Posted on May 27, 2022
How can someone earn a Ranger School slot as a non-combat Army National Guard soldier?
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I'm a foreigner who just got Green Card and enlisted this year. My goal is to become an infantry soldier, and I would like to earn that tab as soon as I can. However I'm in National Guard as a 88M Trucker. Is there any chance for people like me to get that Ranger School slot in the first few years? I will start my Basic Training in July, and come back in late November. I plan on doing 2 years of ROTC in January next year.
Does anyone know how to improve the chance of getting Ranger School slot for people like me? I want to wear that tab no later than 3 years from now.
Thank you very much.
Very respectfully yours,
PFC Ran Pan
Does anyone know how to improve the chance of getting Ranger School slot for people like me? I want to wear that tab no later than 3 years from now.
Thank you very much.
Very respectfully yours,
PFC Ran Pan
Edited >1 y ago
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 9
Goddam, I like your goal oriented mindset! Gentlemen like yourself are exactly how foreigners like yourself made America into the American dream.
I will tell you that your chance of going to Ranger School, in the NG, as a non-combat arms person, is almost impossible. If you were combat arms in the NG, or non-combat arms in the Regular Army, that would be a realistic goal. There just are very few, maybe zero, paths to Ranger School as a NG 88M.
You may very well be able to get a chance to go to Ranger School at ROTC if you are at the top of your class. However, you will need to be a citizen first to go to ROTC, because ROTC is a commissioning program and you must be a citizen to be an officer in the US military.
Second, you eill
I will tell you that your chance of going to Ranger School, in the NG, as a non-combat arms person, is almost impossible. If you were combat arms in the NG, or non-combat arms in the Regular Army, that would be a realistic goal. There just are very few, maybe zero, paths to Ranger School as a NG 88M.
You may very well be able to get a chance to go to Ranger School at ROTC if you are at the top of your class. However, you will need to be a citizen first to go to ROTC, because ROTC is a commissioning program and you must be a citizen to be an officer in the US military.
Second, you eill
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1SG Ernest Stull
The issue is not what part of the ARMY he is in but who gets first pick for RANGER school. The NG is just as ARMY as anyone else. The problem is the fact he is not full time. If his unit will pay for him to go to Ranger school, then he may be able to get ahead of the class. His other problem is the down time between Basic and AIT. I am not disagreeing with your assessment of his chances but to say its ZERO is not a fair evaluation, I hope we can agree to disagree. Hoah.
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CSM John Mead
1SG Ernest Stull - I won't question your knowledge on the subject if you have first hand experience. But, having spent time with the combat arms division at DA and also screening applications like the one this soldier mentioned, I'll tell you that it can be quite difficult to get a school seat. It seems officers get a big share of them and then 98% of them don't spend any time in one of the Batts or in a ranger slot within some of the other infantry units having requirements. While the occasional dentist or whatever might make it into a class, those that manage the allocations are very stringent on who gets them. An 11B in a Ranger Batt will get a seat before a 88M in a support role. Simply the nature of the beast. To do otherwise is not prudent and goes against mission requirements. I only wish that they would eliminate the opportunities for 5 jump chumps who simply want a badge or young lieutenants or captains that go to ranger school only because it looks good in their 201. My opinion but I've been there, done that, and got a t-shirt and hate the ticket punchers.
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CSM John Mead
1SG Ernest Stull - Maybe not a ZERO chance, as you say, but I wouldn't bet any money on it. Regardless of 88M's in support units for Ranger Batts, he's NG and that's the major hurdle. No NG command will pay for a school slot with a high washout rate without even having requirements for Ranger qualified truck drivers.
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CSM Thomas Ray
The only slots for Ranger school that I know of in the NG are in the SF units, 19th or 20 SFG.
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Welcome to the USA, and Thank You For Doing it the Right Way, as a Former 88m Both NG and Active it can be a great Job, You Will have A Job That Every Combat MOS Depends on , You Will Be Hauling Everything From Food and Water To Ammo and if you get assigned to a HET unit Tanks and Other Wheeled Vehicles, You Could Also Be Driving Wounded and Dead Back To The Rear Area
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SPC James Neidig
CPT (Join to see) I Love Driving Wheeled Vehicle’s, Everything From a Hummve up to The HET It Gives Me a Sense of Freedom.
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CPT (Join to see)
Bachman-Turner Overdrive Roll On Down The Highway with Lyrics in Description
Track 3 from their third album “Not Fragile” released in 1974 copyright Mercury Records. The album hit No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and at that time, their pre...
