Ranger training events draw top Army leaders

By Lori EganApril 14, 2015

VDSA at Best Ranger
(Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL

FORT BENNING, Ga. (April 15, 2015) -- The annual Best Ranger Competition brought thousands of people to Fort Benning, April 10-13, to witness the Army's best of the best compete.

Among them was Gen. Daniel B. Allyn, the Army's 35th vice chief of staff.

Allyn joined the action on Todd Field, the site of the Day 2 events during the 32nd annual David E. Grange Jr. Best Ranger Competition, or BRC.

BRC challenges two-man Ranger teams in events that test their physical conditioning, Ranger skills and mental acuity because the events are purposely scheduled back-to-back and around the clock for 60 hours, allowing little time for rest or meals.

Some of the first-day events for the 51 teams that started the competition were the Ranger physical assessment, Malvesti obstacle course, a buddy run to Victory Pond for a swim of unknown distance, the urban assault course at McKenna military operations in urban terrain site, or MOUT, another buddy run and a stress shoot at Malone 15, where rain was blowing in sideways.

Only 24 teams had enough points to continue to the day stakes events, where Allyn spoke with them as they rested between events, asking questions about training, deployments, sharing his experiences with them and telling them he was proud of them for volunteering, for training for the competition and being inspirational with their performance.

Allyn's advice for all Soldiers was to be mentally and physically agile, to be resilient, to rely on their skills, and to work the muscle between the ears because it is what convinces the body to keep going.

Sunday morning before the Darby Queen obstacle course, Col. David Fivecoat, Airborne and Ranger Training Brigade commander, introduced Allyn to Spc. Bridger Van Ness, with the 173rd Airborne Brigade. Van Ness has been in the Army for 18 months - he was a successful graduate of the Road to Ranger Program. From Infantry One Station Unit Training, or OSUT, he went through the Ranger, Pathfinder and Air Assault courses. From there he was assigned to Vicenza, Italy, where he earned a spot to compete for the Best Ranger title with Sgt. Elliot Cochran as Team 6. (They finished in 19th place.)

While speaking with Team 48, Capts. Jay Brend and Mark Gaudet, Brend repeated Allyn's words from Saturday: "It's the six inches between the ears that kept us moving during the night orienteering," Brend said.

And when 1st Lt. James Teskey collapsed twice after finishing the combat water survival assessment, his Ranger buddy Staff Sgt. Theodore Guinn helped him to where their equipment lay. When Command Sgt. Maj. Curtis Arnold, Airborne and Ranger Training Brigade command sergeant major, went to speak to the exhausted Rangers, they stood.

"That's a combination of character and resilience," Allyn said, which sums up Ranger training.

Allyn also observed Soldiers in the second week of the fourth iteration of the gender-integrated Ranger training assessment course, or RTAC, taught by the Army National Guard's Warrior Training Center, or WTC, here. RTAC is a two-week course designed to improve combat arms functional skills. It is required for all female and National Guard Soldiers who want to attend the Ranger Course.

So far, 12 female Soldiers have qualified for the Ranger Course that begins April 20.

During the briefing, the vice chief of staff learned that the success rate for those who attend RTAC and those who pass the first week of the Ranger Course was 75 percent in 2014. And historically, 50 percent of its graduates are active-duty Soldiers.

Lt. Col. Beau Riely, WTC commander, said in the mid-1990s Guard Soldiers weren't getting slots for Pathfinder, Air Assault and Ranger courses and had a hard time passing the Ranger course because they weren't proficient in the necessary skills required to pass, which is the Warrior Training Center's mission - to deliver capability back to the force.

"RTAC prepares Ranger candidates for graduation," said Maj. William Woodard Jr., who is the company commander for RTAC. It focuses on mitigating the traditional high-attrition events, such as the Ranger Physical Fitness Test, land navigation, patrolling, peer evaluations and leadership.

Speaking of the center's success rate, Woodard said, "We're as good as we are because of the NCOs who are here teaching the classes."

To which the vice chief said, "The only thing worse than not knowing how to do something is learning how to do it wrong."

While watching the Ranger course candidates train, Allyn spoke with cadre.

"We owe it to every Soldier to be true to the Ranger standard," said Allyn, who graduated the Ranger course in 1979. "Every aspirant will be a better Soldier because of the experience."

Sgt. 1st Class Travis Bennett, a Ranger instructor with 4th Ranger Training Battalion on exchange to the WTC, said because the Ranger standards are the standards, the integration is not a big deal.

Maj. Gen. Scott Miller, Maneuver Center of Excellence and Fort Benning commanding general, spoke about the physicality of Infantry courses and statistics from one station unit training where new Soldiers who are not used to carrying heavy loads are breaking bones. The average load an Infantry Soldier carries is 65 pounds.

"This is a physically demanding course, we don't want to break people," Allyn said, telling the cadre and observers/advisors to watch for signs of injury during the daily medical checks.

"We need to remember that Soldiers volunteer for the Ranger course and it's not for the weak of heart. We need to inspire more to volunteer," Miller said.

(Editor's note: A team from Fort Benning's Airborne and Ranger Training Brigade took first place in the David E. Grange Jr. Best Ranger Competition -- Team 38 -- Sgt. 1st Class Jeremy Lemma and Sgt. 1st Class Timothy Briggs. They will not only take home the title of Best Ranger, but also the Rippetoe Award for the best time on Friday night's unknown distance road march.

Capt. Robert Killian and Capt. Travis Cornwall, the Army National Guard's Team 10, are the second-place finishers and winners of the Leandri Award, which is presented to the team who wins Saturday's overnight orienteering course.

Team 27, Staff Sgt. Philip Jewah and Sgt. Thomas Malphrus of the 75th Ranger Regiment, finished in third place.)

Related Links:

Sergeant major of the Army visits Fort Benning

Vice Chief of Staff of the Army Gen. Daniel B. Allyn

Army.mil: North America News