How yould you describe someone who is Ranger-tabbed, versus serving in one of the ranger regiments?

Great question. Are you a Ranger if not assigned to a Ranger unit or a Ranger position on the UMR? If not, would you be say a Ranger qualified infantry/armor/intelligence officer?

How are LRRPs, manned, these days? I think they are called LRS today. We had M Company, 75th with the 199th. They took companies from the 75th and attached to Infantry units of Division and separate brigades. MACV had a school to qualify them because they had to be airborne rangers. Because they lived a life of love and danger. :-) Do they still do that?

Easy. If they served in Ranger Regiment, they are a Ranger.
If they just went to the school, they are Ranger Qualified.

Someone needs to go back to school and learn how to write. It's would, not yould.

How does your friend "down the road" look at it ?

As a former enlisted member who served both in the 1st Battalion, and also attended the Ranger School. The two are both mutually exclusive, and inclusive of the Ranger ethos. I served prior to the current regimental system, and as such my views are from that era. The members of my BN were some of the finest soldiers I ever knew and served with. We were trained to the level of excellence to perform the missions assigned to us, with professionalism and ability see the mission completed successfully. The Ranger School is the finest leadership course in the US military. It teach how to effectively lead under stressful situations, and how to perform specific patrolling missions. It is supposed to prepare EM's, NCO's and officers with the knowledge to return to their units and train their subordinates an peers in these techniques, as well as how to establish and maintain a standard that is higher than just "the standard". Individuals who are assigned to Ranger BN's learn this as well, but over a longer time. I will close this by saying that at my last NCO school attendance, my small group leader, during my graduation counseling, reminded me to be a Ranger Tab bearer, not a Tab wearer. This was the reminder of the training of the force mentioned above, to my subordinates as well as my peers.
AATW, RLTW!

...one of my colleagues, who graduated from Ranger School in (year), and was assigned to an Infantry Battalion in (year)...

Having been in the Signal Corps MOS and assigned to the 1st ID (Mech) I have always thought there is a distinct difference between being a Ranger and being Ranger qualified (JUST having been through Ranger school). I think there is a difference between knowing the skills and performing the skills. This became especially true to me after the "Blackhawk Down" situation and more so when my son-in-law joined the 1/75th and entered some combat situations. To me those men are Rangers and not JUST Ranger qualified.

mmmmmm

I would describe him as Ranger tabbed.