Tab or Scroll – What Makes a Ranger?

It all comes down to being committed to your organization and committing to the values of the Ranger Creed. I spent a year in Ranger Regt. I arrived tabbed SSG, and it was obvious that I was different than the home grown 'Batt Boys' and was referred to as an import. The way I saw it at the time, being tabbed and not in Regiment was like being airborne and never being in an airborne unit. After I left Regiment for flight school I've found that whenever I run into tabbed aviators there is a camaraderie there because of a shared experience. You know something about each other. Being part of the Ranger Regt. is a HUGE accomplishment, and so is attending the Ranger School and being awarded your tab. Remember, however, neither Maj. Robert Rogers nor Col. Darby had a Ranger tab. If we can understand the differences in culture between being a school trained Ranger leader and being a member of the Ranger Regiment, we can honor both with pride.

Ranger School is a leadership school. Ranger Regiment is a way of life. I'm not sure someone can answer this without both serving in Ranger Regiment and graduating Ranger School. I considered myself a Ranger upon graduating RIP in 1993. I considered myself a leader after graduating Ranger School in 1994.

A Ranger is someone who is a member of a Ranger battalion. A Ranger qualified soldier wears the tab.

Tab and scroll. Serving in the Ranger Regiment is more difficult than 60 days of school. RLTW!

What makes a Ranger? That's simple:

Heart

From an outsider looking in (and listening in on many conversations SGM Tarancon alludes to). I have worked alongside tab wearers (in a number of MOSs), and scroll wearers (All IN).

The arguments are generally emotionally based, so I would expect to address this from an emotional standpoint.

It is not the Tab, nor the Scroll that makes one a Ranger in these discussions, it is the conduct of the individual. How do they treat their fellow Soldiers, What missions have they participated in, Do they really live the Ranger Creed? Sure a prerequisite is a Tab, you have to pass Ranger School to get into a Ranger Battalion. However, if the truth were to be told there are individuals in those same battalions, with a Tab AND a Scroll who these individuals will say do not deserve to be called a Ranger.

It goes beyond patches, tabs, scrolls, and accouterments, it is about character, commitment, professionalism, and integrity.

Ranger Tab or Scroll thoughts:
- Where one stands on this issue depends upon where one sits.
- Kind of like arguing over who is the best basketball player or baseball player of all time. Everyone will have an opinion, all opinions can be supported by evidence, and no one position is absolutely right.
- History. Recommend all do a google search on "Ranger Regiment" to understand the history and use of Rangers since before the Revolutionary War to present. From this a person should understand why we have Rangers and what they are used for.
- Ranger Tab. A person who has attended and successfully completed the 68 day, three phase (used to be 72 day, four phase) Ranger Course conducted at Fort Benning, GA; Dalanaga, GA; and Eglin AFB, FL resulting in award of the Ranger Tab.
- Ranger Scroll. A person who is assigned to the operational Ranger Regiment (three subordinate battalions).
- This leads to four different possibilities (no tab/no scroll, no tab/scroll, tab/no scroll, tab/scroll). Is a non tabbed person assigned to the Ranger Regt a Ranger? Is a tabbed person not in the Ranger Regiment a Ranger?
- Long story short, I believe that people who only consider only the scroll to be Rangers are thinking tactically and not strategically. One of the reasons to have Rangers is to have a seed corn of highly competent Soldiers who can permeate the rest of the force. This is a strategic issue. The other reason to have Rangers is to have an elite force specialized skills that enable them to perform a variety of special operations missions, including direct action, airfield seizure, airborne and air assaults, reconnaissance, and personnel recovery. This is a tactical level issue. It takes both but not both at the same time on the same individual.

My opinion, unqualified as it may be, would be that the tab makes one "Ranger Qualified", while the scroll represents someone who lives what a Ranger really is.

For me you have to have served in Regiment to call yourself a Ranger. Just like you have to go through the "Q" course to become Special Forces and BUDs to become a SEAL and Green Platoon to be a Night stalker. Now yes there are "V" and "Q" sqi that are coded as "Ranger" however to receive the "U" sqi you have to be in the 75th Ranger Regiment, the only Ranger unit in the military.
Now I'm saying this having served in the regular army and Ranger Regiment. Becoming Ranger qualified was one of my proudest moments in my career and all the guys in my squad SF, paratroops and legs will always be my Ranger buddies.

Some in the battalion would say you need both. You can be in Rangers without tab then go to school and you can go to the school without ever going to the battalion.