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Now I know that there exist 'Rangers' ie of the 75th Ranger Regiment. And as an entirely different topic, there is also a U.S. Army's Ranger School, and its graduates are allowed to wear the "Ranger tab".
My question to those who are clearly so much more knowledgeable of the subject matter is this, Once you are awarded the 'Ranger tab' do you immediately begin being paid combat pay?
This is how it works with Dolphins. I wear Dolphins. From the time I first earned my Dolphins, I became eligible for 'sub-pay' and after serving for so many years in combat I became eligible to receive 'career sub-pay' [like when I left my last sub, I went to Kosovo. While serving in Kosovo I was still getting my 'career sub-pay' which canceled out my being paid regular 'combat' pay]. You can not get multiple different kinds of combat pays at the same time, you can only get one at a time.
Does this 'Ranger tab' get them extra pay? And does that tie in with being exempt from income taxes the way that Dolphins do it?
Now I know that there exist 'Rangers' ie of the 75th Ranger Regiment. And as an entirely different topic, there is also a U.S. Army's Ranger School, and its graduates are allowed to wear the "Ranger tab".
My question to those who are clearly so much more knowledgeable of the subject matter is this, Once you are awarded the 'Ranger tab' do you immediately begin being paid combat pay?
This is how it works with Dolphins. I wear Dolphins. From the time I first earned my Dolphins, I became eligible for 'sub-pay' and after serving for so many years in combat I became eligible to receive 'career sub-pay' [like when I left my last sub, I went to Kosovo. While serving in Kosovo I was still getting my 'career sub-pay' which canceled out my being paid regular 'combat' pay]. You can not get multiple different kinds of combat pays at the same time, you can only get one at a time.
Does this 'Ranger tab' get them extra pay? And does that tie in with being exempt from income taxes the way that Dolphins do it?
No. The tab by itself gets nothing except a tremendous amount of self-knowledge about leadership and hardship, and a slight advantage in promotion.
'Combat pay' is based on where you are deployed or stationed, not any particular qualification.
For infantry officers, it's essentially an expectation to be Ranger-qualified and every active duty infantry officer is given the opportunity to attend; I have personally known of battalions where the commander refused to allow an officer to serve as a platoon leader if they had failed out of the school. I'm not aware of any other branch where that dynamic exists. For enlisted Soldiers, it is pretty rare to be tabbed...and certainly in the support branches it is actually pretty rare to be tabbed, particularly if an officer hadn't been branch-detailed to combat arms (a concept where they serve 2-4 years as a combat arms LT and then transition to support branches). For some time, there was a policy that non combat-arms officers could not attend, period (that was reverted back to the previous policy of allowing attendance, but for obvious reasons, combat arms officers have priority on slots).
If you are tabbed AND serving as a Ranger (e.g. in the Regiment), you would receive additional pay (they qualify for Airborne Pay, Special Duty Assignment Pay, and a couple of others that shift with the political winds). But that's what this whole thread's about: there's a real cultural distinction in the Army between being Ranger-qualified, which is difficult enough and deserves respect, and actively serving in the Ranger Regiment, which is a whole extra world of difficult. Senator Cotton had to show some real leadership to graduate the school, but making it into and surviving in the Regiment is really a whole different thing.
I've heard it described, by Ranger battalion alumni, that the school is a suck-fest of epic proportions, but the Regiment is a lifestyle.
Last edited by GeorgiaTransplant; 05-01-2021 at 04:14 PM..
Well said. Just passing the Ranger course is the beginning of that type of life vs. just checking a box. It's like having say an infantry MOS and then lat moving to admin but still claiming to be an infantryman. Some things sound great on paper and may be technically accurate but that's not the way it 'works' as we know and those who really inflate what they do do are easy to spot. If one wants to be a Ranger that bad and passed the course, go ahead and get that 75th spot.
Just saying this in general, some want to do part of the work and then claim or imply way more.
All med students serve time getting experience in various disciplines—-obvyn, er, surgery, and other specialties but they do their residency in their specialization
I don’t think anyone who delivered a baby during their medical school round of specialties would consider himself an obgyn
And you know he could not get a job w/o serving a residency as an obgyn
So no I don’t think Cotton IS a Ranger
He is trying to bootstrap himself into a better resume tab...
Well, in the Army, there are plenty of officers who are Airborne qualified... After only completing the five successful basic daytime jumps.
So, are they Airborne qualified? I’d say so. Back in the late 80s, I was assigned to a Light Infantry Division, with an Airborne Brigade where we had a 1st Lieutenant, for on of the non Airborne Brigade, who was “told” he was being reassigned and going on Jump Status... Against his best wishes, but he was Airborne qualified, so it was a done deal.
So, IMHO, if you’re in the Army and Ranger qualified and the Army wants you in whatever type of unit, you’re a Ranger since there is a chance, due to the needs of the Army, you can end up in one of the Ranger Regiments... So, with that said, you’re a Ranger and you can call yourself a Ranger, if you wish.
Heck, I’ve even known two “Leg” Rangers that never went to the Army’s Airborne course and yes, IMHO, they’re Rangers too.
The one thing I’ve learned in 28 years of being in the Army is not to “over think” stuff too much.
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