Talk:United States Army Rangers/@comment-68.57.167.77-20170210211828

I know the heritage and legacy of the U.S. Army Rangers is pretty well set in stone. The line is that in the Civil War, Mosby's "Rangers" represented the step in U.S. military history leading to modern Ranger Battalions. I beg to differ. A little background. When I was a freshman and sophomore at Auburn University, I volunteered for Army ROTC. During the entire two years I drilled and trained with the Ranger Company, which among among other training,  rappelling, map reading and orienteering, patrolling, hand-to-hand combat, held FTX in nearby Fort Benning six times a year. While not enlisted in the Army per se, I experienced first hand much of Ranger training 1976-1978. As an amateur military historian with interest in the Civil War, I was fascinated by the Sharpshooter Battalions of the Confederate Army, particularly the Army of Northern Virginia. It turns out that in the mid-nineteenth century, "sharpshooter" designated not simply what we would term "sniper" today, but rather a highly-trained light infantryman. The Confederate sharpshooter battalions were recruited from existing units and the men so designated were detached from these to form the battalions; there were no rolls of sharpshooters, but the men remained on the muster rolls of their primary enlistments. Consequently, with no rolls of sharpshooter designated, these units have fallen under the historical radar. The only lists of men who served were compiled postbellum by officers who commanded the battalions. I would consider that these specialized battalions of infantry were employed within the post-1862 operations of the ANV much as Ranger Battalions were in WWII;  almost exactly, in fact. I think the heritage of the U.S. Army Rangers reaches directly to these Confederate organizations. About the best and only examination of the CS Sharpshooter Battalions is found in  http://www.amazon.com/Shock-Troops-Confederacy-Sharpshooter-Battalions/dp/0964958597. I would recommend a thorough examination of this text. I would entertain any response to what I believe is an unrecognized aspect of American military history.

Scott W. Owens, DVM