Spartans set out for Best Ranger Competition

  • Published
  • By David Bedard
  • JBER PAO
JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska --  Two paratroopers from 3rd Battalion, 509th Infantry Regiment (Airborne), will represent U.S. Army Alaska and Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson this month during the David E. Grange Jr. Best Ranger Competition at Fort Benning, Ga.

Army Capt. Dan Strathman from Rockford, Ill., and Sgt. 1st Class Robert Allen from Columbus, Ga., said they have been training for the past few months in an effort to be successful at the grueling three-day event.

Allen said Army Rangers are set apart because they volunteered to attend the rigorous Ranger School at Fort Benning, where students are subjected to a lack of sleep and food while learning to lead small units in a wide range of combat scenarios.

The noncommissioned officer's description of what distinguishes a Ranger echoed the words of the Ranger creed.

"Knowledge, experience, the will to never leave a fallen comrade, never quit, never accept defeat," Allen said. "If they give you a mission, you're going to accomplish that mission and you go further, faster and fight harder than any Soldier.

"The creed is not just something written down, it's something Rangers live by," he continued. "That's something a Ranger does.

He sets the example for others to follow. There's not a task that a Ranger will not accomplish or attempt to accomplish."

Allen, who has competed twice before, said the duo will report to competition officials a few days early for inprocessing, a packing list inspection and issuance of their roster and team numbers.

He said day one of the competition typically starts with a Ranger Physical Fitness Test which includes events like a 3-mile run with body armor and carbine, and either the notorious Malvesti Field Obstacle Course or the equally infamous Darby Queen obstacle course.

Later that day, the team will compete in other events which will remain unknown to them until they arrive. In the past, day one events included road marches up to 25 miles, marksmanship ranges, and demolitions.

Allen said Day Two usually starts with a long road march early in the morning before teams compete in "day stakes," when they will go to dozens of stations testing their skills in weapons disassembly, map reading, range estimation and map reading.

Though many of the stations test entry "10-level" infantry tasks, Strathman said
the stakes feel anything but basic.

"It's really easy to put an M-4 (carbine) together when you're sitting here hanging out having a good time," he said.
 
"You go on Day Three when you haven't been sleeping or eating, then it's like 'Where does this pin go?'"

Day Two melds into Day Three with a grueling night orienteering course which will test a team's skills after two days of sleep and food deprivation.

Allen said the 3-509th selected the two Rangers based upon the unit's desire to send an officer and NCO combination.

Because Allen is scheduled to relocate in May and Strathman is going to Special Forces Assessment and Selection at Fort Bragg, N.C., the two were able to focus solely on training for the event.

The NCO said he originally wanted to be a Marine because of the prestige of the maritime service's dress uniform, but influence from his Army Junior ROTC instructors and the local presence of Soldiers changed his mind.

"I'm from Columbus and Fort Benning is there," Allen explained. "When I was a kid, I used to go to Fort Benning and see Soldiers and everything.

I used to play Army and I used to see Sniper School stuff, I saw them walking around in their ghillie suits.

I saw people jumping out of planes. I was like, 'Hey, this is what I want to do,' and I've done it.

"It's pretty fun," he said with a grin. "I get paid to jump out of planes. I get paid to do a lot of cool stuff in the military."

Allen said he joined as a mechanized infantryman before the Army merged all infantryman into one career field.

The NCO said he wanted to cut loose of an infantry fighting vehicle and jump out of planes as an Airborne Ranger.

"I used to see Ranger demonstrations, and it was something I always wanted to do," he recalled. "They stood out from everybody else. They did cool stuff.

"I thought it was cool when I was a little kid, you know, blowing stuff up, jumping out of planes, fast roping from helicopters, and I decided to try it. I will try anything once."

A United States Military Academy graduate, Strathman said he originally wanted to be an Air Force fighter pilot. He said he reconsidered when he read an article in Popular Mechanics magazine about Army Rangers.

A photo in the article challenged readers to find Ranger snipers in a landscape, and Strathman's interest was piqued when he couldn't find the sharpshooters.

He said he began reading books about Rangers and Special Forces, and his mind was made up to go to West Point.

Commissioned in the infantry, Strathman said he had little choice but to go to Ranger School.

"If you're going to be an infantry officer, you'd better get your Ranger Tab," he said. "It's not a question. You have to."

Allen said the fact the Best Ranger Competition features teams, as opposed to individual Soldiers, indicates the nature of the event.

"Anyone could do it as an individual, but this is teamwork," he said. "So you and your partner have to work as one.

"(Strathman's) a captain and I'm a (sergeant first class), but you're going to hear me yelling at him, cussing at him; he's going to be yelling at me, cussing at me," Allen continued. "But we know it's a team."

Though both Rangers admit it will be a challenge to adapt to the southern spring temperatures after training this winter, they both said they feel their training in subarctic conditions will serve as an advantage.

Strathman said training on winter surface conditions will put the team in good stead.

"We did a 16-mile ruck march ... on that loose sugary snow, and it's like walking on a beach," he said. "It's hard to do that.

You lose traction and grip, but when we go and jump on the pavement, it feels like we're 20 pound-lighter."

The officer said training in subzero temperatures has only steeled the pair's resolve to compete well.

"It would have been easy to just not do stuff when it was cold up here but we did it anyway, so there's added commitment," Strathman explained.
 
"We have a lot invested in it."

Mindful of the fact the Ranger Competition is a three-day event, Allen said the team's strategy is to pace themselves.

"It's not a sprint, it's a marathon," he explained. "We're coming up with a plan where we know what our bodies can take.

We're not going to push 130 percent on the first event, because we know if they say it's a 4-mile run, that might not be the case, so we stuck with what we know and maintain what we got."

Despite the hardship endured during the competition, Allen advises tabbed Soldiers make the trip.

"I recommend, if you're a Ranger, at least try it once because you won't regret it," he said.
 
"Even if you don't win first place, but you finish, that's a big accomplishment."