Special Ops.

This is coolbert:

Was looking over this web site that describes the various American Special Operations forces. For all the U.S. military services.

Had two surprises.

Number One:

U.S. Army Ranger entry and qualification was somewhat different from what I had understood to be the case.

My understanding of what it took to become a Ranger is different from what actually exists [on paper at any rate].

I had thought that become an Army Ranger, you had to complete all these courses FIRST, and in order:

Basic training.

Advanced Individual Training [AIT] - - Infantry.

Parachute qualification.

Ranger course.

ONLY AFTER COMPLETING THE ABOVE COURSES, COULD YOU BECOME A MEMBER OF THE RANGER REGIMENT, AND THEN ONLY ON A PROBATIONARY STATUS, UNTIL MORE AND FURTHER TRAINING AND QUALIFICATION WAS ACCOMPLISHED.

NOW, you enter into the Ranger Regiment after completing parachute qualification [as a probationary], and THEN are expected to complete, within a certain period of time, the Ranger course?

"Ranger Indoctrination Program (RIP): 3 1/2-week program designed to weed out those who can't make it. Timed marches/runs, swim tests, and military skill testing. After this is completed, the men are considered Rangers and go to the Battalions for operational training. 6-12 months later they may attend the Ranger School."

YOU ONLY COMPLETE THE RANGER COURSE AFTER ENTERING INTO THE RANGER REGIMENT??!!

Manpower considerations and having bodies to fill slots, fully qualified or not, is important here??!!

Number Two:

ANGLICO.

ANGLICO (Air-Naval Gun Liaison Company)

Troops that direct naval gunfire from the big guns of the warship supporting Army troops and Marines during an amphibious landing.

"ANGLICO gets into position and, once targets have been observed, begins directing aerial and naval gunfire onto targets."

The type of stuff seen in World War Two [WW2] movies. Normandy for instance. Navy ships with large bore guns firing at shore targets to support the initial landings. Troops going ashore from amphibious landing craft with only what they can carry requiring fire support as can best be had, until the organic artillery of the beach landing unit is brought ashore.

To begin with, I would have thought that large-scale amphibious landings ala' WW2 are now a thing of the past. Not to be seen again. NO MORE beach landings by divisional size units meeting fierce enemy resistance at the water line. Replaced by heli-borne troops who have an organic fire support capacity using precision-guided-munitions [PGM] delivered almost exclusively by aircraft??!!

[Amphibious assaults in the manner of Normandy or Iwo Jima gone forever!!??]

ANGLICO is a thing of the past??!! With the mothballing of the last U.S Navy battleships, big-bore guns are NOT EVEN MOUNTED on modern warships. Rapid firing, smaller bore guns are indeed mounted and available for action on U.S. Navy modern warships, but rarely, if ever used.

Training for ANGLICO seems to be pretty intensive, to include:

* US Army Basic Airborne [parachute school].

* SCUBA.

* Ranger.

* ANGLICO in-house tactical training (ongoing).

[I do recall that during the undeclared war between Iran and the U.S. in the late 1980’s, U.S. Navy destroyers attacked and obliterated an Iranian drilling platform in the Persian Gulf that was used as a staging area for “bog-hammer” attacks. About a thousand rounds of naval gun fire was directed at the platform. This must have been a “rush” for those gun crews!!]

coolbert.