Ranger School...

Dear Friends,

This Sunday I report to the school which I have anticipated for the past 5 years of my life. Ranger School is said to be "the hardest thing I will ever do." Only about 30% of its students make it through all 3 phases without recycling at least 1 phase. Overall only about 55% pass the course. The first phase is Benning phase and will be right here at Ft. Benning. If I get through that phase without trouble, then I will get to go to Mountain phase up in northern Georgia. The final stage is Swamp phase down in Florida. Each one of these phases (~20 days each) will bring its own challenges, and it is rumored that every Ranger student wants to quit at least once. With this in mind my goals are as follows: although I would love to make it through without recycling, I realize that I can't go into this school with a time line. Even those who do make it straight through admit that much of it was luck. Therefore, my overall goal is to never give up and to complete the school representing Christ as best as I can. I will have plenty of opportunities to share my faith and serve others considering the stresses and toils during training. Your prayers for my physical health, mental strength, and spiritual testing will be the most helpful thing you can do for me. I no longer approach any school in the Army with fear or timidity. Rather I go into them with faith knowing that God has given me the ability and opportunity to finish everything I encounter...the end state is really just out of my control.

During the middle of the school there is a Winter Exodus Break. It goes from 17 Dec to 03 Jan, and I will be in Chicago from 19 Dec to 01 Jan. I would love to see as many friends and family as possible so keep those dates in mind. Also, I won't really be able to have much contact with the outside world, but I can receive letters. My address is listed below, but it will change during phase changes. Thank you all for your support so far...I have been truly blessed down here at Ft. Benning.

David Fahs
4th Ranger Training Battalion
ATTN: Class 002, Company ?
10850 Schneider Rd.
Fort Benning, GA 31905

Additional Info. about Ranger School and what I'm doing can be found at... https://www.benning.army.mil/rtb/rtbmain.asp

Officially An Infantry Officer...

Dear Friends,

I am now officially an Infantry Officer. I now wear the "Infantry Blue" cord on my dress uniform, and I am now qualified to actually lead men in combat (although I do have some more training before that). Anyway, the graduation ceremony was good, and my parents were there to see it. My parents and I have been able to hang out a lot since they've been down here, and they've gotten to meet a lot of my friends. One of those friends is Tim Speace who will be here for the next 3 weeks for Airborne School. He's gonna get done with this school and then move on to Ft. Campbell. It continues to surprise me how crazy life is in the Army. My path continues to cross with my friends during the most unexpected of circumstances...standing in line at the chow hall or walking around post. The Army is certainly a small world.

My parents leave tonight, and then I have to make some final preparations for my next school. I'll send out one more post before Nov. 5 to let you know what's going on. I plan on eating lots of food, sleeping plenty, and relaxing for the next 7 days. Until then...

I Have Been "Leader Forged!"

Dear Friends,

This last week on Wednesday my IOBC Company carried out its final mission...an attack onto a small village housing 15 bad guys. We finished the mission successfully and then realized that we were finally done (for the most part). The rest of the week went very well. I began as the Platoon Leader for our final platoon Live Fire Exercise. It was an attack on a suspected weapons cache which consisted of more than a day of planning, rehearsals, and then finally the live fire. My platoon did great, and we then moved on to 3 days straight of missions. We got very little sleep, and we were by far the hardest working platoon in the company running longer and more frequent missions. They ranged from 2 mile movements through the woods at night with our NVGs to day foot patrols through the town where we set up a combat outpost.

Other highlights included a Blackhawk helicopter ride and my company playing the role of rioting civilians. We did this to train a Military Police unit who just happened to be in the same area...they came out with shields and full riot gear. We got some of the clashes on video, and they were hilarious watching our guys get into the role.

Anyway, all we have left to do is clean our weapons, turn in gear, and begin out-processing. Another worthy mention is that I got the Company Distinguished Honor Graduate award. I was not expecting it, and it really is an honor considering the other 160 LTs that I'm being compared to. God really does continue to grant me success and favor. I am simply taking it as it comes. Thursday is graduation and my parents are coming down which is sweet. I'm looking forward to finally moving on with my training. Bye~

Light At The End Of The Tunnel...

Dear Friends,

This entry will probably be a little longer than normal for two reasons. For one, there is much to talk about, and secondly I will be in the field over this next weekend and won't be able to send out a message. Anyway, this last week went really well. It was a relatively easy week in A/C buildings with plenty to make the time fly by. I am now Army Combatives Level I certified after getting punched in the face a few times in our final test (to prove I can close the distance with a fighter and take him to the ground). I also took the final PT test and the Ranger 5-mile test which I ran in 29:37. After doing well in these it looks as though I'm guaranteed a slot in the Nov. 5 Ranger School slot. At the end of the week we took our Infantry Tactics exam which I scored well in. Overall, I'm done with most of the odds and ends of the requirements for graduation from IOBC. Now I only need to stay healthy and complete this last field week.

We have both Monday and Tuesday off, but on Wednesday we head out to the field one last time. We'll be doing a platoon live fire first in which we will maneuver and fire as a platoon. These always take awhile because the Army is so crazy about safety. We should be done with that by Friday which is when we'll start our final platoon tactical missions. We start with an Air Assault mission (helicopter insertion) into our training area. The next few days will be filled with wood line and urban operations. The coolest thing we'll be doing is probably setting up a Combat Outpost in the urban training city. We'll set it up and man it for 24 hrs straight, and it apparently is very close to what units are actually doing in Baghdad right now. The final mission will be a company level (4 platoons) assault onto a city which begins with a 12-mile ruck march from the start point to the objective. It should be a smoker at the end of 4 straight days of operations. I have no idea exactly how hard this final exercise will be for me and my platoon, but I would appreciate your prayers for safety, strength, and success in our training. It is incredibly important to me that I finish strong...too many people give up in the final phases of training when they see the light at the end of the tunnel.

For now I will continue to enjoy my 4-day weekend...also, 3 more folks from my ROTC Battalion just arrived down here at Ft. Benning. It's always nice to see familiar faces. Bye!