DAVIS-MONTHAN AIR FORCE BASE, Ariz. — Two Airmen from Davis-Monthan Air Force Base earned the title of U.S. Army Ranger School graduate on Aug. 9, 2024.
U.S. Air Force 1st Lt. Manuel Castro, 355th Security Forces Squadron section commander, and Senior Airman Jacob Hostetler, 355th Operations Support Squadron survival evasion resistance escape specialist, received ranger tabs, marking an achievement in leadership and combat readiness within the Davis-Monthan ranks.
ARS, a 61-day course at Fort Benning, Georgia, is renowned for being one of the U.S. military’s most physically and mentally demanding professional military education schoolhouses.
“I’ve been sleep deprived before, but never 62 days straight! I wasn’t sure how my body was going to handle this on top of little food and physical exhaustion,” said Hostetler. “But what’s truly surprising is how the body can adapt to these stressors and push through what seemed like almost impossible tasks.”
The course is divided into three phases: Beginning, Mountain, and Florida. The ARS tests participants’ physical endurance, mental resilience and tactical skills. Throughout ARS, service members will be assessed on their ability to lead and perform under extreme and strenuous conditions.
The Beginning phase is broken into two categories which are the Ranger Assessment Phase and Darby. During the weeklong RAP, students must perform 49 push-ups, 59 sit-ups, 5-mile run within 40:00 minutes, and six chin-ups. After completing the fitness assessment, students are challenged in a variety of ways such as combat water survival and land navigation. The week continues with ruck marches, weapons and communications training, skills assessments and much more.
The Darby phase focuses on fast-paced instruction centered around troop leading procedures, principles of patrolling, demolitions, field craft, and basic battle drills focused towards squad ambush and reconnaissance missions. To progress to the Mountain phase, instructors evaluate students’ ability to plan, prepare, resource, and execute a combat patrol as a squad leader or team leader.
Mountain phase is centered around military-based mountaineering tasks, mobility training and effectively exercising a platoon for continuous combat patrol operations in mountainous terrain. This phase further builds on each student’s ability to lead command and control platoon sized patrols.
While their mental and physical stamina are being assailed by the extreme weather, lack of sleep, hunger, fatigue, adverse terrain and emotional stress students are expected to lead and are presented the opportunity to test their capabilities and limitations.
This training continues to build candidates’ ability to operate in moments of severe mental and physical stress amid coastal swamp setting in a low-intensity combat environment against an efficient enemy.
Being among the few Airmen to attend ARS, both Castro and Hostetler brought something unique to their teams.
“With my background as a SERE specialist, I was able to do my part and help contribute to the platoon I was a part of,” said Hostetler. “Because of my knowledge of knots, I was able to help individuals, and our platoon as a whole, with these timely tasks which saved some precious sleep.”
Each of these members returned with skillsets that improved their leadership traits and will have a positive effect on those around them.
“I learned that quick decision-making can and will save lives and it is on you to make the calls needed to take out the enemy or do what is needed to keep everyone safe and complete the mission,” said Hostetler. “Not only can I be a better leader myself, I can also share the information I received throughout my unit too.”
This experience will play a large role in increasing the Rescue and Attack capabilities for Davis-Monthan during the Great Power Competition.
- Published
- By Senior Airman Andrew Garavito
- 355th Wing
