Make Life Easier
WINTER COMFORT ITEMS
If you find yourself in Ranger School during the colder months, you’re going to maintain a ziploc bag or a “Ranger Purse” of comfort items. This will be your go-to bag that you keep easily accessible. These items are:
Fleece watch cap / beanie
Neck gator
Warm gloves (wool / fleece; NOT tactical)
You can add to this list, but these three will make or break how cold and miserable you are when you’re not actively moving through the woods. The RIs will not allow you to wear any poly pro at any point unless they tell you to. In the rare event that they do (i.e. during an AAR, during patrol base operations) you want to be able to get to those items fast. I recommend keeping them at the very top of one of your sustainment pouches of your ruck. I also recommend making a Ranger Purse to keep all your comfort items together and dry. Keeping them dry is paramount.
MARKING YOUR STUFF
You’re going to lose stuff while at Ranger School. Some of that stuff will be lost to no fault of your own. In my experience, magazines and map markers were always disappearing on me. An easy way to prevent that from happening is by simply marking it with tape.
FOOT CARE
Your Lambor-feeties are your bread and butter as a Ranger student. It’s why the medics conduct foot checks practically every day that you’re there. Here are some tricks that I learned along the way that really helped me.
Change your socks frequently. I recommend doing this during foot checks. It’s a timeout during training where the RIs won’t mess with you, so take advantage and get some dry socks on your feet. It will pay huge dividends down the road.
Ensure there are no folds in your socks. A small fold in your sock seems minor, but over time it will slowly start to chew away at your skin and cause hot spots which lead to blisters. Make sure you pull your socks up tight and smooth out any wrinkles or folds before putting your boots on.
Tie your boots tight at the foot and shin. You want to make sure you’re not slipping inside your boot with every step you take. That’s unwanted friction that adds up over time. It also means your boot is not supporting your ankle properly which could lead to later injuries. Your laces will inevitably loosen the later you get into your patrols, so you want to tie them a little tighter than you would normally. (On the other hand, don’t tie them so tight you completely lose circulation to your feet. That would be bad.)
Tie your boots loose at the ankle joint. An area of the boot you want to remain loose is the area where your foot bends (at the ankle). Mobility here is necessary, and also ensures blood flow isn’t being cut off to your toes. Your boots should be laced tight, but not to the point where it hurts to flex your toes up. I’ve seen it where some people didn’t even thread their laces across that portion of the boot.
Elevate your feet at night. During what little sleep you get, it is absolutely necessary to elevate your feet. The sheer amount of miles you put on your feet during RAP week requires this of you (not to mention you have to double time everywhere you go). I stacked my two duffel bags on top of each other in the barracks to prop my feet up as high as possible. When you’re out in the field, do the best you can with the terrain you have or prop your feet up on your ruck sack.
Air dry your feet at night. This will be a challenge out on FTX. Unlacing your boots and taking your socks off is 1-2 minutes you could have already been sleeping. But if your boots are wet, and they most likely will be every time, then it’s crucial that you give your feet a chance to dry out. Simply covering your feet with foot powder isn’t enough. Damp, wrinkly feet mixed with foot powder just creates clumpy foot powder chunks that don’t do anything. Drying them out by air may be time consuming, but it’s the best possible way.
Ensure no sand/debris is in between your toes. Run your fingers between your toes and clear all grit, sand, or debris before putting your socks on. Sometimes sand will get in your boots, and if you have thin socks on, especially ones with holes, they will wind up between your toes. This is a disaster waiting to happen. Sand, moisture, and the constant rubbing of your toes as you move about will cause an unholy burning chafing situation you don’t want to experience. This happened to me prior to Mountains because I decided to use a cheap pair of socks in order to save my Darn Toughs. The end result was the skin between my toes being completely rubbed raw. I couldn’t wear my flip flops properly without being in excruciating pain.
Trim your toenails. This is just basic hygiene. Keep your nails short and that nasty bacteria won’t be able to build up as easily underneath your nails. After conducting two swamp movements in Florida phase you will understand the importance of keeping your toenails short.
Tie a knot at the the end of your laces. This is not so much a foot care tip but it is still one of the best hacks I learned from IBOLC. When you’re frantically trying to take your boots off, you don’t want to worry about your laces being pulled out of the boot grommets. This hack will prevent that from happening, and will save time and heartache from trying to re-lace those things in the dark.
WEAPONS CLEANING KIT
Rag. Cutting up old t-shirts will provide you plenty of low-cost cleaning rags throughout the course.
Barber brush. This is the ultimate dusting tool that is a must-have. It will get in all the nooks and crannies that are so hard to reach, such as the guard rail of the M4. You will save so much time with this tool. Time that could be spent doing other things (like sleeping hopefully).
