In the Air Force's history, only about 300 airmen have had enough grit to make it through the Army's punishing 61-day Ranger School.
But on Dec. 4, Senior Airman Aaron Inch joined that elite cadre.
Inch, a radio operator maintainer and driver assigned to the 13th Air Support Operations Squadron at Fort Carson in Colorado, hopes his new Ranger tab will help him achieve his goal of becoming a Joint Terminal Attack Controller, or JTAC, with a Ranger battalion, according to a Feb. 9 Air Force Space Command release.
Inch's effort to become a Ranger "started out as a curiosity," the release said. He started the two-week Ranger Training Assignment Course that precedes Ranger School at the end of last July, where he learned how to use the M240B and M249 machine guns to hone his weapons skills.
After Inch moved on to Ranger School at Fort Benning, Georgia, Aug. 16, he found that the mental challenges there were even tougher than the physical challenges.
"When it comes down to it, you have to put on a 100-pound ruck when you don't want to," Inch said in the release. "It comes down to your will. You have to have a reason to be there. When you are going through the course, you have to have something you can look at, something to fall back on, something that drives you to keep going."
The Air Force said Inch kept a photo of his wife, Kim, and his dogs to provide that motivation.
Senior Airman Aaron Inch's Ranger tab.
Photo Credit: Air Force photo, Dave Smith
Making it through Ranger School was grueling for Inch. He had to repeat two of the school's three phases -- the four-day initial Ranger Physical Assessment that begins the training and the final water-related field training phase that takes place over 10 days in Florida.
While Inch trained in the Florida swamps, it rained nearly every day. He couldn't stay dry, and his feet became covered in blisters from constantly rucking while being soaked, he said. He shivered for three days straight, he said, and had to huddle with two of his classmates under ponchos to keep warm.
And after all that, when Inch found out he hadn't passed the last phase, "it was a real crusher," he said. He started to do something he had never done before: Doubt he could go the distance.
But his friends and his wife gave him enough encouragement to make it through the last phase and receive his Ranger tab.
"Ranger School definitely teaches stress management, time management and you learn a lot about yourself along the way," Inch said. "Knowing I can make it through Ranger School is a huge confidence builder."
Stephen Losey covers personnel, promotions, and the Air Force Academy for Air Force Times. He can be reached at slosey@airforcetimes.com.
Stephen Losey is the air warfare reporter for Defense News. He previously covered leadership and personnel issues at Air Force Times, and the Pentagon, special operations and air warfare at Military.com. He has traveled to the Middle East to cover U.S. Air Force operations.
