RANGER HISTORY

The history of the U.S. Ranger did not begin with Robert Rogers in the 1750's. There were in fact units specifically designated as Rangers and Ranger tactics were employed on the American frontier as early as 1670. Such as the Rangers of Captain Benjamin Church who brought the Indian Conflict known as "King Phillip's War" to a successful conclusion in 1675.

Rangers were organized in 1756 by Major Robert Rogers, a native of New Hampshire, who recruited nine companies of American colonists to fight for the British during the French and Indian War. Ranger techniques and methods of operation were an inherent characteristic of the American frontiersmen; however, Major Rogers was the first to capitalize on them and incorporate them into the fighting doctrine of a permanently organized fighting force.

In the French and Indian War (1754-1763), the famous Robert Rogers developed the Ranger concept to an extent never known before.

A soldier from boyhood, Rogers had a magnetic personality. Operating in the days when commanders personally recruited their men, he was articulate and persuasive, and knew his trade. He published a list of 28 common sense rules, and a set of standing orders stressing operational readiness, security, and tactics.

Rogers established a training program in which he personally supervised the application of his rules. By June of 1758, Robert Rogers was conducting live-fire training exercises. His operations were characterized by solid preparation and bold movements. When other units were bivouacked in winter quarters, Rangers moved against the French and Indians by the use of snowshoes, sleds, and even ice skates. In a time when the English colonists were struggling, Roger's Rangers carried the war to the enemy with scouting parties and raids.

His most famous expedition was a daring raid against the fierce Abenaki Indians. With a force of 200 Rangers, traveling by boat and over land, Rogers covered 400 miles in about 60 days. Penetrating deep into enemy territory, and despite losses en route, the Rangers attacked and destroyed the Indian settlement and killed several hundred Indians; the Abenaki were no longer a threat.

Rangers continued to patrol the border and defend the colonists against sporadic Indian attacks for the next decade. When the time came for the colonies to fight for their independence, the American Rangers were ready.

MORGANS RANGERS

On June 14, 1775, with war on the horizon, the Continental Congress resolved that "six companies of expert riflemen be immediately raised in Pennsylvania, two in Maryland, and two in Virginia."

In 1777, this force of hardy frontiersmen provided the leadership and experiences necessary to form, under Dan Morgan, the organization George Washington called "The Corps of Rangers."

According to British General John Burgoyne, Morgan's men were "...the most famous corps of the Continental Army, all of them crack shots."

Also active during the Revolutionary War were Thomas Knowlton's Connecticut Rangers. This force of less than 150 hand-picked men was used primarily for reconnaissance. Knowlton was killed leading his men in action at Harlem Heights.

The greatest guerrilla fighter in the American Revolution was Francis Marion. Incredibly daring, he terrorized the entire British Army in South Carolina, striking with fantastic swiftness, then vanishing ghost-like into the swamps. To chase him was a futile nightmare, for the Swamp Fox was too clever and too fearless.

Born near Georgetown, South Carolina, Marion was for years a peaceful farmer. When the Cherokees began their massacres he began his fighting career, learning the Indian techniques of surprise attack and sudden disappearance, how to use swamps and forests as cover.

Thus when England sent a vast fleet to capture Charleston, Marion was already a brilliant strategist. From a tiny, unfinished island fort he defied fifty warships of the greatest navy in the world. He and his men crippled the entire British fleet and saved the city, though they lacked adequate ammunition, achieving the first important victory of the American Revolution.

When Charleston fell to the enemy, Marion escaped and formed Marion's Brigade, one hundred fifty tattered, penniless patriots. None received pay, food or even ammunition from the Continental Army. The only reward they sought was freedom from tyranny, freedom for America.

MOSBYS RANGERS

The Confederate Colonel John S. Mosby commanded the best-known Rangers of the Civil War period. Mosby's Rangers operated behind Union limes south of the Potomac. From a three-man scout unit in 1862, Mosby's force grew to an operation of eight companies of Rangers by 1865.

He believed that by the use of aggressive action and surprise assaults, he would compel the Union forces to guard a hundred points at one time. Then, by skillful reconnaissance, he could locate one of the weakest points and attack it, assured of victory. On his raids, Mosby employed small members, usually 20 to 50 men. With nine men, he once attacked and routed an entire Union regiment in its bivouac.

