Jim Steiner's Ranger School #4-79 Photo Album

RANGER CLASS #4-79 "kickin ass and takin names, a winter ranger don't play no games."

Yes, I snuck a camera through Ranger School Jan-Mar 1979. I think the statute of limitations has passed. Classmates have asked me for some ten years to post the photos. Here they are. More if I find them. Please enjoy remembering the experience, with whichever class you experienced it. I had to be very discrete but managed a few snapshots. Š R. James Steiner 2018 Pre-haircut/haircut/post buzz cut preparation for Ranger Class 4-79, Olson Hall, Ft. Benning, GA Jan 1979

Ranger School Barracks, Harmony Church, Ft. Benning, GA Jan 1979

Demolitions training-Ranger School, Ft. Benning, GA (remember, then we made our own demo out of diesel and fertilizer, and blew it up)

Phase II-Mountain Phase-Dahlonega, GA (damn cold and damn wet), February 1979 Airborne Operation – crossing the bridge to get on the helicopters (In SF we learned not to use the weapons bag-HOOAH). Trying to figure out how to be “comfortable” with 100 lbs of gear wedged between your legs, your M-16 at your side, parachute and reserve.

…Jump right out and count to IV. Check canopy!

Avoid other Ranger students! Prepare to land! Lower your Rucksack! Execute a proper PLF-Land! (avoid a feet/ass/head landing, but did we?).

I recall that one Ranger student, a Captain going through after IOAC, managed to lose either his rucksack or M-16 (or both) in the one body of water adjacent to the drop zone‌delayed us a good hour as his equipment was retrieved‌an opportunity for a warm LRRP in our hasty patrol base!

LP/OP in the Mountain Phase at a Patrol Base (rucksack is back at the Patrol Base). I was PL. I went out to “inspect” security being pulled by Ranger Buddy Tim Glenn. These photos by Tim Glenn. I have to find the one of him sprawled out “on guard.” One of the few sunny days in the mountains….looking and feeling like a bad-assed Ranger!

Typical Patrol Base in the Mountains during hard rain/sleet (one of the few times we got to put up a poncho shelter…very few times). Steve Orloff is pictured upper left “trying to stay dry” in wet weather and “hawk” gear. Upper right is Orloff airing out and Christiani behind him…Damn Paul Christiani, as patrol leader, told us enroute on a sleety cold night that there would be trucks after the midnite ambush to take us home so keep moving…big lie to keep us motivated. He passed his patrol!

Bottom two photos-Ranger Buddy Gerry Pina is hidden under the poncho shelter (a hot LRRP tasted great that day, but we got caught using a heat tab in the Patrol Base and were made PL/APL for the next movement phase…and purposely flunked as retribution-that LRRP was still warm to the belly!).

Next patrol after this, sleety and rainy. An RI calls out in the dark, “Ranger 105, you are the PL.” The next voice you heard was “I quit.” Munch and I huddled under a poncho. Fifteen minute delay ensued while that Ranger student was walked down to the nearest dirt road and a jeep picked him up. Truly, on that night, none of us blamed him.

Last patrol in Mountain Phase. We had just walked over a stream on a slippery dead log and I remain shocked that none of us fell off into the stream. We set up security and called in Hueys for extraction from a teeny PZ (upper right photo)‌a message from #3-79 (a classmate?), in our cabin read “round and round went the hawk and the hound, and now the hound is Florida bound!! And so was #4-79!

Remember the pace count (tap foot) and head count sign (tap head) silently shared enroute to make sure we did not lose someone. Sometimes I felt like I was dancing passing that information back and forth.

Florida Phase‌March 1979. We jumped in if we had wings. I saw David Mull, next stick so I had recovered, being pulled across the DZ by a gust of wind and I jumped on his chute to collapse it. He was one appreciative classmate. One platoon of legs bussed down. The statue below provides tribute to the Rangers at Camp Rudder, Hurlburt Field Auxiliary #6, Eglin AFB, Florida. The barracks were relatively new, even though we spent little time in them!

