Speaker 1 (00:00)
You think you might have seen this video before from me, don’t worry, you’re not having Deja vu. In the original video, I did make some mistakes and I would like to set the record straight and make it a little bit more clear as far as how soldiers become Rangers. What’s up? I’m US Army veteran Christopher chaos. P reviously, I made a video about how soldiers become Rangers, and I got some stuff wrong, so I wanted to wipe that slate clean, hopefully, and try to re explain it better and not maybe leave out certain details that are important and try to correct any things that were wrong in the first video. And hopefully, this video will give you a much, much better explanation as to how soldiers become Rangers in the US Army. So let’s get right into it. Now, there are two different avenues that a soldier might take to become a Ranger. One of those being Ranger school and the other being RASP or Ranger assessment selection. Now, for the most part, many soldiers feel that just because a soldier does Ranger school doesn’t necessarily make them a ranger. Yes, they are in the tab, but they are not a part of the 75th Ranger regiment just yet.
Speaker 1 (01:10)
For the most part, soldiers categorize an army ranger as someone who is actually serving in the 75th Ranger Regiment. I’m going to talk about both those areas, both the Army Ranger School and RASP. Now, both ranger school and RASP is available to soldiers after they attend basic training in EIT, or once they get to the unit, they can put in for it and request to go to this training. So first, let’s talk about ranger school. Army ranger school is just over two months long and it is broken up into three phases. First phase being the bending phase, which is conducted at Fort Bendon, Georgia. Second phase being the mountain phase, which is conducted in the mountains in the northern part of Georgia. And the third phase being the Florida phase, which is conducted in Florida. Now during that first phase, which is bending phase, there is also a week called wrap week. During this week is very rigorous and very exhausting to soldiers. And a lot of times that’s where soldiers determine if this is really for them or not. As during this phase, it is common that they will lose about 50 % of their class.
Speaker 1 (02:07)
Now, those are soldiers just deciding that maybe they’re not in good enough shape or maybe they just can’t take it and they’d rather not go through this training and then they quit and the other 50 % moves on. Now, that is not with every case. That is just the statistics that says that on average, about 50 % won’t make it past wrap week. Those that do make it past wrap week will go through a bunch more training on leadership, working as a team, obstacle courses, and also get very little sleep. Also during that time, they will also be working off very limited food as well. And the army actually recommends before going to ranger school to put on a little extra weight. That way, if you are in a situation where you’re getting very little food, you’re being exhausted, you have a little bit of room to lose some weight. Also during this bending phase, they have their very own specific PT test that soldiers have to complete. This PT test is known as the ranger physical assessment. And for this, they will have to complete 49 pushups, 59 situps, and a five mile run in 40 minutes or less.
Speaker 1 (03:00)
Those standards are for all soldiers, male, female, and regardless of age. Yes, I did say females as ranger school does authorize females to attend ranger school, and I believe there’s been two that have made it through ranger school since they have started allowing females. If a soldier makes it past the bending phase, they then move on to the mountain phase. Without getting too in depth as to what happens during the mountain phase, it’s essentially a lot of combat training, a lot of leadership training, team building, and everything that takes place in a mountainous environment. And that being done, as I said before, in the northern part of Georgia that has a lot of mountains. And several other tasks that prepare them for that type of environment, for example, Afghanistan or any other countries that may have similar terrain. If a soldier is able to pass the requirements in mountain phase, they are then able to move on to the Florida phase. Now, typically, soldiers will airdrop into the Florida training area, but there are also some circumstances where they won’t conduct the airdrop mission and they will have to be bused in. For example, if the weather is really bad or other situations where it’s just not safe for them to parachute in.
Speaker 1 (03:58)
During the Florida phase, most of the of the emphasis is on swamp training and water survival. So a lot of the training revolves around that environment, a swampy environment. Now, if a soldier completes the Florida phase and passes everything, they then move on to graduation and receive their ranger tab. Now, like I said, in most soldiers eyes, that doesn’t necessarily make them a ranger. There’s ranger qualified, I guess. Now, some circumstances that could cause a soldier to fail ranger school would be if they weren’t able to pass different requirements during the school. For example, that physical fitness test, or different training objectives that have to be met during that training, as well as they can be cleared out, which means other fellow soldiers could essentially vote that soldier out of the school. How that works for a soldier to get cleared out of ranger school is with their initial squad, if they were to receive a 60 % disapproval rating, they would be kicked out of that squad and move to another squad. Now in that second squad, if those soldiers also give that individual a 60 % disapproval rating, then they are cleared out of ranger school and kicked out.