SPC James Neidig BTO that! And for sure —> the trucker *can do* mindset = hard to beat.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4UScsnxvPw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4UScsnxvPw
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I'm pretty sure that your chances are slim, being a mechanic...and not active duty. Those open slots for Ranger School are very few. When I was an 11B E-5 in active duty, it still wasn't a guarantee. Our unit used to only get a handful of openings for the whole Batallion.
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Take baby steps bro. And make sure you ask yourself if you wanna get tabbed or you want a scroll. Being tabbed just shows you went through the school. Getting a scroll means you are a Ranger serving in Bn. While you may have a tab, you're not a ranger you're Ranger qualified. Going into Bn. Will get you the the high speed training and weapons and deployments that some soldiers want. My advice would be to finish your basic and AIT, go active duty and see if you can get yourself a slot in RASP. I came in under an option 40 and was given a guarantee that I'd get to RIP after airborne. But I also came in as an 11B. Get through IDAT and then explore your options for active duty. Or go to college and get your commission. The most respected officers are ones who started as enlisted soldiers. Go active and with a commission and you'll definitely have a better chance at becoming a ranger. As for just getting tabbed, I'm not sure how that will work. The other posts mentioned getting your citizenship and they're right. You can't be commissioned without US citizenship. By the way, you may hate basic, but when you look back you're gonna miss it and love every second of it. You build life long bonds there. As you progress through your career you'll have men and women that are closer to you then your own siblings. Best of luck to you.
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SGT Todd Swartzman
Forgot about that one, Ranger cadre came by and offered my cohort option to go to Ranger bat right after jump school - about 50% signed up, me being on orders to Italy already said no thanks.
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SFC Jaysin Smith
SGT Todd Swartzman You missed out bro, the brotherhood is tighter the almost any other and you'll forever be one of the elite. But shit when I was younger and they gave me a choice between some hot Italian ass and another school, you know which head I'd be thinking with. I never got anything good like Italy. I always had some shithole post overseas, in some desert somewhere, with sand in places I didn't know sand can get into and banging the pers. Ops chicks. Oh well, I can dream can't I?
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Great aspirations, however as it has been already mentioned before, getting a Ranger school slot while in the NG is not impossible, but is as a non-combat arms type. Additionally, you make it seem like you're all about that tab and not what it means to be a Ranger. It's .ike going to jump school but not ever wanting to be assigned to an airborne slot. I suggest that you go active duty, infantry with an assignment to one of the Ranger Battalions. That will almost guarantee you a school slot. But mind you, it's about being a Ranger, not the freaking tab. They'll uncover your intentions early on and then show you the door.
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I offer you advise from a captain I worked with many years ago: go airborne first. Otherwise, you end up slogging through the swamp on your way to the drop zone while you colleagues sit in a nice comfy aircraft. Then you get to slog right back out again. He learned the hard way.
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My question is, us why did you join as an 88m instead of an 11 series Many years ago as an alien with a green card with a GT score of 110 I was denied a warrant officer slot because of no citizenship(I later learned I was automatically a citizen at the age of 16 thorough my father's citizenship). Instead I became an 11C. If you had the scores to join the infantry, why didn't you?
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Sometimes you will just have to put yourself out there. Drop a schools request 4187. BUT, you had better be ready to toe the line if you get picked for RASP. Make sure you meet all the prequels before you try. GT score 110, airborne physical, land nav and so on. It will be had but nothing is impossible.
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PFC (Join to see) Some options to consider...
Get into a COMBAT ENGINEER unit (12B) and look into getting certified as COMBAT SAPPER with the engineer background. It's close to a lot of the Ranger training without the Infantry background. Some say it is tougher to earn the SAPPER patch then the ranger since it is a shorter course, but just as tough.
Combat Arms schools help, including JUMP Training to help you get fit and might open some doors for you.
Active duty is the best option to help get Ranger qualified. But a whole different level of commitment.
Finally, getting Officer qualified also helps, but requires additional training and schooling (4 year college education).
Talk to an Active duty recruiter. Don't discuss with the NG or Army Reserve Recruiters as they don't have the ability to get or move you in the direction you need to go.
Just some random thoughts...
Get into a COMBAT ENGINEER unit (12B) and look into getting certified as COMBAT SAPPER with the engineer background. It's close to a lot of the Ranger training without the Infantry background. Some say it is tougher to earn the SAPPER patch then the ranger since it is a shorter course, but just as tough.
Combat Arms schools help, including JUMP Training to help you get fit and might open some doors for you.
Active duty is the best option to help get Ranger qualified. But a whole different level of commitment.
Finally, getting Officer qualified also helps, but requires additional training and schooling (4 year college education).
Talk to an Active duty recruiter. Don't discuss with the NG or Army Reserve Recruiters as they don't have the ability to get or move you in the direction you need to go.
Just some random thoughts...
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