— 7
Rudder’s Rangers staged an activity known as a “quad
assault” in the Cor'ps quad at the end of February.
(top photo) Dawn breaks over the enemy camp. A U.S.
airman is being held in the hut located to the left.
(middle photo) Rudder’s Rangers attack the camp,
wipe out the enemy and retrieve the airman.
(bottom photo) The camp is rigged with explosives and
is then destroyed.
This time, the wait wall be
shorter.
The sun begins to rise as the
second hands on the soldiers'
watches sweep toward the time
to attack. The guards in the
camp, unaware the} 7 are being
watched, move drowsily as the
morning skv turns a light shade
of violet.
The birds have just to chirp
when the popping sound of au
tomatic gunfire fills the air. A
guard falls as his companions
hit the dirt and begin scram
bling for cover. They fire back
blindly, hoping to hit their at
tackers even though they
haven't pinpointed the source
of the enemy gunfire.
A series of explosions rip the
ground in front of the camp,
filling the area with smoke. Un
til now the soldiers have held
their positions, firing into the
camp from hiding but as the
smoke builds, they race toward
the enemy, firing their weapons
all the way.
By the time the soldiers have
broached the barbed wire ring
around the camp, most of the
guards have been killed and
those remaining meet their end
at the guns of fatigue-clad
death masks. The U.S. airman
is retrieved from the hut, which
is then rigged with explosives.
The soldiers leave with a
bang as the hut explodes, blow
ing the roof into the air. The
scorecard reads: all enemy
killed, all good guys alive and
one airman retrieved.
It's pure Hollywood, and the
guvs from Rudder's Rangers
luiow it. Instead of being car
ried out in a foreign country,
the attack, known as a quad as
sault, was put on at morning
formation in the Corps area.
The Rangers wdio participated
in the attack, ran to the steps of
Duncan Hall where they stood
at parade rest as the rest of the
Corps dragged in on their way
to morning chow.
Then, instead of being ferried
out of enemy territory by wait
ing helicopters, the Rangers
w^ent back to the quad to clean
up what was left of the enemy
camp.
“Yeah, the quad assault is
really Hollywood,'’ says Robert
Ford, a senior in Rudder's Rang
ers and one of the participants
in the assault. “I don't really
like them (the assaults), but it's
good PR and a good way to
draw people into the organiza
tion. But it’s not what I think
Rudder’s Rangers is all about."
What Rudder's Rangers is
about is motivation, he says.
Named in memory of Texas
AfivM graduate Earl Rudder,
who was commanding officer
of the 2nd Ranger Battalion in
World War II and holder of the
Distinguished Service Cross,
Rudder’s Rangers were formed
to provide leadership training
for the more motivated mem
bers of the Corps of Cadets. The
goal of the program is to pre
pare junior Army ROTC cadets
for summer camp or the more
rigorous Ranger School, which
is the toughest school the U.S.
Army runs.
The training members of
Ranger Company receive is ad-
venture-type training, which
means participants spend time
on weekends or during vaca
tions sharpening their lead
ership and tactical skills in the
field. It’s a grueling npe of
training, both mentally and
physically and a far cry from
the demonstration seen on the
quad.
But Ford savs a lot of people
are attracted to the group by
what they see in a quad assault.
“But when they get here,
Bam! they get hit with what
really goes on,” Ford says.
Captain Gerald Collins, mili
tary advisor to Rudder’s Rang
ers say the group traditionally
starts with about 130 partici
pants even 7 fall, but the num
ber drops quickly. The program
is completely voluntary so par
ticipants aren't under any obli
gation to stick it out.
‘‘After the first two or three
exercises,” Collins says, “where
they go out and they get a little
tired and a little hungry, and
they find out that it's not all
‘Rambo’ and John Wayne and
Chuck Norris and that there's
continued on p.8