Page 26 - Bugle Issue 19 Spring 2022

4 RIFLES
4 RANGER Highlights
• Exchange one with the US Green Berets
• Unconventional Warfare Exercise 21-1
• Battalion re-designation
1 December 2021
• Exchange two with the US Green Berets
• Exercise APOLLO’S SABRE – second iteration of the UK-based Unconventional Warfare Exercise
• Establishing the Ranger Regiment
An emotional moment as The Rifles flag is lowered on
1 December 2021 in front of the Battalion and its guests
The All Arms Ranger Cadre and Course
The Ranger cap badge now worn by all students who passed the Ranger Cadre
Rangers. Lessons followed in everything from cultural awareness to close quarter battle. After a challenging live fire package, we conducted a 24-hour insertion through Kildare Forest to commence our icy final exercise, made more arduous by Storm Arwen! Despite winter’s best efforts, the successful candidates stood proudly on the Otterburn Camp helipad and, with a handshake from the Brigadier, received our Ranger berets.
The moment was bittersweet: on one hand, pride at being the first qualified Rangers; on the other, the sadness of laying aside our RIFLES berets, with all that they meant to us. We all take comfort in the knowledge once a Rifleman, always a Rifleman!
Capt Tom Lagana Team Commander
Stripped of all insignia, Ranger Candidates gathered on the morning of 3 October in Pirbright, and ahead of us lay nine weeks
of the unknown. There was the usual nervous energy you always get at the start of a course – a mixture of excitement and apprehension. We were soon in the lecture theatre for the opening address, and that felt like the last time my boots touched the floor until December!
The first two weeks of the course – the Ranger Cadre – is to identify whether students have the potential to be Rangers. The assessments began immediately; there were the usual arduous tests you might expect, but the emphasis was very much on the cognitive, not the physical. We had to be fit, that was
a given; but we also had to be able to think. An array of assessments followed in quick succession: military knowledge, language aptitude, current affairs, verbal and non-verbal reasoning, and more.
After a week’s testing, we embarked upon the patrols phase. We deployed to Salisbury
26 RIFLES The Bugle
Plain, ran a
two-miler – followed
immediately by another
two miler – then that afternoon
we ran through day and night navigation exercises before snatching a few hours’ sleep and stepping off on a 24-hour OP task. We then deployed straight onto the recce patrol, a further 36 hours tabbing across the Plain conducting tasks in a simulated conflict-torn region where we had to navigate a complex web of militias, civilians, government forces and hostile state-backed terrorists. Again, the focus was on brains, not brawn. Even when fatigued we needed to understand that direct action cannot always achieve the objective. Diplomacy, restraint, and emotional intelligence were key – a difficult proposition at 0200 when you haven’t slept for two days.
The patrol and subsequent back-brief marked the culmination of the Ranger Assessment. Those of us who were successful progressed onto the Ranger Course, where we were trained – but still assessed – as future
Diplomacy, restraint & emotional intelligence were key – a difficult proposition at 0200 when you haven’t slept for two
days
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