Patrol Base Hacks
THE GOLDEN HOUR
Ranger School FTXs are continuous operations—whether it’s 3 days, 5 days, or 10 days. RIs operate on 24-hour rotations within those FTXs. They grade whoever is being graded that day, supervise movement to the follow-on patrol base for the night, and then switch out with the incoming RIs the following morning for the next day’s mission.
During this transitional period the outgoing RIs will typically conduct their one-on-one AAR with whoever was just graded (anyone in a leadership position). Simultaneously, everyone else should theoretically be pushing the patrol base legs out, re-establishing security, and conducting priorities of work. In a perfect world all those things would be executed deliberately, sequentially, and all while maintaining some form of security.
Forget that.
At this point in time everyone being graded have been administratively taken out of the patrol base to receive their AAR, and the RIs currently in charge are about to be switched out. The RIs are tired from the last 24 hours, so they’re more than likely not going to care about whatever is happening in the patrol base anymore. Maximize this “Golden Hour” and get shit done.
You can conduct these tasks as a squad/platoon or entirely on your own. It will benefit your peer leadership being graded that day:
Drop down to 0% security so all hands are on deck.
Get hygiene out of the way first. This is usually the first thing to get nixed during priorities of work, so do whatever you gotta do quickly: shit, shave, wet wipe shower, change t-shirt/socks, brush your teeth, etc.
Clean your weapon. This is especially important for the belt fed weapons. One of the first things incoming RIs love to do is spot check the M240s and M249s. Take the time here to disassemble and wipe the parts down really well so you don’t give a horrible first impression to the RI.
Re-establish security. It’s most likely daylight at this point, so go ahead and push your perimeter out. Grab your claymore mine (if your fighting position is in charge of one) and run your ass 20 feet out towards a big tree. Don’t waste time unspooling wire as you low crawl. Punch that mine into the dirt and unspool back towards your fighting position. You still need to dog-leg your wire, camouflage your mine, and all that good stuff, but at least you don’t have to be tactical about it. Get it done and get out.
Once AARs are complete, new leadership will be selected and the cycle starts all over again. Patrol base planning will begin while priorities of work are being executed. The incoming RIs will be fresh from a full night’s sleep and out to snipe sleepy Rangers, so you want to look as squared away as possible by the time your Golden Hour is up.
Planning and sector sketches will eat up the majority of the time in the patrol base, but everyone is still expected to conduct weapons maintenance, hygiene, and eventually eat chow. Since security needs to be maintained, the weapons maintenance plan will probably only allow 5-10 minutes per weapon system. Luckily, your weapon is already mostly cleaned from the Golden Hour, so you can utilize your 5 minutes to go over some light dust and rust or the star chamber. “Wow, not bad,” says the RI who checks your weapon. As far as he knows, you cleaned it the night before during priorities of work.
And since your hygiene is already complete, you’re just that much closer to cracking open that delicious brown bag meal you’ve been dreaming about. Thanks to the Golden Hour it is less of a fight against the clock than it needs to be.
SECURITY CHEAT SHEET
The job of the Bravo Team Leader (BTL) or Platoon Sergeant (PSG) is to establish a security plan. If you are someone who is placed along the security perimeter, you will be given specifics about your sector of fire as well as the current mission. Sleepy Rangers always think they’ll remember everything they’re told, but they never do… Here is a security cheat sheet you can make into a product that can be used and re-used throughout the course. It will save you time and pages out of your Rite in the Rain notebook. This is important because RIs don’t just care that you’re awake on security. They will also ask you details about the mission, the Black and Gold plan, and your sectors of fire to see if the BTL or PSG is doing their job by disseminating information to the lowest level.
STAYING AWAKE
This is always going to be an uphill battle, and a losing one at that. However there are certain things that you can do to minimize your chances of RIs catching you fast asleep, and no I don’t mean putting hot sauce in your eyes. Nobody does that because it’s stupid.
Take a knee. The RIs will tell you it’s okay to do this while on security if you’re falling asleep, but most people never will. I’m telling you it works. Sure I’ve still fallen asleep while on a knee and fallen flat on my face, but hey, at least the impact woke me back up. Bottom line is, once you feel that sweet relief of your ruck sack coming off finally, and you get into the prone in security, it’s only a matter of minutes (sometimes seconds) before the sandman comes and puts you in a Ranger coma. You most likely won’t have a strongpoint buddy during Darby so it’s going to be tough staying awake on your own.
Play “The Game”. When you are in a strongpoint security position, do your part and keep each other awake. If you’re struggling to keep the conversation going with your battle buddy, and “Kill, Fuck, Marry” just isn’t doing it for you anymore, then talk about food. Everyone’s going to be hungry as hell, but instead of asking the same tired ass question of, “What is the first thing you’re going to eat after Ranger School?”, play a little game that engages both people. I simply call it “The Game”.
First person picks any three ingredients (i.e. shrimp, pineapple, and red chili flakes). The second person then has to create a dish with those three ingredients (i.e. grilled spicy shrimp and pineapple skewers). Then the first person tells the second person the dish they had in mind when they picked those ingredients (i.e. spicy shrimp fried rice served in a pineapple bowl). Tweak the rules however you want. The whole point is to keep both people engaged and awake by being creative.
Make lists. Obviously this only works during periods of daylight, but is effective nonetheless. You can make lists of anything you want: bucket list ideas, food ideas, things you’re going to buy with your Ranger Savings Plan money, places you’re going to eat, life goals, etc.
It doesn’t even have to be a list. You can write letters while you’re in security, so long as you’re awake! Granted, while you’re pulling security you should be paying attention to what’s in front of you. So don’t be too absorbed with writing in your notebook that an RI has to ask you what the hell you’re doing.
OCCUPYING THE PATROL BASE
This will be one of the most painstaking and time consuming things you will have to do each night during your FTXs. The mission is over, people are tired and hungry, and no one wants to cooperate with you. The only thing on people’s minds is taking their ruck off, eating their MRE, and hopefully catching some sleep before another full day of the same shit all over again.
During your practice patrols you will occupy the patrol base by the book, step by step. This is important to learn and practice for obvious tactical reasons. However during your actual patrols, some RIs will tell you to occupy the PB and then dip out so they can set up their own hooches for the night. In these situations your peer leadership is no longer being assessed on the process of occupying the PB, but rather the end result.
Therefore it is beneficial to have an abbreviated and expedited version of occupying the PB. Bear in mind people in leadership positions are still being graded, so all the major security requirements still need to be met. However with 100% buy-in and good leadership, it can be a lot more streamlined. This will not only save time, but will get people fed and to sleep faster.