Ranger Knifemakers

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jbravo

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I was never a Ranger, and I apologize to my Ranger brothers in advance. I was lucky enough to serve with a few over the years, though.

To help clear up the TOTAL and COMPLETE misinformation seen elsewhere on these otherwise fine boards:

If you attend and graduate from Army Ranger School, you earn the right to wear a Tab, and are "Ranger Qualified".

If you serve in a 75th Battalion, then you are "scrolled" and are a Ranger. If you serve long enough, you'll eventually get a chance to earn a Tab. But you are a BattBoy and entitled to be called a Ranger - because you ARE one.

A TAB is a Qualification; a SCROLL is a way of life.

And if you don't have a scroll or a tab, don't talk $#!t about your betters who do have one.
 
So does that mean that if you serve under an SF command in the support role, you're considered a special forces guy?
 
I saw plenty of lightning bolts at DLI, but they weren't 'special forces guys' AFAIK, 97 series who were individually deployable and attached to groups. I had people in my platoon at AIT with SOCOM on their orders, and Guard missions with SF lined up, but they weren't blanketheads by any stretch. Rangers and SF had briefs to try and pick up people. I dunno, I haven't been anywhere yet.

An Airborne E-6 with 12 years in didn't have much good to say about Ranger school and the politics of it, but he was an inch and a half shorter than when he enlisted, and spent most of his career at Ft. Polk. He was just a bit bitter :D
 
A good buddy of mine was deployed with 2/75 literally for YEARS. I never saw him around. I caught up with him at Ft. Lewis when I finally ended up there after EOD school. He never got a chance to go to Ranger school, but Good God he could call for fire from ANYWHERE. He got tired of deploying, never seeing his wife and kids, and become a Warrant. It's a shame you can't earn the tab through sheer experience, cause he deserved it.

It was fun to watch him run the airfield in full gear while I did EOD PT, which mainly consisted of a short run, (more of a jog) followed by coffee and cigarettes. Good times.
 
I could care less if Strider holds himself forth as a Ranger or the Easter Bunny's bodyguard.

It's the false claims and intimations of spook service, combat time, and this latest bullshit Somalia plea bargain that intrigue me.

jbravo, haven't you lost enough face/cash over Mick's alleged integrity yet?

A knife from an undisputed Ranger is but a phone call away to Justin Gingrich.
 
Well done Jbravo and thank you for your 9 years of service in the Army and Marine Corps as a sniper.

BTW, he stood up like a man and paid the cash. Many others would have tried to weasel out of paying.
 
While I appreciate the sentiment, I can't take credit for service in the Army, as Lifter can. I only served in the Marines, for 14+ years.

And, my post was simply to educate on a point that was getting repeatedly mangled nearby. Naturally, a squid had to screw up even that by bringing his own inadequacies to the fore.

I guess my post wasn't clear enough: on this particular point, put up with your own DD214 or STFU. Talk about legal wrangles to your pointy-headed heart's content, but if you have not BTDT don't diss those who have.
 
I never knew a Ranger who did not receive the tab. Scrolled just meant you worked for the Rangers. If you worked for the Rangers and then left and worked in an infantry unit afterwards and never received the tab, you could not call yourself a Ranger. A Ranger is someone who goes through the training, not RIP, and receives the tab for their qualifications. The tab is not given freely to just anyone, it is not a "I was there" award, it is a Qualification Tab. Anyone can work for the Rangers, without the Tab you are still a wanna-be.

If anyone has any inquires about this contact the CSM at Ranger Training Brigade, I'm sure he'll explain it better than I could.
 
Another quick note; if you were an Infantryman Ranger, your MOS would be 11B1V. If you were an Infantryman Airborne Qualified you were a 11B1P. The V is for Ranger Qualified. Even if you were sent to an Infantry Unit after a Ranger unit, your MOS would still be 11B1V as long as you were tabbed. Even if you were kicked out of the Rangers (Which I knew a Specialist at Fort Lewis who was), as long as you completed the school, your MOS would still remain 11B1V. If you do not have the V in your MOS, YOU WERE NOT A RANGER. A scroll does not make a RANGER.
 
jbravo sez:

I guess my post wasn't clear enough: on this particular point, put up with your own DD214 or STFU. Talk about legal wrangles to your pointy-headed heart's content, but if you have not BTDT don't diss those who have.
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My DD214 wouldn't spark your interest. Reflagging Kuwaiti oil tankers and running the Iran-Iraq War's PG gauntlet wasn't a combat op since only a few sailors bought the farm doing it.

BTDT?!? Yes, it is true that I never DEP'd my way into a guaranteed shot with the 2/75. Never did BUDS for the Navy either. Just boot, the fleet, and out to college.

However, if you are insinuating that it doesn't take any courage to serve aboard a ship, at all hours in all weather, even in "peacetime," I take exception.

There is danger in boarding strange ships. There is danger in standing watch looking for magnetic mines in a confined waterway. There is danger in letting an armed fighter come in on your ship because the ROEs forbid shooting it down before fire is taken. There is danger in armed jihadis taking motorboats out on suicide missions against one's vessel. There is danger in rigging refueling stations with steel cables under 36,000 pounds of tension. There is danger in dealing with live steam. Fires. Helicopters. Flight deck ops. On and on.

It takes as much courage to stand in the bullseye as it does to put the enemy in the crosshairs. It takes a form of courage to stand an above deck watch in 35 foot seas. It takes a form of courage to win an onboard poker jackpot with three fours and garbage. It takes a form of fortitude to take some of those winnings and hire three sensational Thai whores for a week. That's a lot of baht.

What would you know about it?
 
