Canter Bridge

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My sons will enter separate universities this Autumn. Each will enter as an Army ROTC cadet and—by plan at least—emerge four years later as a college graduate and a commissioned officer in the United States Army.

I don’t fully understand what makes these strong-sensitive lads of mine yearn to enter the ranks of America’s warriors, particularly since their growing-up years were spent almost exclusively in Costa Rica and England. Yet knowing these two strapping third-culture kids the way I do, one or both is likely to end up in Ranger School.

I thought I’d better study up.

And what a way to begin my education! Russ Bryant’s To be a US Army Ranger is not full of the agonized ethical self-doubts suffered by many of my peers. It takes the mission for granted and tells the story of how the Army’s version of special operations trains an excellent soldier to be a Ranger.

Clearly, they know how to create an elite force with the highest level of skill and a devout adherence to the Ranger Creed (yes, it’s called that).

I believe many families of Ranger candidates will find this book very useful in bridging the gap between what their sons experience as they earn the Ranger tab and what those of us on the outside can only begin to imagine.

I’m already proud of my two sons, who have overcome adversity, seized opportunity, and kept themselves in the game through twenty and eighteen years of life, respectively. Respect is not on the table. But when I see them in uniform for the first time, the heart will swell. And, if ever, I have a son who is a US Army Ranger, I’ll remember this book and the first glimpse I had of a corps of warriors that—out there somewhere and in the mix of an ethically confused world, does unwanted tasks that by and large serve the cause of justice—keeps the Creed.