Speaker 1 (04:59)
In the original video, I made the mistake and said that when soldiers graduate ranger school, they then can go on to the 75th ranger regiment, and that is not always true. There is another requirement to get that soldier into the 75th ranger regiment, which I’ll talk about here in a minute. But if a soldier just simply completes ranger school, they just go on to their regular unit and also get to wear a ranger tab. Now, in order for a soldier to actually get to go to the 75th ranger regiment, they have to go to RASP. There are two different phases to RASP. There’s RASP 1 and RASP 2. Rasp 1 is for soldiers that are the rank of sergeant or below, and RASP 2 is for soldiers that are the rank of staff sergeant or above, as well as all the officers. Now, let’s elaborate a little bit on RASP 1 and RASP 2. Rasp 1 is an eight week course that soldiers must attend in order to move on to the 75th Ranger Regiment. This course includes a lot of things like road marches, first responder training, land navigation, and a lot of other physically demanding tasks that a soldier must complete.
Speaker 1 (05:54)
During RASP, they also be quizzed on 75th Ranger Regiment history, offer to recite the Ranger Creed, and they’re also going to undergo a psychological examination. So if the soldiers pass all the criteria and are selected for the 75th Ranger Regiment, then they are able to move on to become Rangers. And after completing RASP and being selected, they would then get to dawn the tan beret and will then move to their unit in the 75th Ranger Regiment. Rasp 2 is a 21 day course that is for staff sergeants and above and all officers. This course tests a lot of more advanced leadership skills and tactics and also focuses a lot more on ranger techniques and equipment. Then if that individual is attending RASP 2 graduates, they would then move on to 75th Ranger Regiment or just go back to their unit that they were in in the 75th Ranger Regiment if they were doing that because they got recently promoted. That means there are three options for soldiers. Either a soldier can attend ranger school and receive the ranger tab, but not really be in the ranger’s, or a sergeant or below can attend RASP 1and maybe get into the ranger regiment if they are selected, or a staff sergeant or officer attending RASP 2 can possibly make it into the ranger regiment by going that route.
Speaker 1 (07:00)
Now, in the scenario that a soldier simply just attends RASP 1, maybe they’re private, they came right out of base training, AIT, or early in the career, wanted to go to RASP 1 and wanted to get into the 75th ranger regiment and got selected and made it into the regiment. Before that soldier becomes a noncommissioned officer, being a sergeant, that soldier will have to attend ranger school. As ranger school is required for noncommissioned officers and officers in the 75th ranger regiment. I actually know somebody that knows somebody that was in that circumstance. That soldier went through RASP 1, went to the 75th Rangers. They were a specialist. That person’s leadership wanted them to move up to become a sergeant, but that soldier wasn’t really that interested in staying in the army for a long time, so they weren’t really interested in becoming a sergeant. Nor did that soldier want to go to ranger school, so he was kicked out of the 75th Rangers and just moved to a regular unit in the United States Army. Now, females can attend RASP as well. Now, I’m not 100 % sure on this. I do remember that there was a female that did RASP 1 but was not able to complete the training and get selected for the 75th Ranger Regiment.
Speaker 1 (07:58)
From my knowledge, I believe that there’s only been one female that has completed RASP 2. That female was an officer, so she had to go that route and did make it into the 75th Ranger Regiment, and in fact, was the very first female in the 75th Rangers. But beyond that, I am not sure if there’s any other females in the 75th Ranger Regiment other than that one. So if any of you know out there, go and leave some comments down below. So there you go. Hopefully, this version of the video was more clearer and didn’t leave out any key features as far as how a soldier can become a ranger. Now, of course, I didn’t get too in depth with everything that is involved in ranger school and in RASP 1, RASP 2. But just as a generic outline, hopefully that just satisfies your urge for your curiosity of wanting to know how soldiers can become ranger. So let me know down in the comments, what do you think? Do you think that if a soldier attends a ranger school, that they should still be called a ranger? Or no, do you believe that if a soldier goes to the 75th ranger regiment, then that makes them a ranger?
Speaker 1 (08:53)
Most soldiers, like I said, feel that if a soldier completes RASP 1 or RASP 2 and goes to 75th ranger regiment, then they’re a ranger. Otherwise, they’re just ranger qualified and attend ranger school. But I’d like to know what you guys think. Whether you’re currently in the army, you’re an army veteran, or you’re just interested in the military because you potentially want to join the military at some point in time, or just have a general interest in it. If you found this video helpful, make sure to hit that thumbs up button. If you want to check out some of my other videos, I got my most recent and something that is recommended to you by YouTube. Or if you’re not already subscribed to the channel, go ahead and just hit that subscribe channel and you can catch all my new stuff and also catch up on all my old stuff. I’m Christopher Kost. Thank you very much for watching. I’ll see you next time. See you.