It was my privlege to live aboard several of the Gator Navy's finest while deployed in my time as a Marine, both enlisted and officer. I never then nor now question the bravery of our USN brothers.

I do question where you get off to question a Ranger's quals.

Grayscouts - we will just have to agree to disagree. Every Ranger I've ever spoken to about it has been very adamant that: the school that alot of men go through confers a qualification only, while serving in a line company in the 75th confers the right to be a Ranger.

My Marine friends who graduated from Ranger school were "Rangers" to me, and might be "Rangers" to you, too. But to men in the 75th Reg., they are not Rangers and never will be. And they are the ones who get to decide.
 
I would only ask you to note that the main thrust of my criticism of Mick Strider has nothing to do with whether he declares himself a Ranger or others consider him so. I have no brand in that fire other than a stated preference for Mr. Gingrich's knives.

What I do not fathom is Mick's need to puff his resume. I readily grant that no one strenuously objects to him calling himself a Ranger. To me, that quibble is not a BFD. What "seeing the elephant" has to do with making a hard use knife has always escaped me. Plenty of fine men have made such blades without claiming to have gutted people.

So, the aspect I will not let go of so easily is the kaleidoscopic spook/combat stories he has told. You yourself got slipped up on that excrement. I very much appreciate you taking your lumps for that Waterloo, but I too read your comments about it at BL and don't recall seeing any direct thanks, or explanation, from the source of your embarrassment either. Maybe you don't expect any, and that's cool if it's the case, your motives and such are no business of mine. I'll just leave it at this: Many a lesser wannabe has been chewed up and spit out for way less grandiose posing than he has apparently done.

C'mon jbravo, are you gonna tell me you believe the Somalia plea bargin story, given what you know about how the Armed Forces truly operate and the chronology involved?
 
Let's leave my beliefs to another day or thread. The topic title on this one, though, is pretty clear: who is a Ranger. You agree with me on that.

Ernie Emerson makes some fantastic tactical knives, yet never served a day in his life. And then there is MCPO John Richter, a real deal SEAL, whose fantastic knives are the exact opposite of tactical. Wish I owned knives from both of them! But their service, or lack thereof, doesn't NECESSARILY translate into a better blade by either. An object lesson for all.
 
If you are going to talk the talk, you should walk the walk.

The Ranger Creed
Recognizing that I volunteered as a Ranger, fully knowing the hazards of my chosen profession, I will always endeavor to uphold the prestige, honor, and high esprit de corps of my Ranger Regiment.

Acknowledging the fact that a Ranger is a more elite soldier who arrives at the cutting edge of battle by land, sea, or air, I accept the fact that as a Ranger my country expects me to move farther, faster and fight harder than any other soldier.

Never shall I fail my comrades. I will always keep myself mentally alert, physically strong and morally straight and I will shoulder more than my share of the task whatever it may be. One-hundred-percent and then some.

Gallantly will I show the world that I am a specially selected and well-trained soldier. My courtesy to superior officers, neatness of dress and care of equipment shall set the example for others to follow.

Energetically will I meet the enemies of my country. I shall defeat them on the field of battle for I am better trained and will fight with all my might. Surrender is not a Ranger word. I will never leave a fallen comrade to fall into the hands of the enemy and under no circumstances will I ever embarrass my country.

Readily will I display the intestinal fortitude required to fight on to the Ranger objective and complete the mission though I be the lone survivor.

RANGERS LEAD THE WAY!
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Living up to that standard is tough. It's a lifestyle. It's an obligation.
 
So does that mean that if you serve under an SF command in the support role, you're considered a special forces guy?
Click to expand...

No it doesn't. Hence many "rangers" who consider themselves "special forces" are wrong.

a SCROLL is a way of life.
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Kind of sounds like one of those one liners out of a cigar afficionados :D magazines. Owning such and such isn't just owning it, it's a way of life.
 
jbravo said:
I was never a Ranger, and I apologize to my Ranger brothers in advance. I was lucky enough to serve with a few over the years, though.

To help clear up the TOTAL and COMPLETE misinformation seen elsewhere on these otherwise fine boards:

If you attend and graduate from Army Ranger School, you earn the right to wear a Tab, and are "Ranger Qualified".

If you serve in a 75th Battalion, then you are "scrolled" and are a Ranger. If you serve long enough, you'll eventually get a chance to earn a Tab. But you are a BattBoy and entitled to be called a Ranger - because you ARE one.

A TAB is a Qualification; a SCROLL is a way of life.

And if you don't have a scroll or a tab, don't talk $#!t about your betters who do have one.
Click to expand...

Normally I do not involve myself in these ugly flamefests.But this I could not pass by.

Do you,jbravo,really believe that an army Ranger is somehow a "better" person then everyone else and therefor immune from critism from us mere mortals? I guess in your view a marine sniper is "better" then an air force communication tech? Because that was me many years ago.

Perhaps you,jbravo,could enlighten me as to which services and specialties you feel I,ak645,should bow down before.I would not want to offend one of my "betters".

Andy K
 
Why are there so many assholes who try to put words in other's mouths?

I never implied Navy guys weren't brave. I never said Air Force comm techs aren't highly valued members of the Armed Forces.

All I said was anyone who wanted to badmouth a veteran's service had better put up his own bona fides (DD214) first. Because it is unseemly for a non-hacker puke to talk trash about someone who put his neck on the line.

Green, blue, sky blue, camo - all the same team.
 
Ernie Emerson makes some fantastic tactical knives, yet never served a day in his life. And then there is MCPO John Richter, a real deal SEAL, whose fantastic knives are the exact opposite of tactical. Wish I owned knives from both of them! But their service, or lack thereof, doesn't NECESSARILY translate into a better blade by either. An object lesson for all.
Click to expand...

Well said.
 
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