"Walking Away From The Ledge” The Cut List: Vol. 8. These are the stories that didn’t make the cut to the final edit in my book.
Some of these stories will jump around, but I’ll do my best not to leave you, the reader, guessing when and where they happened. Finishing up in mountains, moving on to Florida with graduation getting closer!
The five-day field problem came, and I wouldn’t have another leadership role in the mountains. I didn’t know that at the time, so, of course, there was anxiety every time student numbers were called. However, I was glad not to have to do any more of the positions for a while. I only had to endure the physical rigors, which came with their mental tests as well. I received another major minus for falling asleep in the patrol base.
We had a long movement through the mountains and set up a patrol base. Another student and I were manning the M240B position and planned to rotate who slept. He was going to eat quickly and get some sleep while I pulled security. He had his red lens pen light on under his poncho, so he could see what he was doing, but I noticed it hadn’t moved in quite a while. I tried to get his attention, but there was no reply. Finally, I pulled his poncho up, and he was asleep with his MRE main meal in his hand, still unopened. I tried one more time to wake him, but he wouldn’t move. I decided to let him sleep, and as I was in the prone position right behind the pig, I was starting to nod off too. I finally just thought to myself “fuck it” and went to sleep too.
We were both awoken by someone and quickly realized it was the student Toon-daddy who said, “Hey guys, wake up and man the gun!” I said OK, lifted my head, and saw the gun was gone. “Hey man, the guns are not here!” He said, “I KNOW, and that’s why I’m probably going to fail the weapons squad leader position so man the fucking tripod then!” We felt horrible for that, but laughed it off after he walked away. I know the feeling of thinking I wasn’t going to pass, and for all of us, it wouldn’t be the last time. We both sat there with that tripod, and after a couple of minutes, I said, “The RIs already took the gun, they can have the tripod too if they want, I’m going back to sleep!” The guy with me laughed and said, “Me too.” That wrapped up the mountains, and we made it to the Florida phase, on to the swamps.
It wasn’t quite that quick, though. That gave me my third major minus; I forget what I got the second one for, so I was a “Board Case” before being approved to move on to Florida. God smiled upon me this day, my friends, as the RI who was debriefing me on my status before moving on happened to be one of the NCOs when I got to LRS barely a year prior. He pulled me into the room to brief me, gave me a granola bar or beef jerky or some snack which I promptly devoured while letting me know I had a NO-GO for my patrol, no shit… Then he said, “Oh, looks like you had three major minuses, which would normally be a board case.” He tore those up right in front of me, penned something on another piece of paper, and said, “Good luck in Florida, Chris!” Shook my hand to the biggest dopey smile I’m sure I had on my face while I thanked him and then he said, “now get the fuck outta here and don’t do that crap in Florida!” “Roger that,” and headed out the door. It wasn’t the only hook-up I got; you’ll have to keep reading to find out how.
Mid-March 2002. There was a special treat for us Airborne guys; we got to jump into the Florida phase. It was a nice daytime slick jump, no gear. The non-airborne dudes got to ride a bus that followed all our gear down to Eglin Air Force Base, where the Florida phase of Ranger School was located. Florida’s field exercise was 10 days straight. Before heading out there, we learned about snakes and reptiles of all kinds. They have snake handlers that bring out some different types of snakes to show you, and they even have an alligator on the compound there.
We also learned various medical evacuation techniques (MEDEVAC) using skids, which are thick, plastic, rolled-up tubes that resemble the sleds we used as kids in the snow. They had a UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter come out, and we would drag a dummy titled “rescue randy” wrapped up in this contraption over to a line hanging from the helicopter so they could extract “randy” to safety and medical care. There were also additional classes on patrolling the swamp environment and the movements required to traverse the varying terrain. Though it was flat, there were plenty of water obstacles and dense vegetation to slow a platoon’s movement.
Then there were some dumbasses. You see, hunger and sleep deprivation make you do stupid things so some of the students and wouldn’t know the ring leaders of this dumbass operation were LT’s, decide to try to break in some storage room where they knew MRE’s were. Instead of getting a decent night sleep we were messed with all night long because of the actions of a few dumbasses. Fucking LT’s.
Florida phase began with another jump, and we were exhausted but ready to go. The light at the end of the tunnel was getting brighter. We were all looking forward to steaks, beer, whiskey, desserts, anything but Army food, MRE, and uniforms. About 14 more days stood between us, and we were as focused as we could be. Tired, vigilant, and somewhat careless, we gathered up at the Assembly Area (AA) and began moving out in platoon order. The terrain was flat, which was a relief for us coming from the mountains. This, however, was offset by longer movements, but we could also walk at a faster rate, so we took the tradeoff for what it was.
We moved to objectives faster, hoping that would afford us some extra rest time, but that would not be the case. After the jump, the movement to an ambush that was 14 clicks away, the mission itself, and the movement to patrol base, which was another five clicks, we were all exhausted beyond belief, but it was already approaching sunrise. We had moved most of the afternoon into a late evening ambush and then to the patrol base, and established the perimeter right when it was time to switch leadership positions. No rest, no sleep for 24 hours already.
Want to know more about some of these situations? You’ll have to get the book “Walking Away From The Ledge" for more details! If this story hit home—or reminded you of your own service—drop a comment below or share it with someone who might need it.
