“Build a fire...a big one. As high as my head and as hot as the sun,” I said coldly.

“Roger, Sergeant!” The Army Private said, through chattering teeth.

He had just pulled his gear over to the cadre shed, escaping the rain and the pain of the class formation. He was the first to quit that night; we knew he wouldn’t be the last.

It was another sleeting, winter night in the Ft. Benning backwoods at Cole Range. Cole Range lies at the edge of Jamestown and Yankee roads; the intersection between hopes and dreams, and reality and suffering. Smarts, strength, and stamina are merely the price of admission at Cole Range, much more is required of everyone to make it through.

The 200 man Ranger Indoctrination Program class (RIP; now known as Ranger Assessment and Selection Program, RASP) struggled to stand at the position of attention while the wind and rain racked their bodies.

“It’s going to be a long night,” my partner said flatly.

At 6’2”, 240 lbs. of pure muscle, Andy was fast, strong, smart, and terrifying. Our platoon sergeant Ed, who helped raise me in the 2nd Ranger Battalion, looked on with approval. He is much smaller in stature, yet larger than life in presence.

Being a Ranger isn’t for everyone. The saying goes, “Not for the Weak or Faint Hearted,” but even if you are strong and resolute, Rangering still is not for everyone.

*Cole Range - Still from 75th Ranger Regiment RASP 1 Video (link below).*

Rangering is a 24/7, zero defect calling that requires everything of you. A life of Rangering is highlighted by violence, sacrifice, pain, brutality, and excellence - and that’s just the job. The lifestyle of a Ranger is one of character, determination, leadership, love, discipline, and a lifelong brotherhood. That’s what America expects from the U.S. Army’s premier large-scale special operations raid force. The assessment and selection process is an uncompromising commitment to finding those who possess the skill and the will to live that life at the tip of the spear.

And if you’re not able or willing to be that person--to live that creed everyday--you are a threat to your fellow Rangers, to the mission, and to our country. Honestly, you’re a threat to yourself because no one’s a sorta Ranger in the 75th Ranger Regiment, it’s a “100% and then some'' proposition and it’s the RASP cadre’s job to ensure that message is clear.

We patiently wait as the fire gets going - close enough for the formation to see it, but far enough to prevent them from feeling the heat.

“Now is the time that you get to decide if you really want to be a Ranger,” I add.

Jaws tighten as the frigid formation strains to keep their feet grounded at the position of attention.

“This life is not for everyone. We know that many of you have doubts. If you’re weighing those doubts, feel free to step to the fire.”

Doubt is not inherently bad. Doubt can lead to curiosity and humility in life. But, doubt can kill you and your mates in combat.

Doubt untethered to purpose leads to a lack of commitment.

Everyone who stands in formation at Cole Range has doubts once the games begin. In some manner of fashion, we all wondered why selection had to be so hard. I got my answer 30 days into a mission deep in the Afghan mountains in 2003 - starved, exhausted, and flea ridden. I understood at that moment why it had to be so hard. The challenge for a Ranger candidate is to identify their own purpose for being there and to hold on to their purpose tightly when the storm sweeps through them. And it will sweep through them.

The storm sweeps through everyone.

All of us can relate. All of us have faced storms in life - divorce, loss of employment, sickness, rejection, failure, the list goes on. We can all relate to being somewhere we don’t want to be (in life) and straining for where we want to be. A common human fact is that we all have to face adversity at one time or another.

And we all have to find our purpose to persevere when it gets unbearable.

I found my purpose while suffering as a young Ranger hopeful. I wanted to be somebody after always feeling like a nobody. I wanted to be a part of something after being left to feel that I was nothing. I wanted to be with the best. I stood in that very formation and found what carried me through the selection. With every drop of rain that sent icicles down my back, every sprint to the woodline, every push up, every ruck march, and every night land navigation course, my resolve strengthened.

I needed to be an Airborne Ranger. I am an Airborne Ranger.

Everyone’s reason for suffering through RASP is personal; the fact that everyone who makes it has a reason is universal. And that’s critical for persevering through any crucible. Knowing your why is critical to overcoming the fear and uncertainty brought about by adversity.

By midnight, the group of men huddling by the fire grew while the formation of Ranger hopefuls shrank. Hope can be crushed when you realize that the pain will not stop. And at Cole Range, the pain does not stop.

“Hit the woodline, men.”

The beleaguered men sprint the quarter mile field to the road and back again, gaining momentary reprieve from the cold. Shortly, they are back in formation getting battered by the sleet. The cold wrecks everyone. You learn that in the military. Cold is a powerful equalizer that eliminates partial motivation and false hopes.

“Again. Woodline. Hit it!” The ragged and gangling mob sloggs to the silent woods that have seen a thousand dreams shattered on that very field. That field that will claim more dreams before dawn.

*Photo credit:* *@rosiesun* *via Unsplash.*

Back in formation, the men hold on for dear life. We barely look at them and speak casually to those gathered by the fire. “You guys look like you could use some rest,” I say, “open up that box truck and start pulling out sleeping bags.”

Though the rain is relentless, the men beside the fire’s uniforms are dry. Their eyes stay fixed upon the flames, never daring to glance at the formation on the field.

No quarter is given at Cole Range; none is given in combat.

“Again!” Andy shouts. Knees buckle. Tears fall. Men break.

And it lasts all night.

“Hit the woodline!”

Bodies drop.

“Again!”

Men are trampled.

“Hit the woodline!”

Hopes are shattered.

Those who quit file by the truck to collect a meal and a sleeping bag. Those who remain in formation all have a common denominator: purpose.

Purpose is the tension that emboldens their commitment. Purpose transcends the cold, the discomfort, the anger, the helplessness, and the hopelessness. Purpose is the great separator between those who want to be Rangers and those who have to be Rangers.

By dawn, the rain slackens as Ed, Andy, and I complete our responsibilities for the shift. We will go home and rest for the next 24 hours. The men in formation will stay, along with a fresh team of Ranger cadre.

A ray of sunshine pokes a glimmer of hope through the sky while more than sixty Soldiers snooze peacefully by the fire; their minds free from the nightmare on the field, their dreams of becoming Rangers dying with the embers of the fire.

In formation, the starved, the sleepy, and the battered shiver fifty feet from the fire and one day closer to becoming a Ranger. Never looking upon the fire for a moment, their eyes purposefully fixed upon their goal in the distance.

Rangering isn’t for everyone.

What the Rangers know about weeding out the weak is that the only difference between the men in formation and the men at the fire is the willingness to suffer until your purpose is achieved. What the Rangers know about persevering through adversity is that purpose pulls you through when it’s harder than you could have ever imagined. What the Rangers know about adversity is that everyone will face it, eventually, and while adversity changes you forever, adversity never lasts forever.

RLTW

Brandon

Take a peek into the Ranger Assessment and Selection Program Here:

Cover Photo Credit: @75th Ranger Regiment via Facebook