Equally skillful were the Rangers under the command of Colonel Turner Ashby, a Virginian widely known for his daring.

The Rangers of Ashby and Mosby did great service for the Confederacy. Specialists in scouting, harassing, and raiding, they were a constant threat and kept large numbers of Union troops occupied.

Rangers who fought for the United States during the Civil War should also be mentioned. Although often overlooked in historical accounts, Mean's Rangers captured Confederate General Longstreet's ammunition train, and even succeeded in engaging and capturing a portion of Colonel Mosby's force.

With America's entry into the Second World War, Rangers came forth to add to the pages of history. Major General Lucian K. Truscott, U. S. Army Liaison with the British General Staff, submitted proposals to General George Marshal that "we undertake immediately an American unit along the lines of the British Commandos" on May 26, 1942. A cable from the War Department quickly followed to Truscott and Major General Russell P. Hartle, commanding all Army Forces in Northern Ireland, authorizing the activation of the First U. S. Army Ranger Battalion.

The name RANGER was selected by General Truscott "because the name Commandos rightfully belonged to the British, and we sought a name more typically American. It was therefore fit that the organization that was destined to be the first of the American Ground Forces to battle Germans on the European continent should be called Rangers in compliment to those in American history who exemplified the high standards of courage, initiative, determination and ruggedness, fighting ability and achievement."

After much deliberation, General Hartle decided that his own aid-de-camp Captain William Orlando Darby, a graduate of West Point with amphibious training was the ideal choice. This decision was highly approved by General Truscott who rated Darby as "outstanding in appearance, possessed of a most attractive personality....and filled with enthusiasm."

Promoted to major, Darby performed a near miracle in organizing the unit within a few weeks after receiving his challenging assignment. Thousands of applicants from the 1st Armored Division and the 34th Infantry Division and other units in N. Ireland were interviewed by his hand-picked officers, and after a strenuous weeding out program at Carrickfergus, the First Ranger Battalion was officially activated there on 19 June, 1942.

But more rugged and realistic training with live ammunition was in store for the Rangers at the famed Commando Training Center at Achnacarry, Scotland. Coached, prodded and challenged by the battle-seasoned Commando instructors, commanded by Colonel Charles Vaughan, the Rangers learned the rudiments of Commando warfare. Five hundred of the six hundred volunteers that Darby brought with him to Achnacarry survived the Commando training with flying colors, although one Ranger was killed and several wounded by live fire.

Meanwhile forty-four enlisted men and five officers took part in the Dieppe Raid sprinkled among the Canadians and the British Commandos-the first American ground soldiers to see action against the Germans in occupied Europe. Three Rangers were killed, several captured and all won the commendation and esteem of the Commandos. Under the inspired leadership of Darby, promoted to Lt. Colonel, the 1st Ranger Battalion spearheaded the North African Invasion at the Port of Arzew, Algeria by a silent night landing, silenced two gun batteries and opened the way for the First Infantry Division to capture Oran.

Later in Tunisia the 1st Battalion executed the first Ranger behind-the-lines night raid at Sened, killing a large number of defenders and taking ten prisoners with only one Ranger killed and ten wounded. On March 31, 1943 the 1st Ranger Battalion led General Patton's drive to capture the heights of El Guettar with a twelve-mile night march across mountainous terrain, surprising the enemy positions from the rear. By dawn the Rangers swooped down on the surprised Italians, cleared the El Guettar Pass and captured two hundred prisoners. For this action the Battalion won its first Presidential Citation and Darby won his first DSC.

After Tunisia, the 3rd and 4th Ranger Battalions with the 1st Battalion as cadre were activated and trained by Darby for the invasion of Sicily at Nemours, Algeria in April 1943. Major Herman Dammer assumed command of the 3rd, Major Roy Murray the 4th, and Darby remained CO of the 1st but in effect was in command of what became known as the Darby Rangers force.

The three Ranger units spearheaded the Seventh Army landing at Gela and Licata and played a key role in the Sicilian campaign that culminated in the capture of Messina.

