Ranger Training With Blood And Sweat

The young officer graduated from the Engineering Faculty of ‘Zrínyi Miklós’ University of National Defence in 2003, and he was assigned to HDF 1st Light Mixed Regiment at Szolnok. Following the restructuring of the corps he was promoted sergeant of the 2nd company of the 25/88 Battalion. He was assigned to his current position only a few weeks ago, on 15 April.

Lieutenant Virágos-Kis is a lucky man, or at least he believes he is, since a mere three years after his officers’ pledge he had a chance to go to the United States of America, where he managed to complete three consecutive trainings in various fields with success.

The first training course was the so-called Infantry Officer Basic Course (IOBC), which is a 16-week training for infantry sergeants. It was followed by a 2-week pre-ranger course, which, as the title indicates, is a ‘warm up-tune in’ training for the Ranger course. As soon as this training course ended, ‘hell on earth’, namely the 9-week-long torture commenced. The Ranger training is one of the toughest — or even the toughest – army preparation courses worldwide. There are only a few who are capable of fulfilling the requirements. Fortunately, the Hungarian officer was among these few, and what is more, he passed each phase for the first go, earning his ‘Ranger’ tab in nearly two months.

“This training course has a very good reputation in the US Army. For troops aspiring for a position with the paratrooper or air transport corps the completion of this course is an unwritten prerequisite. For instance one of my American acquaintances wasn’t admitted to the paratrooper unit stationed in Italy because he didn’t have a Ranger tab. He was transferred to an armoured corps in Germany instead" – says Lieutenant Virágos-Kis, in the opininon of whom the completion of the Ranger training course is a basic requirement for officers. The reason being that this course is principally a battle management commanders’ training.

There are only very few soldiers worldwide who are given the opportunity to participate in the Ranger preparation course of the US Army. It is difficult to gain admittance to the course, and it takes ‘blood and sweat’ to complete it. The number of dropouts is very high, which is not a coincidence, since the tab can be earned only by those who are capable of surviving ‘hell on earth’ and have both the physical and mental aptitude required by a Ranger, in other words a combat commander. Among the troops serving with the Hungarian Defence Forces there are only 14 officers and non-commissioned officers who succeeded so far. These people know each other well and the experiences they have gained in the course of the preparations in America connect them.

Lieutenant Virágos-Kis also tells me that the members of the ‘Hungarian Ranger Club’ often contact each other, because their knowledge is a great asset when it comes to the organization or execution of various national trainings, for instance a basic or an advanced infantry training or the Special Combat Infantry Course. The latter is the most demanding special training within the HDF and many like to call it the Hungarian equivalent of the Ranger course. Of course, this is only true to a certain extent because the Hungarian course is far less difficult then its American counterpart, and there are discrepancies in the topics, as well. While the Ranger course lasts 9 weeks (if all goes well), the Hungarian SCI Course takes 5 weeks, for example. In addition to that Hungarians put more emphasis on the infantry training of participants, but the swamp phase is omitted from the syllabus and the alpine training phase is considerably simpler, too.

With the Szolnok 25/88 Light Mixed Battalion there are four soldiers who had completed the American Ranger Course with success: besides Lieutenant Virágos-Kis, Major Szabolcs Pécsvárady, the training commander of the corps, Lieutenant Sándor Farkas, a deputy company commander, and Warrant Officer László Nagy, the commanding WO of the battalion are all proud to wear the Ranger tab on their uniforms.

Sándor likes to recall both the Ranger Course and the infantry sergeant training, where he learned what the duties of a sergeant are: how to lead a unit, and how to command a live shooting practice for the platoon. The Lieutenant reckons that the American course was a very good foundation, since at the university the students do not master the basics of small unit tactics to the required extent, and a lieutenant has to face these tasks right at the beginning of his military career. Therefore – in the opinion of Lieutenant Virágos-Kis – every officer serving as a sergeant should be enrolled in this American course, so that they can utilize what they have learned abroad upon their return to Hungary.