Army Rangers Class Graduates - Minus Four

A new class of U.S. Army Rangers ran howling from the woods Friday to receive the patches earned at the end of 68 grueling days of training. Without tears on a day of celebration, they remembered four comrades who died along the way.

“It’s a celebratory mood right now, but we all feel a loss,” 2nd Lt. Jon Terhune of Lexington, Ky., said. “We’ve dealt with it. We had a memorial service in Florida. We’re happy to be here and proud to graduate.”

About 500 military officials and relatives watched on a brilliantly clear day as the 98 remaining soldiers, dressed in camouflage and shiny black boots, stormed from a pine grove onto the parade field at Fort Benning, the Rangers’ base. Smoke bombs and simulated hand grenades punctuated their howls.

Some of the graduates are in training to join the elite ranks of the Army’s three Ranger battalions; others take the training in hopes of advancing their careers. Each received a black, curved patch with the word RANGER stitched in yellow.

The four soldiers died of exposure Feb. 15 in the swamps of Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., after spending up to eight hours in chest-deep 52-degree water. It was the worst tragedy in the 44-year history of the Ranger training program.

The training simulates harsh battle conditions, and takes soldiers to the desert of Fort Bliss, Texas, the mountains near Dahlonega, Ga., and the swamp.

Training in the water has been halted until the Army’s investigation is complete, Col. Galen Jackman, commander of the Ranger training brigade, said at a news conference after the ceremony.

“We are saddened by our loss. … I am often asked why the good ones die first. The good ones go first because they are the best,” Col. Ralph Puckett, a retired Ranger, told the soldiers. “They are the volunteers.”