I went through an accelerated course at Recondo School in November of 1967 with my platoon from F/51 and one from E/20. We did it all except for the patrol at the end, skipping the patrols so that the companies could be fully operational sooner. We are not entitled to the Recondo patch even though we completed all requirements except for that training patrol and our job was running Recondo missions.
In 1969, I was Team Leader of TM 17, with O/75, with the 3rd Bde of the 82nd. We were a Ranger company, but I never saw Ranger School and am not entitled to the Ranger tab. I believe Duncan Hunter is a Ranger in the same way.
That’s not like some clown claiming to have been Rambo when he wasn’t even Gomer Pyle. It’s a strange sickness, this wannabe thing.
Michael Frazier
I never got my certificate for completion of the “Ranger Correspondence Course.” All those weekends doing pushups under a cold shower while spraying myself in the face with CS wasted!
Kudos to you!
That was wholey a differant time back then, though. I’ve been reading about the Lima Company, 101st LRRPs, and the writer makes it sound like a lot of training was done without a standard school or anything like that.
But it’s very true in my time now that any training leaves a trace.