Come Along To Ranger School
And See How The Army's
Toughest Soldiers Get Made
One of the quickest ways to show how tough you are in the
Army is to wear a Ranger tab. In the two months it takes to
earn, a soldier's mental and physical endurance is pushed to
the absolute limits. He survives on one meal a day and a few
hours of sleep per night.
He arrives at Ft. Benning in the best shape of his life and will
lose an average of 20 pounds if he stays the full course.
The Discovery Channel's "Surviving the Cut" shows the 61-
day course at Fort Benning and offers the world a glimpse at
some of the toughest military training around. The attrition
rate at Ranger School is intense and less than one-in-three
achieve the coveted tab.
But that exclusivity carries certain privileges. At the sight of a
Ranger tab on another soldier's uniform, it's not uncommon
for new recruits to say: "He's a Ranger? They kill
motherf*ckers!" Or something very similar.

338 Ranger candidates begin the 61 day
course long before the sun's up — and
won't stop for another 20 hours

It's a non-stop schedule including brutal
hand-to-hand combat tests

Strength tests where they carry another
soldier 100-yards have a practical design
as well — this could be the move that
saves anyone of their lives on the
battlefield

The goal is to drive the troops to
exhaustion with moves like this bear crawl
— and to see how far they can keep going
when they think they can go no further

That's why they run to the obstacle course
— those lights are L shaped flashlights
clipped to their uniforms with red filters to
preserve night vision

Each soldier is assigned a partner — a
battle buddy — to emphasize the
importance of teamwork

But in the end it's up to the individual to
overcome obstacles like this — even when
it's so cold hands go numb and want to let
go

Weakness is pounced upon and punished
— but no one quits first day, they quit
when they get back to the barracks and
realize how brutal it actually was

Almost 40 guys have washed out by the
morning of Day 2 — those remaining
promptly confront great heights and cold
water

The guys needs to climb a ladder to the
narrow bridge — walk naturally across and
shimmy down a zip-line on the far side

Some guys don't expect the heights and
start dropping out — it won't be the last
time today

No matter how well they make it across,
everyone must drop into the frigid water
wearing full gear and prove they can swim

Once everyone completes the course, they
take their 60 pounds of gear and begin the
15 mile march back to the barracks. Not
all of them make it.

The march takes them into Day 3, while
weeding out the "weak and faint-hearted"

After a few hours sleep — 232 soldiers line
up for another day — 106 members shy of
their original number. Nobody talks about
the guys that are gone.

Today is the last day of the 'Benning
Phase' where traditionally 60 percent of
potential Rangers wash-out

From Ft. Benning they ruck it to the
'Mountain Phase' at the remote Camp
Merrill near Dahlonega, Georgia

Aside from physical challenges like
rappelling 100 feet with an 80-pound-
pack ,the remote location brings intense
isolation on top of extreme hardship

And there are hardships aplenty —Many
of the guys chew coffee grounds and even
put Tabasco sauce in their eyes

After more than two weeks in the
mountains another 91 guys have quit or
been dropped and from the original 338
only 141 remain

A month later soldiers that are left board a
flight to the Everglades for the 'Swamp'
portion of the course

This phase develops skills necessary to
survive in rainforests and swamps, in part,
by teaching soldiers how to deal with
reptiles and identify venomous snakes

Finally, when they're out of the swamp —
10-day Field Training Exercise (FTX) begins
— it's like the Final Exam

The exercise brings an extensively planned
raid on the troops location

At this point, the students are essentially
sleepwalking, relying on training and
instincts to carry them through

Bursts of adrenaline help — like this
gunfight where the guys extract a hostage
from an occupied building

If for some reason an instructor fails a
member of the group at this point — the
trainee has to re-take it until he does it
perfectly