The three Battalions were the first Fifth Army troops to land during the Italian Invasion near Salerno. They quickly seized the strategic heights on both sides of Chinuzi Pass and fought off eight German counterattacks, winning two Distinguished Unit Citations. It was here that Colonel Darby commanded a force of over ten thousand troops, elements of the 36th Division, several companies of the 82nd Airborne Division and artillery elements, and it was here that the Fifth Army advance against Naples was launched with the British 10th Corps.

All three Ranger units later fought in the bitter winter mountain fighting near San Pietro, Venafro and Cassino. Then after a short period of rest, reorganizing and recruiting new volunteers, the three Ranger Battalions, reinforced with the 509 Parachute Battalion, the 83rd Chemical Warfare, 4.2 Mortar Battalion and 36th Combat Engineers, were designated as the 6615 Ranger Force under the command of Darby who was finally promoted to Colonel. This Force spearheaded the surprise night landings at the Port of Anzio, captured two gun batteries, seized the city and struck out to enlarge the beachhead before dawn-a classic Ranger operation.

On the night of January 30, 1944, the 1st and 3rd Battalions infiltrated 5 miles behind the German Lines while the 4th Battalion fought to clear the road toward Cisterna, a key 5th Army objective. But preparing for a massive counterattack, the Germans had reinforced their lines the night before, and both the 1st and 3rd were surrounded and greatly outnumbered. The beleaguered Rangers fought bravely, inflicting many casualties but ammunition and time ran out, and all along the beachhead front supporting troops could not break through the strong German positions. Among the KIA was the 3rd Battalion CO, Major Alvah Miller, and the 1st Battalion CO, Major John Dobson, was wounded. The tragic loss of the 1st and 3rd Battalions combined with the heavy casualties the 4th Battalion sustained, however, was not entirely in vain, for later intelligence revealed that the Ranger-led attack on Cisterna had helped spike the planned German counterattack and thwarted Hitler's order to "Push the Allies into the sea."

But other Ranger units proudly carried on and enhanced the Ranger standards and traditions in the European Theater Operations. The 2nd Ranger Battalion, activated on April 1st, 1943, at Camp Forrest, Tennessee trained and led by Lt. Colonel James Earl Rudder, carried out the most desperate and dangerous mission of the entire Omaha Beach landings - in Normandy, June 6th, 1944. General Bradley said of Colonel Rudder, "Never has any commander been given a more desperate mission."

Three companies, D, E, and F assaulted the perpendicular cliffs of Point Du Hoc under intense machine-gun, mortar and artillery fire and destroyed a large gun battery that would have wreaked havoc on the Allied fleets offshore. For two days and nights they fought without relief until the 5th Ranger Battalion linked up with them. Later with the 5th Battalion, the 2nd played a key role in the attacks against the German fortifications around Brest in the La Coquet Peninsular.

This unit fought through the bitter Central Europe campaign and won commendations for its heroic actions in the battle of Hill 400. The 2nd Ranger Battalion earned the Distinguished Unit Citation and the Croix de Guerre and was inactivated at Camp Patrick Henry October 23rd, 1945.

The Fifth Ranger Battalion activated September 1, 1943 at Camp Forrest, commanded by Lt. Colonel Max Schneider, former exec officer of the 4th Ranger Battalion, was part of the provisional Ranger Assault Force commanded by Colonel Rudder. It landed on Omaha Beach with three companies of the 2nd Bn., A, B and C, where elements of the 116th Regiment of the 29th Inf. Division were pinned down by murderous cross fire and mortars from the heights above. It was there that the situation was so critical that General Omar Bradley was seriously considering redirecting reinforcements to other areas of the beachhead. And it was then and there that General Norman D. Cota, Assistant Division Commander of the 29th Division, gave the now famous order that has become the Motto of the 75th Ranger Regiment:

The Fifth Battalion Rangers broke across the sea wall and barbed wire entanglements, and up the pillbox-rimmed heights under intense enemy machine-gun and mortar fire and with A and B Companies of the 2nd Battalion and some elements of the 116th Infantry Regiment, advanced four miles to the key town of Vierville, thus opening the breach for supporting troops to follow-up and expand the beachhead. Meanwhile C Company of the 2nd Battalion, due to rough seas, landed west of the Vierville draw and suffered 50% casualties during the landing, but still scaled a 90 foot cliff using ropes and bayonets to knock out a formidable enemy position that was sweeping the beach with deadly fire.

