FORT SILL, Okla. -- Since January 2013 the Fort Sill Pre-Ranger Course has sent 115 Soldiers to Ranger School at Fort Benning, Ga., with a 47 percent pass rate.
Unfortunately Class No. 4-14 wasn't able to produce any Soldiers who were up for the challenge.
"If I have zero Soldiers that meet the standards, then I'll send zero Soldiers," said Capt. James Potter, formerly assigned to the Ranger Regiment and Pre-Ranger Course officer in charge.
He said that class was at a disadvantage because the majority of the Soldiers were in the National Guard, and currently National Guard Soldiers aren't allowed into Ranger School. Then because of natural attrition, the numbers weren't there.
"I try to get this experience out to as many people as possible, but not every field artillery student needs to be Ranger qualified,"said Potter.
He recognizes their main mission is to become field artillery officers, and they have to focus on meeting those standards before they can strive to be a Ranger.
Teamwork
Potter said the biggest reason a Soldier succeeds or doesn't succeed, first in the Pre-Ranger Course and eventually in Ranger School, is teamwork.
"They can't do everything by themselves, they have to depend on each other and every individual has to pull their weight," said Potter. "You don't earn your tab. Your buddy earns your tab for you and vice versa."
Fourteen second lieutenants in Pre-Ranger Course Class 5-15 got their first taste of working together in a tactical environment Aug. 15-16. They left the FA BOLC classroom and headed straight to Contingency Operations Location Mow-Way.
"Honestly, a lot of people like to think of Ranger School as a tactical school, but what it tests is leadership. It's a group of people that can get completely unmotivated to do something seemingly impossible. It shows that drive and that motivation they have to be a better leader," said Ranger-qualified Capt. Joseph Berlin, Captains Career Course Class No. 4-14 student.
Potter and the other Ranger qualified Soldiers on post spend the majority of their time training the students physically first, and then their skills, second. The reason is because statistically most Soldiers don't pass the Ranger Assessment Phase or the first week of Ranger School.
"The first week is just a weeding out process.You'll have approximately 50 percent attrition," said Potter. "They'll be prepared physically, but also now cognitively they can wrap their head around what it takes to plan for a recon and what it takes to plan for an ambush."
To mimic the same training scenarios in Ranger School the Soldiers performed the two missions traveling 17 kilometers across post fields.
"There's just so much detail that goes into every part of the planning, every part of the movement. We've had classes on it before, but nothing can beat the real thing," said 2nd Lt. Mike Verhotz, FA BOLC student. "It's just keeping yourself mentally alert even when you're super tired, thirsty and hungry. Just the mental game is the toughest part. You've got to take it day by day, hour by hour."
Potter said the Soldiers were thrown into an especially difficult training environment because their first duty to become field artillery officers pushed back the allotted time to learn their equipment and how to prepare an order.
"This time I literally threw them in the fire.They had never seen any of this and all of a sudden they jumped right into it.
"I tell the guys this is how you learn. There is no success or failure in this environment. There is just what you learn from it, and they learned a lot."
At 2 a.m. the Soldiers started moving through high brush and wooded areas with night optical devices. In tandem, they traversed the terrain for hours while performing land navigation.
"Anyone would get frustrated after being up for 24 hours and walking all night. That's part of it. That's what we try to prepare them for at school because there's a lot of frustrating things that happen there.They basically started at a (forward operating base) and they're moving to a hostile village to conduct a recon and get some information on some possible mortar tubes or weapons cache in the area. So their only job is to move to that area without being detected and get a description of what's going on," said Berlin.
The Soldiers practiced squad based movements and rotated leadership positions. The Ranger qualified Soldiers and other support Soldiers were along for the ride giving corrective guidance.
"Nothing ever goes the way it's planned so you just learn to live with it," said 2nd Lt. Alex Horn,who was given the squad leader position around 6 a.m.
"Definitely coordinating where everyone was going -- I think we lost two people in the dark that was the worst part," said 2nd Lt. Kyle Donnelly, who was the squad leader for the majority of the evening. "I think it's not really a learning experience, it's trying to figure out how to deal with people. Especially when they're tired."
Potter said their biggest challenge was taking charge when given a leadership role.
"Sometimes they're hesitant to actually take charge and hold each other accountable. Once they got over that, which took a couple hours, then they were able to make some gains."
He said the instructors' constant guidance during the exercise helped make sure the Soldiers are prepared if they earn a slot in Ranger School.
"What you learn at Ranger School saves lives in combat so we're all very passionate about that. It's always the little things that get you so we're going to drill the little things into you to make sure you get it right."
Pre-Ranger Course Class No. 5-14 will continue to train until September when the order of merit list is established for who is sent to Ranger School.
Fore more photos from the exercise, visit www.flickr.com/fortsillcannoneer.
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