Back to Ranger School

Patrick left for Ranger School Sunday morning.  He was both excited and nervous to have another opportunity to complete the school.  It is a 61 day course, starting with Day 1.  Day 0 is a paperwork/processing day, so it doesn't count.  My plan is to update the blog once a week with information about what he is completing that week.  This blog will just address RAP week, which is the first and hardest four days of Ranger School.  This is the week that got Patrick last time.  Please be praying that he will pass all of the events with energy to spare!

Ranger School

Phase One:  The Darby Phase

 
RAP Week

Day 0:  This is the day before Ranger School stars.  This day is merely a reporting day, not an actual class day.  By reporting, you are letting Ranger School know that you are intending to report on your scheduled class date.  When you report, yuou must report in ACUs prior to 1300 on the day before your class starts. 

Day 1:  The first day you start will not be like basic training.  The Ranger Instructors (RI) act like professionals and treat you like a professional.  You will typically report at or around 0400 and be sure to bring all of your baggage with you.  The RIs will separate you into three separate companies, doing their best to balance the total numbers as well as the number of enlisted and officers per company.  Once all of the companies are set, you will march over to the PT field and begin the RPFT.  The events of the RPFT in order are:  two minutes of push-ups, two minutes of sit-ups, five mile, run, and chin-ups.  Do not stress the RPFT.  Contrary to what some people may say, RIs are not looking to fail you.  Later that day you will do the Combat Water Survival Assessment (CWSA).  This will consist of thee main events in no particular order:  equipment removal in the water and 15 meter swim, the beam walk and rope drop, and the zip line.  The beam walk consists of walking across a beam that is 35 meters high, then crawling across a rope before dropping into the water below.  The zip line is a 75 foot height that the soldiers zip line down before dropping into the water.  Once your company completes both events, you will dump your bags and have a packing list inspection.  Once the inspection is complete, you will then move into your barracks.  As a final thought, this day will seem like it never ends.

Day 2:  The second day will be your land navigation test.  The test will begin in the morning during the hours of limited visibility.  You will be given five points, or locations, to be plotted and found.  You must find four points in four hours.

Day 3:The main event on the third day is testing your familiarization on the M240B and the M249 machine guns.  First you are tested on your ability to clear, load, fire, and reduce stoppage on both machine guns.  You will be given 30 seconds on each machine gun to accomplish this task.  Secondly, you will also have three minutes to disassemble each machine gun, and three minutes to reassemble each machine gun.  The land navigation retest is in the morning of this day.  Thus it is to your benefit to pass the land navigation test the first time for you will likely get to sleep twice as long as those that will take the land navigation retest.

Day 4:  The main event for this day is the 12 mile road march.  You must have 40 lbs. in your ruck sack dry (not including any drinking water), and it must be completed in  3 hours and 15 minutes.  In the afternoon you will receive a basic engineering demolition class.  This class will consist of making expedient explosives that you will use during your graded patrols.