Ranger Hall Of Fame Inductees 2011

Centermass

Ranger
Rest In Peace
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Oct 19, 2006
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Whoville
The 19th Annual (2011) Ranger Hall of Fame (RHOF) Ceremony is at 1:30pm, July 27, 2011 at the Bill Heard Theatre in Columbus, Georgia.

MG(R) Eldon A. Bargewell
LTC (R) Donald C. Bowman
LTC (R) Gary E. Dolan
CSM(R) Steven R. England
1SG (R) Sean T. Kelly
COL(R) Paul R. Longgrear
COL(R) Keith M. Nightingale
CSM(R) Luis C. Palacios
CSM(R) Jim R. Pickering
1SG(R) Bonifacio M. Romo
SGM(R) Robert E. Spencer
LTC(R) Stanley Wawrzyniak

Congratulations to them all.

RLTW!
 
CSM Pickering was the 3/75 Bco 1Sgt when I got to Batt in Jan 97.

He was already a legend when I got there. Rumor was that he had been in multiple aircraft crashes and had been the lone survivor in more than one. It was also rumored he held the record for the most confirmed kills with a 90mm recoilless rifle while in Grenada. Not sure what rumors were true, and which were not, but they were cool none-the-less.

It was rumored he was a college professor before joining Batt.

Our first night in Batt (terrifiying for those of you that remember that shit), he stayed late to brief us and make sure we were squared away before turning us over to the wolves.

He would make us sharpen our E-Tools so that we could use them as a last resort.

He refused to workout in the Battalion gym. Instead he would workout on Pedin Feild with heavy rocks and cement blocks. He would throw this heavy-ass rock and then run to it and do it again and again until he made it across the field. He was doing Crossfit before Crossfit was Crossfit. He loved to workout.

I once saw him smoke a 1Lt for walking under the wing on an aircraft on Lawson Army Airfield.

We loved that man. A true Ranger and the very definition of "hard."

Years later after finishing the 2002 BRC, he came up to me at the awards ceremony to congratulate me. I couldn't believe he remembered me (or even knew me). I was just a scared private shitting my pants when we met the first time. I was honored.
 
When he was in HHC, he'd do medicine ball PT for hours on end against the HHC Barracks, my guess is he was going to murder someone in the S shops and would just go work off the hate. My reasoning for that thought process was that there was no specific reliable time that he would be out there trying to put a medicine ball through a wall.

If a young Hooah happened to stroll by, and was unescorted by a TL apparently conducting training/retraining/motivational enhancement... he'd nab you up and you'd join in until he got tired of you.

Many a lunch and dinner was skipped due to the area denial effect of the primary path for Aco and HHC to the chow hall.
 
Colonel Longgrear served as a 1LT at Lag Vei SF Camp (the 1st camp attacked by Tanks during the War in RVN).

Col Longgrear is a graduate of the US Army Airborne, Ranger, Special Forces Courses and numerous military counter terrorism schools including National Security Emergency Preparedness Course given at the Emergency Management Institute in Emmitsburg, Maryland, the 2nd US Army Counter Terrorism Course at Ft Bragg, NC, the Department of Defense Terrorism Counteraction Course presented at the US Army Military Police School, and the Anti-Terrorism Instructor Qualification Course at the John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center at Ft Bragg, NC.
 
This is the topic that brought me to Shadowspear SpecOps... back in 84 Pickering was in my platoon, always reading a manual or book of some sort if he wasn't doing PT....different, but absolutely Ranger. OH, and guess who was the 1SG at the time? Yep, 1SG Palacios, 1 hell of a leader. Never forgot his favorite phrase..." ie ie ie Rangers, the great black Chinook coming to take your 1SG away!" :) I am very proud to see these 2 in the Hall of Fame. Going to the site I see a another very good friend in there, a man most attempted to steer away from because he was so hard...CSM Spears....truely this Hall of Fame contains some of the hardest men to wear the uniform. Congratulations to all those that made Rangers Rangers.​
 
Thanks for the stories, Bud.
I love hearing about the old Rangers.....the standard-setters
 
Wait a second...I'm calling RIGGED!!!! Where in the hell is Pappy Klein at, in the RHoF????? !!!!!!!! That or Mike Hummel, who is currently Dean of Liberal Studies...true studs!!! Heck we jumped back in from Germany to activate 3rd and they Yanked Hummel to leave us to go start it up....man...where the heck to you submit entries???? Anyone know?
 
ok..maybe not so rigged. Just got done corresponding with CSM Spears, who I found had been inducted earlier...I knew he HAD to be in there. Well, I can only hope that in the near future Pappy Klein will be added, along with Hummel....those 2 stand out the most in my mind as a newbie that were real Rangers. 1SG or Pickering, if you just happen to come across this site and read this.... CONGRATULATIONS!!!
 
CSM Pickering was the 3/75 Bco 1Sgt when I got to Batt in Jan 97.

He was already a legend when I got there. Rumor was that he had been in multiple aircraft crashes and had been the lone survivor in more than one. It was also rumored he held the record for the most confirmed kills with a 90mm recoilless rifle while in Grenada. Not sure what rumors were true, and which were not, but they were cool none-the-less.

It was rumored he was a college professor before joining Batt.

Our first night in Batt (terrifiying for those of you that remember that shit), he stayed late to brief us and make sure we were squared away before turning us over to the wolves.

He would make us sharpen our E-Tools so that we could use them as a last resort.

He refused to workout in the Battalion gym. Instead he would workout on Pedin Feild with heavy rocks and cement blocks. He would throw this heavy-ass rock and then run to it and do it again and again until he made it across the field. He was doing Crossfit before Crossfit was Crossfit. He loved to workout.

I once saw him smoke a 1Lt for walking under the wing on an aircraft on Lawson Army Airfield.

We loved that man. A true Ranger and the very definition of "hard."

Years later after finishing the 2002 BRC, he came up to me at the awards ceremony to congratulate me. I couldn't believe he remembered me (or even knew me). I was just a scared private shitting my pants when we met the first time. I was honored.
I just did my introduction post and I use The Pick's name as one of the legends of early 80's Aco 2/75. If he frightened you as a 1SG imagine how terrifying he was as a RIP instructor. The company had sent him there so he could recover from severe shin splints. Yet there he was rucking our dicks into the dirt with half broken legs. The man is harder than woodpecker lips.
 
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