The Fifth Battalion with elements of the 116th Regiment finally linked up with the beleaguered 2nd Battalion on D+3, although Lt. Charles Parker of A Company, 5th Battalion, had penetrated deep behind enemy lines on D Day and reached the 2nd Battalion with 20 prisoners. Later, with the 2nd Battalion the unit distinguished itself in the hard-fought battle of Brest. Under the leadership of Lt. Colonel Richard Sullivan the Fifth Ranger Battalion took part in the Battle of the Bulge, Huertgen Forest and other tough battles throughout central Europe, winning two Distinguished Unit Citations and the French Croix de Guerre. The outfit was deactivated October 2 at Camp Miles Standish, Massachusetts.

The Sixth Ranger Battalion, commanded by Colonel Henry (Hank) Mucci, was the first American force to return to the Philippines with the mission of destroying coastal defense guns, radio and radar stations on the islands of Dinegat, Suluan offshore Leyte. This was the first mission for the 6th Battalion that was activated at Port Moresby, New Guinea in September 1944. Landing three days in advance of the main Sixth Army Invasion Force on October 17-18, 1944, they swiftly killed and captured some of the Japanese defenders and destroyed all enemy communications.

The unit took part in the landings of US forces in Luzon, and several behind the lines patrols, penetrations and small unit raids, that served to prime the Rangers for what to become universally known as the greatest and most daring raid in American military history. On January 30th, 1944, C Company, supported by a platoon from F. Company, struck 30 miles behind enemy lines and rescued five hundred emaciated and sickly POWs, survivors of the Bataan Death March. Carrying many of the prisoners on their backs, the Rangers, aided by Filipino guerrillas, killed over two hundred of the garrison, evaded two Japanese regiments, and reached the safety of American lines the following day. Intelligence reports had indicated the Japanese were planning to kill the prisoners as they withdrew toward Manila. Good recon work by the Alamo Scouts also contributed to the success of the Cabanatuan Raid led by Colonel Mucci.

The unit later commanded by Colonel Robert Garrett played an important role in the capture of Manila and Appari, and was preparing to spearhead the invasion of Japan when news flashed the war with that nation was ended. It received the Presidential Unit Citation and the Philippine Presidential Citation. It was inactivated December 30th, 1945 in the Philippines.

29th RANGERS

Little is known by the public at large about the Ranger Battalion that was formed December 20th, 1942, with volunteers from the 29th Infantry Division then stationed in England commanded by Major Randolph Milholland, this unit also was trained by the British Commandos at Achnacarry, Scotland, and its highly motivated Rangers, eager for action, had high hopes of operating independently on Commando type missions.

After graduating with honors, the unit was attached to Lord Lovat's Number 4 Commando Troop for tactical training and cliff climbing, winning the respect of Lord Lovat and the approval of Brig. Gen. Norman Cota who was then chief liaison for Maj. Gen. Russell Hartle. The battalion was formed on the 20th of December 1942, at Tideworth Barracks, Salsbury Plain, England. At that time, the 1st Ranger Battalion, was the only US Ranger battalion in the ETO; it departed in October with the 1st Division for the North Africa Campaign.

The directive that the battalion authorized three officer4s and fifteen enlisted soldiers from the 1st Ranger Battalion to form the nucleus, the remaining members of the 29th Provisional Ranger Battalion were volunteers from the division. Major Milholland, from the 115th Infantry Regiment was given command of this battalion. By the end of the war Major Milholland would be promoted to LTC and command 3rd Battalion 115 Infantry. The 29th Provisional Ranger Battalion participated with British commandos in three raids of the coast of Norway.

