Rangers but no longer in the service? Are there any terms, slang, references, around that topic?

#5: I have friends who are former Green Beret and Seals who retired officially but still worked 'independent contracts' for some years. Although granted most of them are my age or older, so this isn't real recent. Do you know if any Rangers ever do that?

#6: In larger combat regions, do Ranger (crews? troops? units? what's the proper term?) ever (even temporarily or occasionally) end up in the same fights as ordinary (non-Ranger) Army soldiers?

#7: The same as #6 but applied to troops of foreign allies serving in the same area (e.g. England/UK in this case)?

I have some perhaps more complex things I'm not yet to in the writing, but the above are the initial things.

Many thanks and best regards.
Palyne

[Jim]

May I refer you to the search feature located at the top right od this page. Many of the issues you raise can be addressed there. Try that and we shall see.

[GoldCoast]

Ma'am, I respect your decision. The decision to do something, then doing it, is something any Ranger can identify with. Depending on the context you seek, I suspect you will find most of the answers you seek already written on this board somewhere. I hope you brought your thick skin, becuase my bretheren and I are not likely to sugarcoat what a Ranger would do in any given situation. If the context is personal, Rangers are like anyone else. We hail from a broad cross-segment of backgrounds and upbringings resulting in highly varied opinions and choices. Take creative license here; I doubt anyone here will give it a second thought if your Ranger is not a psychopath. If the context is professional then I recommend you ere on the side of 'violence of action plus tons of common sense.' If you need further clarification on that phrase, or are wondering if your version marries well with a Ranger's, perhaps we can help.

[GoldCoast]

Sorry, I was working on two replies at once and missed this.

Ranger Jim, thanks.

Here are some of my initial points-of-wondering. As I am so unfamiliar with all this, I apologize in advance if I mess up something just by the framing of a question, or ask something socially / politically incorrect (or incorrect for public discussion). I take critique well.

#1: Are soldiers ever 'socially' recruited by existing Rangers based on shared combat experiences and encouraged to apply?

The short answer is 'not usually, but once in a while.' Rangers mostly congregate wtih other Rangers, or their families if they have them, during their very limited down time. Rangers are self starters, and can't comprehend why they would have to 'pitch' Ranger service to someone. You either want it or you don't.

#2: Is there a period of time (or rank) one must be prior to applying?

No. It is an enlistment option; meaning you can become a Ranger immediately after highschool like I did. The majority of Rangers are college aged. It is possible become a Ranger mid-career, but is definitely the exception vice the norm.

#3: What is the range of time it normally takes from applying to fully 'being' a Ranger?

It depends which track you follow. To become an 'active serving Ranger doing Ranger stuff' takes approximately a year for most. The shorter track, to become Ranger qualified, is normally two to three months, and usually doesn't happen until after a couple years of proven service performance.

There are two types of Ranger in the Army, because the Army has a Ranger 'school' that will teach anyone in the Army the Ranger tasks and tactics, and Rangers actively serving in the 75th Ranger Regiment. Both are fully considered 'Rangers.' Upon graduation from Ranger School one earns the coveted 'Ranger Tab' and is authorized to bear that tab on the upper left sleeve of their combat uniform. They then return to their regularly scheduled military duties, whatever those may be. Successful entrants to the 75th Ranger Regiment earn the Ranger 'Scroll'; a unit designator (patch) also worn on the left sleeve. They are also authorized to wear the tan beret; the only U.S. military unit allowed to do so. It is regarded as pretigious. Rangers serving in the 75th Ranger Regiment live, breath, eat, perform critical missions and argue with other Rangers with other Rangers, for other Rangers and because of other Rangers every day. The 75th Ranger Regiment is the U.S. military's designated unit for performing 'Ranger' missions. If deployed to combat a Ranger in the 75th Ranger Regiment is subsequently awarded the right to wear a Ranger scroll on their right sleeve as well. This signifies to everyone who sees it they went to combat as a Ranger. 'Tabbed' Rangers who do not deploy with the Ranger Regiment cannot earn this privelege. A Ranger tab is not mandatory for entry into the 75th Ranger Regiment, but it is a de-facto requirement to become a non-commissioned officer (NCO); i.e. a Sergeant.

You can google photographs of all the above uniform articles, and their wear and appearance, if you are curious what they look like.

Please note I am not asking these things for a solid single answer so much as "a range of possibility." I assume things vary.

#4: In the Marines they only say 'retired' never 'former' since you're considered a Marine for life. Is there anything like that with the Rangers, related to men who were previously Rangers but no longer in the service? Are there any terms, slang, references, around that topic?

Personally, I refer to myself as a 'has been.' I'm sure there are other opinions on this. Rangers serving in the Ranger Regiment typically refer to one another as 'Batt Boys', and the 75th Ranger Regiment as 'Regiment.'

#5: I have friends who are former Green Beret and Seals who retired officially but still worked 'independent contracts' for some years. Although granted most of them are my age or older, so this isn't real recent. Do you know if any Rangers ever do that?

It's not uncommon.

#6: In larger combat regions, do Ranger (crews? troops? units? what's the proper term?) ever (even temporarily or occasionally) end up in the same fights as ordinary (non-Ranger) Army soldiers?

The 75th Ranger 'Regiment' is comprised of three Ranger 'Batallions' (BN); 1st BN, 2nd BN and 3rd BN.

It would be impossible not to. Depite the military's best efforts combat is still seriously disorganized. You never know who you will bump into.

#7: The same as #6 but applied to troops of foreign allies serving in the same area (e.g. England/UK in this case)?

I can't answer that question. You will have to do your own research on this topic.

I have some perhaps more complex things I'm not yet to in the writing, but the above are the initial things.

Many thanks and best regards.
Palyne

[redcairo]

Ranger Jim, Ranger GoldCoast,

Thank you very much. Particularly for the responses.
I will also spend decent time searching the forum.
I really appreciate your time gentlemen.

Best regards,
Palyne

[Jim]

Have you used the search feature?