It's A Set-up

[SR-25]

PRE-Ranger means PREpared to nearly two-thirds

Guard course noted for high grad rate

Bridgett Siter
Bayonet staff

2nd Lt. Scott Lathrop just improved his chance of earning a Ranger tab. He showed up for Pre-Ranger.

Lathrop, an Alaskan Guardsman with a long-range surveillance unit, knows the numbers: Nearly 70 percent of the students who pass the National Guard Pre-Ranger Course will graduate Ranger School.

"This is a set-up for success," Lathrop said Monday, three days into the 14-day course. "They model this (Pre-Ranger Course) after the Darby phase of Ranger School. That's the first phase, and in my mind, the toughest. Everything after that is a gut-check."

If he can make it through the Darby phase, he can make it through Ranger School, Lathrop said. And if he can make it through Pre-Ranger, he can make it through the Darby phase.

Simply put, "this is necessary," Lathrop said, referring to Pre-Ranger.

The 12-man cadre of the National Guard Pre-Ranger Course, housed at the Warrior Training Center near Harmony Church, conduct eight two-week classes of Pre-Ranger each year. They've been doing that in one form or another and in various locations since the course was developed a decade ago.

Prior to its inception, National Guard Soldiers were failing Ranger School at a rate of 70 percent. That number's flip-flopped in 10 years, with Ranger School graduation rates hovering between 63 and 68 percent for students who pass the Guard's Pre-Ranger Course.

And notice the use of the word "students" as opposed to Guardsmen. That's because half the students who attend the Guard's course are not Guardsmen. The 3rd Infantry Division frequently sends Kelley Hill Soldiers, and the Marine Corps and the International Student Training Detachment each account for 10 percent of the population.

Most major commands - the 101st, the 82nd, 75th Ranger Regiment and 10th Mountain - conduct their own Pre-Ranger classes, each with moderate success. But it's the Guard's program that's caught the eye of Fort Benning's commanding general, who tasked school cadre to increase the number of classes each year and double the number of students - from 30 to 60. Eight new instructors will be assigned to the Warrior Training Center in October to help bear the load.

"We're excited about that," said Capt. Shawn Gardner, the Pre-Ranger company commander. "Any time someone says Ôwe want more of what you're offering,' we take that as a compliment."

And the Guard's success has not gone unnoticed by the cadre of other Pre-Ranger courses. Instructors from Fort Benning will travel to another post to evaluate and offer insight into a course curriculum that's struggling with a flagging graduation rate. Officials at that course have asked not to be named.

"We sent 15 to the last class, and only one graduated," said a senior instructor from that course. "I want someone from (the National Guard Pre-Ranger) to look at our program and see how we're doing and what we can do better. We need a better turn-out ratio."

Proof of the Guard's success can be found in statistics from 2002, when the Pre-Ranger Course was cancelled temporarily. Of the 27 National Guard Soldiers who were sent to Ranger School during that time, only two passed.

"That says to me we're setting our Soldiers up for success at Ranger School," Gardner said. "Weeding them out is not our goal. We focus a lot on mentoring and coaching.

"We teach the same classes they'll get in Ranger School," he said. "We want to make sure our students are physically and mentally prepared for what's ahead, so they're not wasting their time or someone's money."

Though it varies from unit to unit and state to state, it costs about $500 - minimum - to send a Soldier to the National Guard Pre-Ranger Course. That's why some units conduct their own and some Soldiers opt to skip it completely.

But that's a drop in the bucket compared to the cost of Ranger School, though no one can say just how much that is. Gardner figures the cost of Pre-Ranger is money well spent. It's a wise investment, even if a student fails.

Better to lose the lesser amount if a Soldier can't make it through Pre-Ranger. And if he does, he's "set up for success," said Gardner.

"We're in the business of building warriors for the National Guard and active duty," he said.

"That's what we do. Other schools build professional Soldiers, and that's all well and good. We need professional Soldiers.

"But at a time like this, right now, we need warriors. That's what they do at Ranger School, and that's what we do here," he said.

[ANGRecruit]

I had no clue National Guardsman could have the chance to become Rangers. Actually I know a few could, but I thought the state in which they are a Guardsman would have to pay for they or something along the lines of that.

[Grimmy]

Any program that provides a deeper bench of capabilities and training for any and all troops gets my full and unqualified support.