The first raid was to destroy a bridge. Men did go on a raid with the Commandos on an island off the coast of France and acquitted themselves well, killing three Germans, and on the 20th of September, 1943, a company moved to Dover to take part in a raid on the Continent. But gloom descended on the unit when it was learned that the raid was canceled. And even more disappointment followed when Headquarters, 29th Infantry Division issued General Orders disbanding the unit on October 18, 1943. Many of the Rangers went back to their former companies in the 29th Infantry Division and fought from D Day to the day the Germans were defeated.

The 29th Ranger Battalion, will always have an honored place in the history of the American Rangers.

Merrill's Marauders, a Ranger type outfit, came into existence as a result of the Quebec Conference of August, 1943. During this conference, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Prime Minister Winston Churchill of England, and other allied leaders conceived the idea of having an American ground unit spearhead the Chinese Army with a Long Range Penetration Mission behind enemy lines in Burma. Its goal would be the destruction of Japanese communications and supply lines and generally to play havoc with enemy forces while an attempt was made to reopen the Burma Road.

A Presidential call for volunteers for "A Dangerous and Hazardous Mission" was issued, and approximately 2,900 American soldiers responded to the call. Officially designated as the 5307th Composite Unit (Provisional) code name "GALAHAD" the unit later became popularly known as MERRILL'S MARAUDERS, named after its leader, Brigadier General Frank Merrill.

Organized into combat teams, two to each battalion, the Marauder volunteers came from a variety of theatres of operation. Some came from Stateside cadres; some from the jungles of Panama and Trinidad; and the remainder were battle-scarred veterans of Guadalcanal, New Georgia, and New Guinea campaigns. In India some Signal Corps and Air Corps personnel were added, as well as pack troops with mules.

After preliminary training operations undertaken in great secrecy in the jungles of India, about 600 men were detached as a rear echelon HQ to remain in India to handle the soon-to-be vital air-drop link between the six Marauder combat teams (400 to a team) and the Air Transport Command. Color-coded Red, White, Blue, Green, Orange and Khaki, the remaining 2400 Marauders began their March up the Ledo Road and over the outlying ranges of the Himalayan Mountains into Burma.

The Marauders, with no tanks or heavy artillery to support them, walked over 1,000 miles throughout extremely dense and almost impenetrable jungles and came out with glory. In five major and thirty minor engagements, they defeated the veteran soldiers of the Japanese 18th Division (conquerors of Singapore and Malaya) who vastly outnumbered them. Always moving to the rear of the main forces of the Japanese, they completely disrupted enemy supply and communication lines, and climaxed their behind-the-lines operations with the capture of Myitkina Airfield, the only all-weather airfield in Burma.

For their accomplishments in Burma, the Marauders were awarded the Distinguished Unit Citation in July, 1944. However, in November, 1966, this was redesignated as the PRESIDENTIAL UNIT CITATION which is awarded by the President in the name of Congress. The unit was consolidated with the 475th Infantry on August 10, 1944. On June 21, 1954, the 475th was redesignated the 75th Infantry. It is from the redesignation of Merrill's Marauders into the 75th Infantry Regiment that the modern-day 75th Ranger Regiment traces its current unit designation.

VIETNAM ERA

The 75th Ranger Regiment is linked directly and historically to the 13 Infantry Companies of the 75th that were active in Vietnam from February 1, 1969 until August 15, 1972. The longest sustained combat history for an American Ranger unit in more than three hundred years of United States Army Ranger History. The 75th Infantry Regiment was activated in Okinawa during 1954 and traced its lineage to the 475th Infantry Regiment, thence to the 5307th Composite Provisional Unit, popularly known as Merrill's Marauders.

Historically, company I (Ranger) 75th Infantry, 1st Infantry Division and Company G, (Ranger) 75th Infantry, 23rd Infantry Division (Americal) produced the first two US Army Rangers to be awarded the Medal of Honor as a member of and while serving in combat Ranger company. Specialist Four Robert D. Law was awarded the first Medal of Honor with I\75 while on long range patrol in Tinh Phoc Province RVN. He was from Texas. Staff Sergeant Robert J. Pruden was awarded the second Medal of Honor with G\75 while on reconnaissance mission in Quang Ni Province RVN. He was from Minnesota. In addition to the two Medal of Honor recipients above, Staff Sergeant Lazlo Rabel was awarded the Medal of Honor while serving with the 74th Infantry Detachment (LRP), a predecessor to Company N, (Ranger) 75th Infantry, 173rd Airborne Brigade while on a long range patrol Binh Dinh Province, RVN. He was from Pennsylvania.