Q-tips. Don’t go with the cheap option. Buy the sturdier white stemmed ones. They won’t crumple when you apply pressure, and you could also bend them to get around tough corners (like the star chamber of the M4).
Dental picks. A lot of people say you shouldn’t use metal on metal when cleaning weapons. Okay, fine. However you’re going to be using Ranger School weapons that routinely get dragged through the woods by their tie-downs, so I wouldn’t worry about metal on metal. Dental picks are great for scraping grime in hard to reach spots that Q-tips or the barber brush can’t reach.
Copper brush. Some cleaning kits come with the brush with the cheap plastic bristles. Those are useful only to a certain degree. It will rain out there in Ranger School, and more likely than not the barrel of your weapon is going to turn bright orange from rust. My first time through Ranger I tried using the copper pipe cleaner brush that came with the kit, and it totally sucked. Make your life easier and buy the actual brush. A little CLP and some vigorous brushing with that thing, and your weapon will look good as new.
TIE DOWNS
You will be assigned equipment during every phase, and at every phase you will make new tie downs in accordance with the SOP given. ALL equipment will have tie downs, and not just the sensitive items either. Even radio pouches will have them. When it’s all said and done, you will have a spider web of crap tied down to your FLC and your ruck sack frame when you step off for your first graded patrol. Here are some tips to prevent the dreaded “tie down meltdown”.
Learn the bowline knot. I made the terrible mistake of not learning this knot before showing up to school, but by the end of Darby I was tying it in the dark in a matter of milliseconds. You will tie, untie, and retie this knot that often.
Being proficient at it in the dark or with your eyes closed is not a joke either. When equipment is being switched over in the patrol base, or in the ORP before a leader’s recon, there’s no turning on a light so you can see what you’re doing. And forget about trying to tie it under NODs.
Tying a “booger knot” or simply not making a tie down is a huge risk too. If equipment goes missing, your squad or platoon will spend the entire night doing hands across America until it is found. And if you’re responsible? Say goodbye to your peer rating.
Make a hole.
The rabbit comes from beneath the hole and runs around the tree.
Then the rabbit goes back down into the hole.
Length matters. There’s nothing worse than an M4 tie down that’s so short you can’t even hold it up to fire. On the flip side, a radio pouch tie down that’s too long gets snagged on every branch and thorn bush you walk through. Make sure the length is functional and makes sense. One way to prevent tie downs from becoming too short is…
NEVER cut tie downs. This is the lazy Ranger’s solution to untying tie downs quickly. Over time it eventually screws your buddy over when the tie down gets shorter and shorter, to the point where it’s unusable and someone has to create a brand new tie down. Don’t be that guy.
The claymore bag. No matter how neatly you pack this thing, it will turn into the biggest tangle of ass after the first patrol. Your typical tie down meltdown will occur when trying to deploy a claymore in the dark during a follow-own patrol. To prevent this from happening, always take the time during patrol base operations to organize the claymore bag. Ensure that tie downs are not all tied down at the same anchor point (i.e. evenly space them within the claymore bag). Unspool the claymore wire and re-spool it systematically so that the wire lays flush together, preventing tangles and that unwanted bulge in the middle.
PRO TIP #1: During RAP week you will be issued CIF (unless you’re coming from IBOLC or ABOLC), and at some point you will be given some pretty tight time hacks to have all your stuff tied down. An RI will bring one big spool of 550 chord for the entire company and it quickly turns into World War Z with every student trying to get some. This is where your own 550 chord will come in handy, and there’s a way to keep it easily accessible and tangle-free.
1. Dry out an empty water bottle.
2. Cut an “x” in the lid of the water bottle.
3. Tie a knot on the running end of your 550 chord.
4. Feed the running end of 550 chord into the water bottle until full.
5. Cut tail end of 550 chord and feed it through the “x” in the lid.
6. Close lid and tie a knot on new running end of 550 chord.
Make as many of these as you want. They’re super light, and the water bottles will conform to any tight corner you pack it into.
PRO TIP #2: Whether you’re tying down CIF or squad equipment, make sure you have your pocket knife, lighter, and makeshift 550 cord dispenser available. Not everyone will come as prepared as you, so there will always be someone asking to borrow a pocket knife or lighter. If you’re not careful, your pocket knife and lighter will mysteriously disappear. Someone “forgets” to return it, or more likely someone else asked to borrow it from the person who borrowed it from you. Pass it around a few more times, and suddenly it’s gone.