Only two years earlier, during this same class (#4-1977), two Ranger students died of hypothermia before they could be evacuated from the swamps. A sobering fact that many of us recalled as we arrived. In 1995, another four Ranger students lost their lives, again during the same class cycle as #4-1979. As reported in Wikipedia: The 1995 accident was blamed on several factors, including a sudden rise in the water level on Boiling Creek coupled with other unexpected weather changes, such as fog that delayed rescue efforts. Since 1995, more sophisticated measures have been put into place that cast an elaborate, yet invisible, safety net around the students. As students plan ambushes and negotiate swamps, field ambulances are posted minutes away.

Evacuation helicopters and rescue boats are on standby and are constantly advised of changing conditions.

Before students enter the water, divers check out conditions. An elaborate system to monitor weather and water conditions and depths exists at every step in the exercise.

We started on the stationary rappel tower, lowering ourselves to the mock “skids� of a Huey.

Then it was brain bucket, rucksack and “ON RAPPLE,” “ON BELAY.” One hoped the “student” pilot kept that bird steady (only one pilot was observed jolting the Huey upward when a Ranger rappelled out the door…the rope pulled from the belay man and the Ranger student did a 10’ free fall to the ground…but no harm done, and too quick for a photo.).

Terrain appreciation for the fact that there did exist some dry parts to Florida…not much, and none we spent much time “appreciating.”

We did receive, however, in addition to snake safety instruction, the following safety warning about alligators: “Rangers, if you hear the bellow of an alligator while conducting a movement through the swamps (always at zero dark thirty), it is telling you that you are too close to his/her territory…

Hence, a territorial bellow. Accordingly, Rangers you will turn on a 90 degree azimuth from your route of march, move 200 meters, turn back in the direction of march, move another 200 meters, then turn back towards your original route and move 200 meters. Resume your patrol along your original route and don’t lose your pace count.” WTF??? Alligator bellow: utube: https://youtu.be/l3rzkrm98J0?t=6

The Florida that still makes me cringe. Entering the swamps during twilight, knowing we will still be walking until early morning up to our chest in swamp water (pocket Bible, Ranger HB and camera were all in waterproof bags sitting on top of my head under my patrol cap)…both HB and Bible adorn my law firm bookcase still. Then we had the fun of crossing the Yellow River on a one-rope bridge when the water was too deep.

The only time I have engaged in chewing tobacco. Even chewing it I fell asleep walking and veered away from my patrol, hitting a branch, waking up, and seeing the cat eyes of the fellow Ranger student over to my right and further in the woods. Another phew as I “self-corrected” so as not to separate the patrol. Head count anyone?

ZODIACS!! The water was still cold out there on the ocean in March 1979, but bearable. We fumbled around like the video you see of SEALS in BUDS training (we had smaller waves). Then it was a waterborne operation down the river. We were all sporting our brand new “Florida” head shave taken care of at Benning during our 8-hour break between Mountain and Florida phase.

Big thank you to Tim Glenn. I served as the rudder man during the movement and watched my M16 fall over the edge of the Zodiac. In a panic I yelled to the RI in the front of the boat as I did not feel the dummy cord tug due to the life vest. When he yelled back asking what was going on, Tim quietly lifted my M-16 out of the water still attached to its dummy cord. My reply to the RI, “great day for a water movement Sergeant.” Phew!

Airmobile operation, Florida. Pina in upper left brushing his teeth. I recall they let us light a fire that morning. As PL I made sure my “chalk” did not have an RI on it. I had a $20 bill wrapped inside my dog tags

to pay to the Huey crew to say thanks for the pogey bait we anticipated. We got on the bird. Imagine a giant Ranger student, i.e., Tim Glenn, all 8’ tall of him and 6’ shoulder width, staring at the crew chief and asking for the pogey bait. The sergeant just about backed up between the pilot and co-pilot and said “we forgot to bring any this time.” I had just about unwrapped by $20 bill. I stopped. I slowly re-wrapped it. False alarm.