Conversion of the Long Range Patrol Companies of the 20th, 50th, 51st, 52nd, 58th, 71st, 78th, and 79th Infantry Detachment and Company D, 151st Infantry Long Range Patrol of the Indiana National Guard, to Ranger Companies of the 75th Infantry began on 1 February, 1969. Only Company D, 151st retained their unit identity and did not become a 75th Ranger Company, however, they did become a Ranger Company and continued the mission in Vietnam. Companies C, D, E, F, G, H, I, K, L, M, N, O and P (Ranger) 75th Infantry conducted Ranger missions for three years and seven months every day of the year while in Vietnam.

Like the original unit from whence their lineage as Neo Marauders was drawn, 75th Rangers came from Infantry, Artillery, Engineers, Signal, Medical, Military Police, Food Service, Parachute Riggers and other Army units. They were joined by former adversaries, the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army soldiers who became "Kit Carson Scouts", and fought alongside the Rangers against their former units and comrades. Unlike Rangers of other eras in the 20th Century who trained in the United States or in friendly nations overseas, LRP and Rangers in Vietnam were activated, trained and fought in the same geographical areas in Vietnam.

Training was a combat mission for volunteers. Volunteers were assigned, not accepted in the various Ranger Companies, until, after a series of patrols, the volunteer had passed the acid test of a Ranger, Combat, and was accepted by his peers. Following the peer acceptance, the volunteer was allowed to wear the black beret and wear the Red, White and Black scroll shoulder sleeve insignia bearing his Ranger Company identity.

All Long Range Patrol Companies and 75th Ranger Companies were authorized Parachute pay. Modus Operandi for patrol insertion varied , however, the helicopter was the primary means for insertion and exfiltration of enemy rear areas. Other methods included foot, wheeled, tracked vehicle, airboats, Navy Swift Boats, and stay behind missions where the Rangers remained in place as a larger tactical unit withdrew. False insertions by helicopter was a means of security from ever present enemy trail watchers. General missions consisted of locating the enemy bases and lines of communication. Special missions included wiretap, prisoner snatch, Platoon and Company size Raid Missions and Bomb Damage Assessment (BDA) following B-52 Arc-Light missions.

Staffed initially by graduates of the US Army Ranger School (at the outset of the war, later by volunteers, some of whom were graduates of the in-country Ranger School, the Recondo School and, line company cadres), Paratroopers, and Special Forces trained men, the bulk of the Ranger volunteers came from the soldiers who had no chance to attend the schools, but carried the fight to the enemy. These Rangers remained with their units through some of the most difficult patrolling action(s) in Army history, and frequently fought much larger enemy forces when compromised on their reconnaissance missions.

Army Chief of Staff Creighton Abrams, who observed the 75th Ranger operations in Vietnam as Commander of all US Forces there, selected the 75th Rangers as the role model for the first US Army Ranger units formed during peacetime in the history of the United States Army.

The outbreak of the 1973 Middle East War prompted the Department of the Army to be concerned about the need for a light mobile force that could be moved quickly to any trouble spot in the world. In the Fall of 1973, General Creighton Abrams, Army Chief of Staff formulated the idea of the reformation of the first battalion-sized Ranger units since World War II In January, 1974, he sent a message to the field directing formation of a Ranger Battalion. He selected its missions and picked the first officers. He felt a tough, disciplined and elite Ranger unit would set a standard for the rest of the United States Army and that, as Rangers "graduated " from Ranger units to Regular Army units, their influence would improve the entire Army. Following are some of General Abram's comments on the Rangers which, in their early days, were often referred to as "Abram's Own."

On January 25, 1974, Headquarters, United States Army Forces Command, published General Orders 127, directing the activation of the 1st Battalion, 75th Infantry (Ranger), with an effective date of January 31, 1974. In February, the world-wide selection was begun and personnel assembled at Fort Benning, Georgia, to undergo the cadre training from March through June 1974. On July 1, 1974, the 1st Battalion, 75th Infantry (Ranger), parachuted into Fort Stewart, Georgia.

