Killed in Action - A Spy School Story

Chapter 21: Ranger School

Victory Pond

Fort Benning, GA

March 8th, 2019

0945R

Hank POV

It was finally time for Class 3-19 to graduate. After 61 days of hell, Ranger School was finally over. But in all honesty, as much as I wanted that tab—the signifier of my achievement—that fact that I'd gone through it and passed was more than enough satisfaction for me... and I dare say that I had a good time going through the Army's toughest school. If the Academy still existed, it would be a damn good idea for the CIA to send officers-in-training through, at minimum, two military schools: Ranger School and Survive, Evade, Resist, and Escape (SERE) School.

But in all honesty, as tough as Ranger School was, I was more focused on the fact that I was going head-to-head against my old nemesis.

TWO MONTHS EARLIER, ON JANUARY 7th...

"What. The. Hell."

"I could say the same thing to you."

Somehow, some way, my little brother had managed to make his way to Ranger School. And while Ranger School is open to all of the branches—yes, even the Coast Guard—there aren't many slots for non-Army personnel. If Marines wanted a shot at going, they generally had to be NCOs or officers and operators in the US Marine Forces Special Operations Command or among the Marine Corps Special Operations Capable Forces... which is basically a long-winded way of saying that these Marines were special operators without being underneath the US Special Operations Command.

For example, I'm an ANGLICO—Air Naval Gunfire Liaison Company—Marine, which is considered "Special Operations Capable." Throw in the fact that I'm an officer (a captain, if you're curious), my chances of getting a slot to Ranger School increase significantly. Chip, on the other hand, was not only a junior enlisted man in the Marine Corps, he was an infantryman—namely an 0331 machine gunner—so it was highly unlikely that he would be getting in.

But here he was, in the flesh, kitted up and ready to go for the first day of Ranger School. And he looked just as surprised to see me as I was to see him.

"Uh... why the fuck do you two look so similar?" a fellow student—a US Army 2nd lieutenant—asked, looking back and forth between us as we stared at each other in shock, with more of our fellow students gathering around to see what was going on.

"Lance Corporal... you mind tellin' me how in the hell you managed to get here?" I asked, making my little brother grin.

"Believe me, Cap'n, I'm surprised my packet went as far as it did... 'specially considerin' that SOP dictates that you gotta be E-5 n' up if you're non-Army."

"Wait... you got a waiver, didn't you?"

"I reckon so. The battalion commander signed off on my packet, n' cut me loose."

"Wow... I'm legitimately impressed."

"Atten-SHUN!" a raspy-voiced man suddenly shouted, making us all snap to as our Ranger Instructors (RIs) arrived: a dozen men with their standard MultiCam pants and covers, long-sleeved black shirts with an enlarged image of the black-and-yellow Ranger Tab and their name and rank, and sunglasses to beat the Georgia sun, which shone brightly even in January. An older, grizzled man stepped forward—his shirt indicating that he was Master Sergeant Hayes, the same man who called us to attention—and began to address the approximately 250 of us present in the forest clearing. "Okay, boys. Welcome to Camp Rogers for Benning Phase. We start with the Ranger Assessment Phase for Days 1 through 3, then Squad Combat Operations at Camp Darby. Now, according to history, it is here in RAP where you will fail... prove me wrong. Now scream 'Ranger!'"