[Peace-discuss] (no subject)

[Dlind49 at aol.com]

These Rambo types are flat nuts. They think that they can go to battle, kill 
anything that moves, and survive without injury. They think that they have 
adequate combat education and training based on video games They think that 
their equipment is operational while GAO and concerned military tell them 
otherwise.   Simply, they have been pumped up so much they do not know 
reality.  


December 23, 2002
New Rangers Say They're Ready for Iraq
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

 
Filed at 3:32 a.m. ET

FORT BENNING, Ga. (AP) -- For two months, they were on the move constantly, 
ate little and slept less -- learning what it took to become a member of one 
of the most storied military units in U.S. history.

Yet if the recent past for 119 of the newest Army Rangers was grueling, their 
immediate future -- possible combat in Iraq -- is no less difficult.

``No one wants to go, but if we're called up we'll do it to the best of our 
ability,'' said Marine Staff Sgt. James Slife, 28, his wife by his side at 
the Rangers' graduation ceremony Friday.

Many of the latest Army Rangers will return to their military units. Others 
are members of the Army's 75th Ranger Regiment based at Fort Benning along 
with the training school led by the 4th Army Ranger Training Brigade.

During their two-month training, Iraq was constantly in the back of their 
minds, but seldom discussed.

``Just focus on your training,'' the soldiers were told when they asked about 
the situation in Iraq.

They became antsy when word leaked in that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was 
going to let in weapons inspectors, Slife said. ``We knew something was about 
to start going down,'' he said.

Without newspapers or television, and only an occasional letter to link them 
with the world, the trainees wondered what was going on -- and when they 
might become involved.

``If we have to go, we have to go,'' said Army Capt. Jason Glemser, 30, of 
Colmar, Penn. ``If we do go in, we go in to do the job we didn't finish the 
last time.''

Army Spc. Daniel Zimmer, 31, of St. Louis Park, Minn., said he learned to 
rely on his fellow soldiers: ``They will keep you alive in a combat 
situation,'' he said.

Officers and enlisted personnel became equals, each facing a peer review.

``It doesn't matter,'' said Lt. Col. Dave Pound. ``You're both there to get 
through the course.''

Zimmer said he lost 37 pounds during the training because some days they were 
only given about 2,000 to 3,000 calories. The men often moved many miles for 
days at a time. They were only allowed to sleep a few hours per night.

``It was 62 days of hell, and now it's finally over,'' Zimmer said.

Rangers are light infantry soldiers trained to move in small units to ambush 
the enemy or conduct reconnaissance missions. They are often used for 
missions that require lightning strikes.

The Rangers were the first soldiers to scale the cliffs at Omaha Beach on 
D-Day during World War II. They parachuted into Panama in 1989 and went to 
Somalia in 1992-93. During that mission, 18 Americans -- including six 
Rangers from Fort Benning -- were killed in a failed attempt to capture a 
Somali warlord.

Rangers are put through punishing training that includes five-mile runs at 
six to seven minutes per mile, 15- to 30-mile marches with 90-pound rucksacks 
and at least one parachute jump each week. They practice urban warfare in 
mock villages.

``If you want to go with a known quantity, go with the Rangers,'' said 
Retired Maj. Gen. Kenneth Leuer, the graduation speaker.

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