Scene Depiction Essay

“The desired result of this Ranger unit is a group of cadets who train like the Rangers, double-time like the Airborne, look like the Presidential Honor Guard, and have more "Esprit de Corps" than the Marines. We are a proud group of young men who are endeavoring to prepare ourselves more adequately to assume the tasks of young army officers.” -Mission Statement of the Kentucky Rangers

In 1964 a group of University of Kentucky Army ROTC cadets came together with goals to train cadets in guerrilla warfare. Since then warfare has changed, but so have their goals. They now train in subjects such as basic first aid; squad and platoon tactics; communications; rappelling; basic mountaineering; patrolling and weapons. This group is known as The Kentucky Rangers. Being a University of Kentucky ROTC cadet, I was already emerged in the ROTC culture. However, I have decided that I want to take it to another level – a more elite, high-speed level that will help me excel as an Officer in the United States Army. I believe I can do this by joining the Kentucky Rangers. I am curious about joining this organization, but at the same time I am content with my workload. Before this semester, I didn't take the initiative to look more into this organization until I was more or less forced to look at an organization for WRD-111 class.

Even though I was supposed to sit in on a meeting for my class, I was in no hurry to find an organization – much less a meeting time to attend. While standing in formation about to be dismissed from my ROTC lab, the authoritative figures of my platoon were giving us reminders about different things coming up. The leader prompted all Ranger cadets to report to the meeting place, because there would be a meeting held right after formation. Just like that this project fell into my lap: a prime opportunity to sit in on a meeting – and for a group I was already interested in! After we were dismissed from formation, I went outside of the back room were the meeting was to be held and talked to the MSIV in charge and asked if I could sit in on the meeting.

As I walked in the room where the Ranger Meeting was to be held, it looked like a room that would hold such a meeting. Army slogans, recruitment posters and all kinds of military paraphernalia could be found anywhere and everywhere throughout the room. Not literally, of course, but one is definitely bombarded with Army pride walking into this room. Covering the walls were pictures of all 5 of the generals who have ever reached the rank of 5-star General. Over the names and description of the generals were the 7 army values: Loyalty, Duty, Respect, Selfless Service, Honor, Integrity, Personal Courage. These words were painted in black and yellow on the walls and are the foundation and mindset guiding the soldiers of the United States Army. One wall of the meeting place contained “The Warrior Ethos”. “The Warrior Ethos” is part of the soldiers’ creed. There are four of the many things soldiers live by found in “The Warrior Ethos”. They go as follows: “I will always place the mission first, I will never accept defeat, I will never quit, I will never leave a fallen comrade.” These 4 lines of the soldiers’ creed, known as “The Warrior Ethos”, are an important part of a soldier’s education, so it is understandable that such words would be found on the wall of this classroom.

I sat in the back, out of the way of the members, as they entered the room. One by one as the cadets entered the room, I noticed they didn't enter the room as if it were a serious organization. This completely contradicted my expectations, because after hearing what they’re about, what they do and how they do it, I expected this to be a mature, respectable group. They entered the room like typical college students – joking and goofing around, and it was a very relaxed atmosphere. People were sitting on desks; leaning back in chairs, and chewing their gum loudly. This meeting obviously wasn't very formal or strict like one might think of an elite group in the United States Army. The only thing that made it Army-like were the uniforms and the male-to-female ratio. Everyone had on his or her Army Combat Uniform also known as ACUs, and there was 1 female compared to the 10 or so guys present.

After everyone moved into the room, the MS IV's began with their meeting. It was interesting to see the change in attitude and demeanor from this childish, goofy behavior to a more serious, concentrated group of soldiers. They straightened up in their seats, sitting with good posture (as compared to slouching and sitting on desks 2 minutes prior). The amount of respect that the subordinates had for the leaders appeared strange to me, as both the leaders and the members were all students. That was another thing that surprised me about the Kentucky Rangers: the fact that they are ran and organized by students. That fact is intriguing to me. Every bit of the organization stems directly from the MSIV's in charge. In this particular meeting, they were going over their schedule for the next 6 weeks! Doing that really caught me off guard, because they have to prepare so far in advance for seemingly menial meetings and activities. The MSIV's actually make a schedule at the beginning of the year, and then give MSIII's certain classes to teach. They make sure that the MSIII's have everything they need to teach the class, give them a basic game plan and see that they are sticking to the game plan as the time gets closer for them to teach their class. They seem to do a lot for the MSIII’s to ensure their success, but the MSIV’s also give the MSIII’s a lot of responsibility. As the MSIV's go through the schedule, they make sure to ask the MSIII's that are in charge of teaching the different classes if they have everything they’ll need and if things are moving smoothly. Just like in any other class, there are always procrastinators. The MSIV asked one cadet how his preparations were coming along, and he responded rather nonchalantly, “Oh yeah! I have to get on that, huh?” The MSIV's concluded the meeting by asking if anyone had any questions regarding the schedule or needed anything in general. Once the meeting was over and everyone was dismissed, the cadets went back to goofing around and joking with each other. It isn’t apparent at all that an MSIV has superiority over an MSIII by the way they interact.

Overall, based off of what I saw in the meeting the Kentucky Rangers organization, it is great organization. They seem to know the difference between when it's time to be serious and when it's time to have fun. That is very admirable to me, because they still leave time to enjoy what they are doing, while being productive too. They are also full of members who have the same interest as me. The Rangers have great leadership that helps build and encourage cadets to do better. They encourage them to be prepared and successful, rather than discouraging cadets and being demoralizing if they mess up. At the end of the day, the Kentucky Ranger Association is definitely an organization that I will strongly consider joining.