National Affairs: The Rangers Lose

In the Revolutionary War, George Washington selected 120 mounted men, called “Rangers,” to meet the enemy at Harlem Heights. That term for tough, elite U.S. troops persisted through the War of 1812. Then it fell into disuse in the federal service, although Texas and some other states had constabulary troops called Rangers. During World War II, the U.S. Army did not adopt the British term “commando,” and again called its special troops Rangers. They moved dangerously behind enemy lines, compiled a heroic record.

Last fall, after enemy infiltraters began doing serious damage in Korea, new units of Rangers were hurriedly organized and trained. In Korea, however, the Ranger idea did not work out too well. Division officers were too busy to spend much time locating objectives and planning special operations for the expert and specially trained Rangers. Also some of the Rangers’ missions were not suited to their equipment and training, and brought disastrous casualties.

Last week it looked as if the Rangers might go out of the Army again: word came from Korea that Ranger companies have been broken up, the men sent individually to the 187th Airborne Regimental Combat Team in Japan.

Explained a general: “In each squad you may have -only one man who really wants to fight. You need him there to influence the other men. Under the Ranger program you had that one man volunteering to be a Ranger, which leaves the squad bare of inspiration to fight.”