Category: Who knows

The folks at Ranger Up sent us their latest iteration of “The Damn Few”. It’s Ranger Up, this is TAH, so you know it’s Not Safe for Work for most of you.

Anyone else see a pattern here?  And if so, what?

With one (or possibly two) outliers I believe I do see a pattern.  More than one, actually.

 

 

The Discovery Channel has been doing a series of shows covering the entry level screening and training courses for the American military’s elite units for some time. They’ve already covered BUD/S, SFAS, Marine Corps Scout/Sniper School and the Air Force’s PJ and CC selection courses, among others. Inevitably they’d get around to the newly revamped Ranger Assessment and Selection Program, known as RASP. RASP is the initial entry and training course for the 75th Ranger Regiment. The 75th’s three line and one support battalions are the pinnacle light infantry formation in the Army, almost exclusively tasked by, although not part of, the Joint Special Operations Command. You may know a few contributors here who were once part of the 75th.

The show has been pulled from YouTube and the 75th Facebook page. I haven’t yet seen it but my understanding is that follows the same formula as the other segments still available on Youtube, albeit with one difference: The class followed by the Discovery Channel, 5-12, reached a graduation rate of approximately 80%. Once this uncomfortable reality set in some in the Ranger community were outraged. Traditional graduation rates in RASP hovered between 20-30%. “Jack Murphy” over at SOFRep had an absolute conniption fit at this revelation. According to him this signifies a “plummeting” set of standards in the Regiment:

With the Army issuing a press release to announce a new Discovery Channel Special called Hell and Back, Special Ops Ranger, there was one curious factoid published with it that left many of us in the Ranger community taken aback. The documentary follows a class of prospective Rangers through RASP, the Ranger Assessment and Selection Program which is a pre-requisite for serving in the 75th Ranger Regiment.
The Ranger Regiment is known to maintain tough standards in regards to everything from physical appearance, to maintenance of equipment, and most importantly, performance in combat and job competency. These standards are enforced, violators are shown the door and Released For Standards but more critical than that, these non-performers are usually never allowed through the door to begin with, they are weeded out during the selection process which historically only has a 30% graduation rate.
This is why we were shocked when the Army press released stated, “114 Soldiers started Class 5-12; 91 Rangers graduated.” This is a shockingly high graduation rate of about 80% as opposed to the historical 30% that pass RASP and before that RIP. These graduation rates signify is massive drop in the physical and/or academic standards that RASP students are being held too in order to move on to a Ranger Battalion.

…

Something changed with RASP class 5-12. In the class that the Discovery Channel filmed, 20 RASP students failed Land Nav and still graduated. 7 students were caught drinking and still graduated. A student received 90% negative peer reviews and still graduated. Since class 5-12, graduation rates have continued to be abnormally high with upwards to 130 students graduating per class.
After being held accountable to standards and enforcing them as well, these numbers leave many current and former Rangers embarrassed, disgusted, and ashamed.

I can’t vouch for Mr Murphy’s credentials nor the truth of insider assertions. From the perspective of a Pouge Marine I’d say it’s all pretty out of my lane. I also view his negative view of the Army’s 18-Xray program as unusual. His assertion is that the program was “a failure” while everything I’ve heard has said the opposite. Then again, it’s always hard to decipher what really going on in the Special Forces community. They take the entirety of their “Quiet Professionals” manta pretty damn seriously.

Nonetheless, it will be interesting to see what the Ranger community at large has to say as this unfolds, membership here included.

JP sends us a link to the latest update on Brandon Raub, the Marine veteran who was taken to the hospital in handcuffs, supposedly for stuff he had posted to his Facebook account. From the Richmond Times Dispatch;

After an hourlong hearing, Circuit Judge W. Allan Sharrett said an involuntary commitment petition issued against Brandon J. Raub was invalid because it contained no allegation or basis to holding him.

“The petition is so devoid of any factual allegations that it could not be reasonably expected to give rise to a case or controversy,” said the release order signed by the judge and sought by lawyers Anthony F. Troy and Brian D. Fowler.

Sharrett said that he was shocked by the failure of a magistrate to not include in the order any grounds for holding Raub, a Chesterfield resident who was transferred from John Randolph Hospital in Hopewell to the Salem Veterans Affairs Medical Center.

This is after a special justice ordered that he be held for 30 days in the hospital, and it doesn’t explain why the police took him into custody in the first place beyond his Facebook entries. I still think there’s more to this than what we’re reading. I guess we just have to be patient. But, by the looks of it, we won’t be getting any answers anytime soon.

Jonn, your reference to Caribou landings reminded me of a time when I did land in one but another passenger almost didn’t. I was battalion CBR NCO for 2d/327th in 1966 and on a mission for the battalion commander to find some missing CBR equipment. I had just boarded an already crowded Caribou at the airstrip in An Khe headed for Nha Trang, when our departure was held up for four really raggedy ass, very exhausted looking, SF troopers who pushed the rest us further to the front of the cabin as they took the last two web seats on either side of the fuselage.

Just as we were preparing to taxi, the engines were feathered again as an ambulance pulled up behind and loaded a couple of litters on the rear deck with the last one being right at the boots of the special operators. On the litters were strapped in, wounded VC. The dude on the rear litter was conscious and looking around fearfully at all the fierce enemy looking down on him, especially those glaring Green Berets.

Finally we began taxiing and then the nose came up and we were in the short takeoff typical of the Caribou. As was normal in Vietnam, the crew had left the short, lower portion of the rear ramp partially open, level with the flight deck, for ventilation. As soon as the aircraft rotated, the rear litter began to slip toward that open ramp. As it inched closer and closer, every troop on board sat fascinated and unmoving, realizing that any one of those four SF guys could stop the slide with a firm jungle boot on the litter.

But none of the four did. They just sat there grinning at the terrified VC who had craned his neck up to see what was happening. Both litters slowly slid almost two feet toward that open ramp before the aircraft finally leveled out. By that time the conscious VC was screaming and fighting against his constraints as the SF guys just sat there grinning demonically. Mind you, this was all a silent tableau for me and the other passengers. We couldn’t hear anything because of the roar of those big radial engines but we could sure see the terror being experienced by the terrorist and the grim, smiling response of the SF troopers. And there was no mistaking the cold, hard, direct, meaningful stare fixed on the rest of us by the biggest, fiercest looking SF trooper, which clearly said, “Butt out!”

Would any of us have interceded if those litters had slid any further? It’s doubtful. Speaking for myself, I’d spent several months as a line NCO before getting promoted to battalion so I’d fought these bastards in the mud and the mountains and I’d seen first-hand, many, many times the vicious cruelty and atrocities they were capable of inflicting upon helpless civilians. My mercy quotient for VC and NVA was pretty low at the time although apparently not as low as the SF contingent. I was at least relieved when the guy didn’t make his first jump as opposed to the four guys who could have stopped him. They looked rather disappointed.

As the Caribou began its descent into Nha Trang, the litters slid forward and the smell wafting up indicated the almost jumper had crapped himself. I remembered that I’d almost done that myself on my first jump.

And I had a parachute.

Be on the lookout, but you can’t identify her if you’re not looking at her face;

It might be the perfect crime.