Blank looks

Seems a Ranger training battalion unit is in hot water. Over piracy?

Friday, May 16 a unit from the Ranger Training battalion, which conducts the swamp training phase of Ranger training, is alleged to have conducted some unauthorized mock battling..

Soldiers with the Army’s 6th Ranger Battalion assigned to Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, took part in a mock “sea battle” with a pirate ship on Friday evening as part of the Billy Bowlegs Pirate Festival, said Devon Ravine, a spokesman for the city of Fort Walton Beach.

The pirate battle in Fort Walton Beach is an annual event that was announced earlier in the week, with public alerts that simulated gunfire might be heard during the event. Rangers from 6th Ranger Training Battalion on Eglin Air Force Base have participated in the event in past years, and Rangers were there again on Friday.

Riding in small boats, the Rangers fired blanks while maneuvering their boats to ‘capture’ Billy Bowlegs.

Good clean fun. Pirates, forces of good winning, Army looks manly, everyone wins. Except, five miles away, just earlier:

One witness at Crab Island told Task & Purpose that the group in uniforms began firing without issuing any sort of warning ahead of time. Michael Ingram, a charter boat captain, said that when the firing began, his clients and many other boaters took cover.

After the second burst, Ingram heard people screaming in the distance. He said his heart sank because he worried someone had been shot.

I suspect Mr. Ingram is not terribly knowledgeable about the difference in sound levels between blanks and real rounds maybe?

Though officials would not confirm that the group seen firing weapons at Crab Island was the Ranger team from the pirate battle, numerous pictures and videos on social media of the Destin event appear to match the group.

Videos posted from Crab Island on social media show men in military uniforms with Ranger tabs and “Follow me!”-shoulder patches of the Army’s infantry school, which oversees Ranger training units, matching pictures of the soldiers at the Fort Walton Beach event. The weapons and personal kit the men are carrying also appear to match those seen at Fort Walton Beach, as do the make and model of their boats.

Sounds like some NCOIC used poor judgement and will get his peepee swatted. “Boys will be boys” no longer applies.

The city of Fort Walton Beach issued a statement on Saturday advising anyone who wants to file a complaint over the Crab Island incident to contact the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office or the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. Task and Purpose

Of course they are…

Hat tip to Jeff LPH for this one

This was originally written earlier in the week – interesting update:

Eighteen soldiers with the 6th Ranger Training Battalion have been temporarily suspended as instructors pending the outcome of an investigation into a May 16 incident in Florida, during which they allegedly fired blank rounds from their weapons at a public beach, said Jennifer S. Gunn, a spokeswoman for the Army Maneuver Center of Excellence at Fort Benning, Georgia.

Currently, the Ranger instructors cannot train students going through the final stage of the U.S. Army Ranger Course at Camp Rudder, located on Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, Gunn told Task & Purpose on Thursday.  Task and Purpose II

EIGHTEEN? Wow. Suspending an entire phase of Ranger training in effect – obviously the Army is taking this very seriously. Expect that pee-pee whacking to become plural to include some rank reductions and payday hurt, I think.

Category: "The Floggings Will Continue Until Morale Improves", Ranger