1. Cut 3-4 feet of 550 chord.
2. Tie bowline knot to pocket knife.
3. Tie clove hitch to lighter.
4. Duct tape over clove hitch knot.
5. Burn ends of 550 chord.
6. Tie to belt loop with bowline and stow away in pocket.
This tie down will prevent your stuff from becoming the communal knife and lighter, and it also gives you the leverage to say, “Yes you can use my knife/lighter, but it’s tied down to me so you have to come to me to use it.” You’ll be amazed how a minor inconvenience like that will motivate someone to find a different solution.
THE LAYOUT
Depending on which company you get assigned to during RAP week your packing list layout may be easy, an absolute smoke fest, or something in between. Typically B Co has the toughest layouts and C Co has it the easiest. Regardless of which company you’re in, you don’t ever want to be the last person to dump your bags or locate the item being called out. Here are some tips and tricks that will help your layout experience be less painful, and ideally prevent stuff from being damaged or lost.
Like items vs. packing list order. First off, split your packing list items between your two duffel bags by like items. I recommend filling one duffel bag with all things worn, such as uniforms, shirts, socks, underwear, poly pro, boots, etc. Fill the second duffel bag with all the other stuff. This will significantly reduce the chaos of the layout right out the gate. The RIs will give you an unrealistic time hack to dump your bags, so neatly unpacking your duffel bags is out of the questions. Take your first duffel bag and dump it to the left or right of you, and then dump the second one on the opposite side. That way when a clothing item gets called out, for example, you’ll know exactly under which pile to look for. Bear in mind you will be dumping your bags close to other Ranger students, so do the best you can to segregate your stuff from the others.
Secondly, it is helpful to pack your duffel bags in the order that the packing list is in. The RIs are going to go line by line down the list, so if your two bags are generally packed in the same order, they should more or less fall onto the ground in the that order when you dump them. Sometimes the RIs will call out items in pairs to save time, so it behooves you even more to keep things in packing list order.
Admittedly, the packing list is not ordered in a logical manner. So if it’s easier for you to keep all your hygiene items in one big ziploc bag, then by all means do it that way. Just have a system that makes sense to you. Ultimately, the overall objective is to make sure everything fits when you pack it in.
Unpack and use Ziploc bags. A lot of items you buy for the packing list will be brand new. Do yourself a favor and field strip all of that stuff. Keeping items in their original packaging takes up space and eats up time when you eventually need to use it. To keep things organized, store them in gallon Ziploc bags. I’ve seen many people organize their items in the shopping bags they came in to save on Ziploc bags, which I do not recommend at all. Those bags are not waterproof, tear easily, and are not see through. Don’t be that weirdo shuffling through ten different grocery bags looking for the toothpaste at the layout.
Rolling and bundling. The natural tendency when packing clothes out to the field is to roll and bundle to keep things organize and maximize space in your duffel bag. This will only hurt you at the layout. The RIs will be looking for contraband being rolled into socks or shirts, and they will tell you to unroll everything. If you’re like me and packed a lot of extra socks and shirts, that is time you do not have. I recommend only rolling an inch worth at the top of your socks so they don’t get entirely mixed up. It won’t look like you’re hiding contraband, and if absolutely necessary it’ll be super quick to pop the roll off. T-shirts and everything else can just be neatly folded. You can bundle items with rubber bands if you want, but the RIs will still make you unbundle and shake your stuff out.
Organize and repack as you go. Assuming you’ve followed the previous three layout tips, you’re going to be way ahead of the curve compared to everyone else. You will be one of the first to hold up your packing list items, and the first to take a knee (signifying that the RI has checked you off as a “GO” for that item). Maximize this time by packing away checked items and organizing the ones that haven’t been checked yet. The ideal end state is to repack everything the same way you had it before, that way you’re not burning precious time looking for stuff later during RAP week. Organizing your remaining items will also make repacking easier, and it will prevent your things from being mixed up with the people next to you.
PRO TIP: If you see someone struggling to find an item within their heap, or generally behind on dumping their bags (or repacking their bags), it is perfectly fine to jump in and help. They say that RAP week is an individual event, however everyone gets punished if one person is too slow. Help your buddy out, but not at the expense of squaring away your shit first.
RANGER PURSE
You’re expected to have your Ranger handbook on you at all times throughout the course. Whether you’re in garrison training or out on FTX, it’s going to remain in one of your cargo pockets. The sheer wear and tear will quickly cause your handbook to become a soggy mess unless you store it in your “Ranger Purse”. You will also store other important items in here that you may want to keep dry during the course.
All you need is a gallon Ziploc bag and some duct tape. See below on how to make one:
RANGER HANDBOOK
You can weather proof and life proof your Ranger handbook even more by making a couple additional modifications:
Reinforce the binding.
Laminate the front and back covers.
IR CHEM LIGHT MARKINGS
If you’re as directionally challenged as I am in the dark, then you might want to hook yourself up with this IR chem light setup.