FORT BENNING, Ga., (April 22, 2015) -- A Ranger instructor from 5th Ranger Training Battalion, Dahlonega, Georgia, will be the first of his unit to travel to Italy in May to train with the Italian army's 4th Alpine Regiment as part a new Italian Ranger Reciprocal Exchange Position program.
Sgt. 1st Class Steve Turnboo was chosen for participation in RTB's pilot exchange program based on his proficiency as a ranger instructor as well as the mountaineering courses he's taken while with 5th RTB, said Capt. Nathan Jennings, B Company commander.
"Right now it is about building the relationship more than knowledge or tactics; we're not trying to change each other, we're just trying to grow," Turnboo said.
The Italian army's 4th Alpine Regiment specializes in mountaineering, said Lt. Col. Massimiliano Bar, the Maneuver Center of Excellence's Italian liaison officer. The headquarters of the Italian unit is located in Montorio Veronese, in northeast Italy near one of the most beautiful mountain landscapes in the world: the Dolomite Mountains, Bar said. The Italian rangers use this terrain to train, move, fight and survive in the harshest environment for soldiers: the mountain.
"The hope behind it is to link mountaineering experience from 5th RTB, up in Dahlonega, with the Alpinis, the mountaineering experts in Italy," Turnboo said.
As part of the exchange program, Turnboo will spend a minimum of two years with the Italian army's 4th Alpine Regiment and will be responsible for a squad to platoon sergeant element, anywhere from 12-30 students, Jennings said. Turnboo will train, counsel and evaluate students' physical readiness, as well as their mental and physical toughness. He will help improve students' understanding of small-unit tactical operations in a mountain environment. He will assist and mentor U.S. students attending mountaineering courses at the 4th Alpine Regiment and advise and support the company battalion chain of command for training recommendations and standard operating procedures, he said.
"The main (objective) is to maintain the interoperability between our armies, (and) between our Ranger units," Bar said.
For Italian ranger qualification, volunteers must become military parachutists after a four-week parachute school, attend the five-month basic special operations course, attend the Ranger and Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape courses over 17 weeks, complete the four-week amphibious phase and complete the final part of the course which focuses on mountaineering and can last about 20 weeks.
"I actually think I'll learn a lot more than I'm going to teach," Turnboo said. "I hear they're all experts in the craft; I'm sure I've got a lot to learn from them - the flow of ideas, tactics, techniques and procedures. That and just the interpersonal relationship with another army."
After the Italian army's Master Sgt. Luca Bertozzo qualified as a U.S. Ranger instructor and completed the Ranger Instructor Certification Program with the 5th RTB in 2004, an Italian delegation visited RTB in 2005 to establish a working relationship between the units. The program was finalized between 2013 and 2014 and Turnboo's mission with the unit will be the first time the RTB has participated in an exchange program.
As part of the exchange, an NCO from the 4th Alpine Regiment began preparations to travel to Dahlonega to serve as an instructor, Bar said. The Italian unit also had a soldier from the 4th Alpine Regiment begin the U.S. Army Ranger Course April 20.
Turnboo attended six months of Italian language classes in Washington, D.C., to prepare for the mission. He said he still has a lot to learn, but feels proficient enough in Italian to survive.
"Being the first one, I am setting the precedent," Turnboo said. "So, the best thing I can do is go there and be a good ambassador for our Army and the Ranger community."
He said that he is especially looking forward to getting an Alpini hat, a green hat with a long feather, which he learned is part of their tradition.
In Turnboo's military career, he has been to Korea and has had four deployments - two to Iraq and two to Afghanistan.
"It's the Army vacation they promise you when you first join," Turnboo said. "I guess for me, the question is 'how do we get the lessons all learned back to the U.S. Army or vice versa?'"
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