Lower left could be a profile of Jim Moon. Pina, Munch, Moon, Glenn, Cage, Orloff, McClendon and Christiani (among others) were all either in the squad or platoon.

Florida Departure and Back at Ft. Benning. Leaving Florida (long snooze to Benning).

Outprocessing; CIF turn-in. Time to enjoy pogey bait. A number of classmates are pictured here. Find yourself!!

Post graduation‌.Ranger Tab in hand. Last photo leaving Harmony Church. The last time I saw it, end of March 1979!

Ranger Class #4-79. The 100% Ranger Class. If you made it through the Mountain Phase, every Ranger Student received their Tab in Florida. It was noted as a rarity. Congratulations to all my fellow Rangers, whether class #4-79 or other classes. Enjoy the memories; don’t have nightmares.

About the author, because I have some other photos. I spent the summer after Yearling year sent by my Tac, Maj Johnnie Walker, ‘62 (E-1) to the Defense Race Relations Institute (DRRI) as the battalion cadet rep (one per battalion-12 of us at Patrick AFB), just outside Cocoa Beach. I still think he thought of it as punishment. As part of DRRI, he also scheduled me for jump school (#45-76). This, however, meant I had no opportunity for CTLT, and maybe two weeks of leave for the summer. I loved both jump school and DRRI (and took in a Jethro Tull concert in Tampa driven over by a ’76 guy on faculty at DRRI).

As a result, I convinced my new Tac, CPT Jerry Morelock, ’69 (A-4), that missing CTLT was serious.

We had a dialog about me doing CTLT the summer of 1977. He said “fine.” I said, “well, I did jump school last year.” He said, “okay, how about CTLT with the 82nd at Ft. Bragg.” I suggested I had done some homework on this, and there existed one airborne infantry company at Ft. Wainwright, AK, C Co (Airborne), 4/9th Inf. (Manchus), 172nd Bde. He said, “okay.” I said, “well sir, I am not quite done. If I do a four-week CTLT I will come back mid-cycle for Beast or Buckner and simply end up on a committee to fill out the remaining time period.” He agreed. I asked, “how about an extended CTLT for two months in Alaska, as I will be an Infantry 2LT in 365 days.” He agreed. Accordingly, my Firstie summer was spent with an extended CTLT for two months in Alaska with C Co. (Airborne), 4/9th Inf. (Manchus), 172nd Brigade at Ft. Wainwright, AK. In addition to three jumps (cherry blast pictured below) and a Hollywood Chinook blast on July 4 (courtesy of the battalion commander’s invite) I had the chance to get some glacier training in as well. Damn fine!

Then, as a 1LT at Ft. Lewis, WA with the 2/1st Inf. (“Always First”), 1st Bde (“Recondo”), 9th Infantry Division (“Old Reliables”), my First Sergeant (C Co.) and the First Sergeant for B Co, both ex-5th Special Forces Group (Airborne) NCOs during Vietnam, pulled me aside one day. They asked if I spoke a foreign language. I told them I had a working knowledge of Spanish. They advised me that they recruited for SF by individual tap out, and they were tapping me out. I got promoted to Captain, branch transferred to MI, attended the “Q” course and served with 10th Special Forces Group (Airborne) as an MI officer until SF became its own branch and then signed a “DF” to transfer to SF branch. The photo below precedes the authority to don the “tower of power” or “triple canopy” of the airborne tab, Ranger tab (the short tab) and SF tab (the long tab).

You wore one or the other but a full flash still signified “SF qualified.” Hence, no SF tab needed. I continued with 11th SFG(A) in the reserves and then as an IRR to Special Forces Command, Ft. Bragg, where Al Aycock’s dad served as my POC.

From being an Airborne/Ranger/Green Beret capable of leaping medium-sized buildings with but a running start I then became a chairborne lawyer these last 30 years in NH. Above is then COL Al Aycock, roomie of the year, showing off that even 20 years later I could still walk into the “GB” Club at Bragg and find someone within five minutes with whom I had served in SF…as usual, he was correct.

Respectfully submitted for your enjoyment R. James Steiner E-1/A-4 ’78 USMA