Confessions of a Hollywood Intel-Weenie RANGER
Thought for the day: He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. 2 Corinthians 5:15-17 (NKJV, Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson.)
I get asked the question all the time. "What was it like when you were in the Rangers?" People have heard I was an Army Ranger, that I did some "classified stuff" (which they immediately associate with the last Navy SEAL Hollywood action movie they saw), and worse, some of them remember there was a Tim Moynihan in the book/movie, Black Hawk Down. So... in the interest of full-disclosure... and because I don't want to end up on the wrong side of one of those stolen valor YouTube videos, let me set the record straight. I never served in the Ranger Battalion or Special Forces, I did not deploy to Afghanistan or Iraq, and while I spent a little over a year as an 11B (that's the Army specialty code for infantryman) in the old Army Reserve system (back in ancient times) I spent most of my active duty time as a tactical intelligence officer. I was lucky enough to go to some pretty cool schools and wear some pretty cool badges -- Airborne, Ranger and Air Assault -- so the truth is, I was what can best be described as a Hollywood Intel-Weenie Ranger.
There, I said it. It's out there, on the record and the massive weight of my non-operator status guilt is finally gone. I am free.
There, I said it. It's out there, on the record and the massive weight of my non-operator status guilt is finally gone. I am free.
Ranger Tab ready for the O Club Actually most of the good men (and women) I served with, some of whom were pretty high speed grunts, paratroopers, Special Forces and Ranger types, were kind enough to refer to me as a "high speed Intel guy" (which means I had more and cooler patches on my uniform than the average Intel guy). Meanwhile, the real intel-weenies, the kind who worked the racks all-night with headphones, slaved away as analysts in SCIFs ("SCIF" - Google it. Even Hillary Clinton doesn't know what that means, the FBI asked her) or conducted for-real CI/HUMINT ops whether it was a Cold or a Hot war, really did do some high-speed stuff... while "high speed Intel guys" (Hollywood Intel-weenie Rangers) like me strutted around the base gym in our Ranger T-shirts bragging about our bench press.
Believe me, I am not ashamed of my accomplishments. Especially Ranger School (I still wear that T-shirt... even though my wife keeps "accidentally" leaving it in the rag bin). Maybe about 3-5% of soldiers get to attend Army Ranger School. And only about half of them will make it (Before 1980 only about 35% made it -- I attended in 1990). And I had the pleasure of going when it was 72 days long and included a Desert Phase at Dugway Proving Ground. Desert Shield was on and we got stuck with 1 box lunch per day of prison fare instead of the single MRE per day usually served to candidates. Today's Ranger School candidates have it easy -- two MRE's a day and their own batman to carry their ruck for them (just kidding about the batman).
Believe me, I am not ashamed of my accomplishments. Especially Ranger School (I still wear that T-shirt... even though my wife keeps "accidentally" leaving it in the rag bin). Maybe about 3-5% of soldiers get to attend Army Ranger School. And only about half of them will make it (Before 1980 only about 35% made it -- I attended in 1990). And I had the pleasure of going when it was 72 days long and included a Desert Phase at Dugway Proving Ground. Desert Shield was on and we got stuck with 1 box lunch per day of prison fare instead of the single MRE per day usually served to candidates. Today's Ranger School candidates have it easy -- two MRE's a day and their own batman to carry their ruck for them (just kidding about the batman).
Okay, truth be told, there's more to my story than just Ranger School. And I did do some pretty cool things after I got out, when I was a DOD civilian and defense contractor, but I don't want to go there. If I told you about that stuff I'd have to kill you.
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