44 struck by lightening at Ranger School
Bobo sends us a link to Military.com which reports that 40 Ranger students and 4 Ranger Instructors were hospitalized yesterday when the class was struck by lightening. The class has two female students, but neither was injured.
“The Ranger students and instructors reacted and got everyone proper medical care quickly,” Col. David Fivecoat, commander of the Airborne and Ranger Training Brigade, said in the release.
“Ranger students and instructors are tough; 31 students will return to training tonight and continue with increased medical monitoring as they try to earn their Ranger tab,” he added.
Unlike Bobo, I don’t think this was a warning from God to Ashton Carter in regards to female Rangers. I remember one year at ROTC Advanced Camp, lightening struck a platoon defensive perimeter of cadets and sent twenty to the hospital as it skipped from cadet to cadet around the circle. All survived, but lightening loves to strike soldiers for some reason.
It looks like most of the Ranger students are already back in training and I hope the others make back soon.
Category: Army News
I’m glad that nobody died and hope that the ones still in the hospital make it out soon.
I know at least one of my callouse buddies that are Ranger qualified would say something like “at least they got a couple extra hours of sleep in the hospital”.
I can imagine how the conversation will go whenever one of their troops complains about something being difficult.
Soldier: Sergeant I just can’t do it
Sergeant: I was struck by lightning and still got my tab, now shut the f*ck up and quite being a pu**y
>This!<
This happened here at Camp James E. Rudder, where I commit my troop support effort. So far, I have only seen press releases with numbers allover the place, from 18 to 50 involved. If I get any hard info from my ranger Instructor friends I will share it here.
That’s ONE way to get yer batteries charged!! Wrow! Com’er, baby! Mah batteries has got a FULL charge’on! Woof!
No “e” in “lightning.” (Unless they were training in a cave to lose the tan.)
Or using some bleaching chemicals….
They’re all blondes now. ?
Seriously, I hope everyone affected heals quickly and completely.
Tough guys indeed….
War Story Alert:
There I was in an elevated guard tower at RAF Schulthorpe, England about 1960. The nuc storage area was double fenced and our commo was the old crank field phones with the wires strung along the fence line from the guard shack to each of the towers. I was talking on the phone one minute and waking up on the floor the next. Apparently lightening his the fence and the voltage traveled through the phone lines. Didn’t have any apparent injuries but did not want to go through that drill again. Rangers are tuff, etc., but I question their leadership unnecessarily exposing them to the danger since these storms are easily forecast. RANGERS LEAD THE WAY!
You were fine until your last comment. Lightning is NOT always ‘easily forecast,’ particularly in the South. You can have ‘clear’ skies and have lightning. I was in a stall with a horse on a clear sunny day in Georgia many years ago, when the world lit up with light and was torn apart with thunder. I thought we’d been nuked, and the horse promptly decided that one of my pockets was the place to be. There was no sign of a storm, and that one bolt of lightning and crack of thunder was all there was. I’m pretty sure the Rangers got the same treatment.
Lightning can strike miles away from any obvious storm. It’s due to a buildup of electrical potential, which commonly occurs in storms – but technically I’m pretty sure that they coexist, more than one causing the other.
For you golfers – remember the time Lee Trevino had a near miss? He was walking down a fairway carrying a 1-iron (a freakin’ near impossible club to hit properly) and lightning struck near him – knocked hm to the ground but missed him by about 30 feet. His comment was “See? Even GOD can’t hit a 1-iron!”
I 2nd Pinto Nag’s point about lightning in the South at least. It’s Scouting, not military, but in the Midwest a few years ago we lost a Scout leader to a lightning bolt that came from 10 miles away, over the horizon. Where the Scout leader and the Scouts were there were clear blue skies.
I’ve survived a bolt that hit 8′ away from me – but that’s another story, another time.
From Army Times:
“The students were learning lightning protection protocols at the time of the incident.”
So they had THAT going for them – talk about an object lesson…
When I was in 1st Batt it was customary for Winter Rangers to sew on their Ranger Tabs with white thread to embrace the suck that is going through Ranger School in winter.
These guys should adopt something similar. Lightning is some scary shit. These guys are studs!
Some guys will do anything to get out of training!
Seriously, glad to know most are back and hope none of the remaining have any serious injuries.
I hope some of them got cool super powers out of it.
I hope some of them got cool super powers out of it.
They will …. once they can “profile” that left shoulder!
After graduation it is not uncommon to notice new Ranger qualified soldiers walking around with their left shoulder ever-so-slightly in the lead.
That tab gives one super-human powers … so I’ve been led to believe.
I suggest gold thread in a distinctive zigzag pattern, on everything attached to their uniform gear. Or maybe little lightning bolt shoelace charms. Something on the hat, perhaps. If someone questions it, they can simply discharge static in response.
Geez, it’s the ONE thing I worry about in any storm. Tornadoes are less intense.
Think “lightening” (trying to lose weight?) is tough? Try “lightning”.
Candidates, you are a “go” at the “see lightning, hear thunder” station. Move on to your next objective.
Could it have been Thor Himself telling them via his Mjolnir that they were a NO GO at that station?
This story is just Shocking!
Sorry, had to do that.
Sadly we lost a Soldier to lightning when I was in the Guard at Ft Dix
http://www.nytimes.com/1998/05/04/nyregion/national-guardsman-killed-by-lightning-at-fort-dix.html