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“If you don't care about the man to the left or right of you, get
back on the bus and go home,” shouted Air Force Master Sgt. Gabe
Rodriguez, as he watched 24 pre-Ranger candidates struggle to
low-crawl up a sandy hill in the New Mexico desert April 20, 2016.
Rodriguez is one of less than 40 actively serving
Ranger-qualified Airmen. While his full-time job is at the Air Force
Security Forces Center at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, Texas, he
has an equally important part-time job -- selecting the next
generation of Airmen to attend U.S. Army Ranger School. It is a job
that he, and his fellow Ranger instructors, take very seriously.
About 50 to 60 Airmen a year volunteer to attend the bi-annual
AFSFC Pre-Ranger Course at Fort Bliss. Passing the course, which
mirrors the first two weeks of Ranger School, is a requirement to
attend the school.
April 20, 2016 - U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Stephen Becker, a Ranger instructor, watches Airman 1st Class Jonathan Velazquez reassemble a M249 light machine gun during an Air Force Security Forces Center Ranger assessment course at the Dona Ana Range, New Mexico. (U.S. Army photo
by Staff Sgt. Corey Baltos) |
“I love getting out of my office and be with guys who
volunteer to challenge themselves,” said Senior Master Sgt.
James Wilfong, a Ranger instructor. “It's nice to get back
in the dirt and train the next generation of Rangers.”
Wilfong, a security forces Airman at Nellis AFB, Nevada,
has served as an instructor at the Air Force's Pre-Ranger
school 13 times.
Ranger School began in September
1950, with the first class graduating two months later.
Within a few years the Air Force began sending its personnel
to Ranger School. To date, over 280 Airmen have successfully
completed the school. While this number may not seem very
high, the Air Force is only authorized 10 slots per year.
Unlike
the Army, the Air Force does not have dedicated instructors
who teach the course. Instead, a request is sent out to the
Air Force Ranger community a few months before the start of
each course, requesting volunteers to serve as instructors.
“This is a small community,” said Air Force Capt. Ralph
Johnson, a security forces officer at the AFSFC. “We all
pretty much know each other, and most of us have served as
RIs many times.”
To get up to speed on any new
regulations, and to make sure that they are providing the
candidates with the best possible training, the instructors
are assisted by the Fort Bliss Iron Training Detachment's
pre-Ranger instructors.
“The partnership and support
of the Army has been phenomenal,” said Chief Master Sgt.
Benjamin Del Mar, a Ranger instructor. “They are all trained
at Fort Benning, so they are able to validate the course.”
Del Mar said that prior to working with the Iron
Training Detachment, the Ranger School used to send an
instructor from Fort Benning, Georgia, to validate the
course.
While the Air Force and Army Pre-Ranger
Courses are nearly identical, there is one big difference.
In the Army a candidate can be sent home for failing to meet
course standards. In the Air Force, the only way a candidate
can be dropped is due to injury or for lack of motivation.
“LOM, as we call it, is when a candidate requests to
quit the course,” Johnson said. “When that happens, we
immediately separate them from the other candidates, make
sure they understand that by quitting they will not be
allowed to return, and then let them sleep before sending
them back to their unit.”
One of the reasons the Air
Force allows candidates to remain in pre-Ranger, even when
they have been eliminated for consideration to attend Ranger
School is the benefit for the Airman and his unit.
“It is our policy that any Airman who attends our course be
allowed to finish regardless of how they are doing,” Del Mar
said. “This course is the premier leadership course the Air
Force has. The candidates learn to be better more resilient
leaders.”
Del Mar, who graduated from Ranger School
in 1997, currently serves as the security forces manager at
Aviano Air Base, Italy, and has been a Ranger instructor 13
times over the years.
While a high number of drops
are expected in a physically and mentally challenging course
like Pre-Ranger School, it doesn't make it any easier for
the instructors.
“I get upset when we have to drop
guys,” Wilfong said. “Every single candidate wants to be
here. They all volunteered to come here; we don't like
sending them home.”
Each Pre-Ranger class has about
25 Airmen in it. About half of them will not make it through
the class due to injury or LOM; of those that make it
through, only about two to four will be recommended for
Ranger School. However, of the Airmen that attend Ranger
School, approximately 90 percent will graduate.
“We
grade (candidates) based on leadership and performance in
all graded events,” Johnson said. “At the end we have a
board and decide who is ready to attend (Ranger) School.”
Johnson said that the Pre-Ranger Course is open to all
Air Force specialty codes, and both genders. “We welcome
volunteers to step up to the challenge,” he said.
Another challenge for the instructors is dispelling some of
the myths about Ranger School to both the candidates and
their commands.
“A lot of Airmen think Ranger School
is just infantry tactics and getting smoked,” said Air Force
Staff Sgt. Stephen Becker, a Ranger instructor and member of
the 620th Ground Combat Training Squadron. “So many don't
see the benefit of going to this course; however, there is a
benefit for all Airmen, regardless of their (Air Force
specialty code).”
Becker, who graduated from Ranger
School in 2014, said that the most rewarding part of being a
Ranger instructor comes at the end of the course.
“You see the type of person they are,” he said. “You see the
desire to be here, the desire not to quit. You see them
pushing themselves through the pain and the exhaustion. You
see how resilient they are. You see the pride as they
realize they are capable of so much more than they thought
they could be.”
By U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Corey Baltos
Air Force News Service
Copyright 2016
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