This Marine gives props to the first women Rangers.

[Recursion]

http://edition.cnn.com/2015/08/18/politics/women-graduate-army-ranger-course/

Ranger school is no joke; it's roughly equivalent to Force Recon in the Corps.

Congratulations, ladies.

[xmas74]

1. My grandpa was a Ranger.

I remember 25 years ago him saying that a woman could be a Ranger-it just needed to be the right kind of woman to get her foot through the door.

I wish he were here to see this. I know he'd have a pretty positive spin about it.

[riderinthestorm]

5. My FIL was in the first Rangers with Darby in WWII and said the same

Women would someday be in the Rangers....

He'd also be pretty tickled to be proven right.

[xmas74]

6. I'm crying right now.

My grandpa was with Darby and was so proud. When he passed on he had it put in his obituary that he had served under Darby.

I'm crying because maybe your FIL and my grandpa might have known each other. That is a wonderful thought.

[riderinthestorm]

7. Wow!! Ray was always pretty quiet about his service

Downplayed his time in the Rangers - said he and a buddy volunteered to try out together after an all night bender...



Said Darby came through looking for volunteers and Ray didn't know what exactly he was signing up for other than it got him out of the usual morning routine.

He originally signed up for the cavalry, he was an excellent rider. One day they were training with horses and the next day there were tanks. The cavalry units literally changed overnight as he told it.

He hated tanks so when Darby came through the camp Ray jumped at the chance to get out. Ray was always this gentle guy until you came up against his stubborn streak then nothing stood in his way.

RIP Ray

My husband is a huge WWII history buff, especially about the Rangers. If you like pm me your grandfathers name and I'll have my husband look him up. Its very possible my FIL knew your gandfather. Ray spent a lot of time in Africa iirc.

I won't be back online for the rest of the day but will check in tomorrow

[xmas74]

10. Granda was at Benning at Jump School.

He hated Jump and wanted out. Darby came through looking for volunteers. Grandpa heard "ranger" and thought they meant forest ranger. He grew up in the north and thought it sounded good,lol.

He eventually ended up in 3rd. He spent lots of time in Africa. Eventually he left there and his luck changed-for the worse. He became an POW at Anzio.

I'll send you a link with his name on the roster. He's listed as 3rd on there, where he spent the majority of his time. He told us fun little stories but nothing serious. He didn't like remembering the serious things. I didn't even know he was a POW until the 50th anniversary of D-Day when reporters attempted to contact every living Ranger in the area, no matter where they served. A reporter told me that he was a POW. (Interesting little tidbit: he said that even though he was a POW he didn't hold it against the Germans or the Italians. He said if it wasn't for a German doctor and a couple of nurses he would have lost his feet and that the Italians just didn't have the food or supplies to treat their own, nonetheless POWs.)

[riderinthestorm]

13. Ray was in the 1st Battalion, one of the few to escape the slaughter in Italy

Here's his info - he went by his middle name his whole life:

http://www.rangerroster.org/SearchDetails.asp?ID=1864

So after speaking with my husband I'd say there's a very strong possibility my FIL may have known your grandfather. After the 1st Ranger Battalion was pretty much wiped out, it was dissolved. My husband said his dad never was very clear about why he didn't join one of the other Ranger battalions when the 1st was dissolved. Ray always just said the military told him "he'd done enough" and he was released from service.

My husband always interpreted that to mean he had some form of PTSD.

Ray however didn't think he'd "done enough" and he re-enlisted with the Army Air Corps and went on to work stringing communication lines - always working just behind the front lines to ensure communications stayed current.

If your grandpa worked the radios and my FIL worked stringing the communications lines...well, with both of them being Rangers it would seem to me that theres a strong possibility they knew each other.

My FIL fell in love with electrical work and became a licensed electrician after the war....funny how for both of them their war-time experiences with communications shaped their lives. My FIL's love for horses also stayed for the remainder of his life and there was always a horse or two in their yard.

Such fond memories reminiscing. Thanks for this.

[xmas74]

14. I sent you his info via pm.

From what I understand after he got out of the POW camp (I don't know how-never told) he was reassigned to another battalion, possibly second. He never said this but a reporter calling for an interview made a comment along those lines. His discharge shows third, after the war.

Rangers in communications-there couldn't have been that many back then. There's a good chance they at least knew of each other.

[riderinthestorm]

15. Yup, I got it. I ran his name past my husband and it didn't ring a bell

But realistically there just simply weren't a lot of Rangers at that time in WWII.

Two of them in communications? Seems like a high likelihood they knew of each other if not outright knew each other....

As I said upthread, my FIL always said that someday women would be in the Rangers. He based that on working alongside many women on various farms in upstate NY. Speaking from my own experience, women farmers are bad-ass! I've met more than a few very powerful, beautifully built, determined, strong strong strong on every level women in agriculture. (Not that I know if these two women graduates come from farm families. It's just illustrative of why Ray always believed it would happen).

I'm loving that we're here!

[xmas74]

18. They at least knew of each other, considering

they were both in Africa and Europe. Of course it was so long ago and they're both gone now so who knows?



Interesting how two Rangers, a few of the first Rangers, always thought that there would be women Rangers someday. Reading some of the nasty comments on the articles at other sites would lead most to believe otherwise. Of course, most of those responding have never even served, nonetheless actually been through Ranger training.

[justhanginon]

2. Good job ladies! I still remember from the early sixties

being stationed at Fort Campbell Kentucky and seeing part of the training for I believe it was the Rangers or Airborne Rangers since it was and Airborne post. Long time ago but I can remember seeing a trainee on the course trying to get over a rolling log. It was about four feet in diameter, chest high and rolled forward about six feet on a support. You had to run up to it try and get a hold and then roll on top of the log to the other side. As memory serves it was a commissioned officer doing the course and a sergeant in charge. He tried twice to get over and he hit it chest high and could not get it to roll over with him on top. He looked plumb tuckered. All the while the noncom is screaming at him. The third time he finally made it over and to this day, I think that sergeant literally screamed him over. Did I mention the sergeant looked like he ate puppies for breakfast. Tough stuff!
I have nothing but admiration for any of our special forces and members of the armed forces in general. I may not always agree with their missions but individually these are people doing a job a lot of us are not capable of mentally or physically. Kudos to them.

[PicturingPolitics]

3. Big Day

For The First Time, Women Will Graduate From Army's Rigorous Ranger School

[Orrex]

4. Damn!

Well, if I ever get in a bar fight, I know who I'm calling for help.

[Lulu Belle]

8. This Marine (Me) does too!

MOS 0352, 8541
Worked with Rangers, a tough bunch of SOB's.
Congratulations to these women!

[treestar]

9. Good for them!

And thank you for being a marine!

[GGJohn]

11. This retired Army helo pilot agrees with you.

Congratulations Rangers.

[dumbcat]

16. And one of the ladies is an Apache pilot

so there's also that!

[phylny]

12. My husband was an Airborne Ranger,

and he was hoping that these women would complete Ranger school.

Bravo!

[Lee-Lee]

17. Outstanding sisters!

Its a good day for the Army.