The modern Ranger Battalions were first called upon in 1980 as elements of 1st Battalion, 75th Infantry (Ranger) to participate in the Iranian hostage rescue attempts. The ground work of our Special Operations capability of today was laid during training and preparation for this operation.

Rangers and other Special Operations Forces from throughout the Department of Defense developed tactics, techniques, and equipment from scratch, as no doctrine existed anywhere in the world.

The 2d Battalion, 75th Infantry (Ranger) soon followed with activation on October 1, 1974. These elite units eventually established headquarters at Hunter Army Airfield, Georgia, and Fort Lewis, Washington, respectively.

The farsightedness of General Abrams' decision, as well as the combat effectiveness of the Ranger battalions, was proven during the United States' deployment on October 25, 1983, to Grenada. The mission of the Rangers was to protect the lives of American citizens and restore democracy to the island. During this operation, code-named URGENT FURY, the 1st and 2d Ranger Battalions conducted a daring low-level parachute assault (500 feet), seized the airfield at Point Salines, rescued American citizens at the True Blue Medical Campus, and conducted air assault operations to eliminate pockets of resistance.

As a result of the demonstrated effectiveness of the Ranger Battalions, the Department of the Army announced in 1984, that if was increasing the size of the active duty Ranger force to its highest level in forty years, by activating another Ranger Battalion and a Ranger Regimental Headquarters.

These new units, the Id Battalion, 75th Infantry (Ranger), and Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 75th Infantry (Ranger), received their colors on October 3, 1984, at Fort Benning, Georgia. The activation ceremonies were a step into the future for the Ranger Regiment, and a link to the past, as they were held concurrently with the first reunion of the Korean War-era Rangers. Distinguished visitors and proud Rangers, both active duty and retired, joined to hail the historic activation of the Headquarters, 75th Ranger Regiment. On February 3, 1986, World War II Battalions and Korean War Lineage and Honors were consolidated and assigned by tradition to the 75th Ranger Regiment. This marked the first time that an organization of that size had been officially recognized as the parent headquarters of the Ranger Battalions.

Not since World War II and Colonel Darby's Ranger Force Headquarters, had the U.S. Army had such a large Ranger force, with over 2,000 soldiers being assigned to Ranger units.

The entire Ranger Regiment participated in OPERATION JUST CAUSE, in which U.S. forces restored democracy to Panama. Rangers spearheaded the action by conducting two important operations.

The 1st Battalion, reinforced by Company C, 3d Battalion, and a Regimental Command and Control Team, conducted an early morning parachute assault onto Omar Torrijos International Airport and Tocumen Military Airfield, to neutralize the Panamanian Defense Forces PDF 2d Rifle Company, and secure airfields for the arrival of the 82d Airborne Division. The 2d and 3d Ranger Battalions and a Regimental Command and Control Team, conducted a parachute assault onto the airfield at Rio Hato, to neutralize the PDF 6th and! Oh Rifle Companies and seize General Manuel Noriega's beach house.

Following the successful completion of these assaults, Rangers conducted follow-on operations in support of Joint Task Force (JTF)-South. The Rangers captured 1,014 Enemy Prisoners of War (EPW), and over 18,000 arms of various types. The Rangers sustained 5 killed and 42 wounded.

Elements of Company B and 1st Platoon, Company A, 1st Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment deployed to Saudi Arabia from February 12, 1991 to April 15, 1991, in support of OPERATION DESERT STORM. The Rangers conducted raids and provided a quick reaction force in cooperation with Allied forces; there were no Ranger casualties. The performance of these Rangers significantly contributed to the overall success of the operation, and upheld the proud Ranger traditions of the past.

From just 1993, to October 21, 1993, Company B and a Command and Control Element of 3d Battalion,, 75th Ranger Regiment Deployed to Somalia to assist United Nations forces in bringing order to a desperately chaotic and starving nation. Their mission was to capture key leaders in order to end clan fighting in and around the City of Mogadishu.

On October 3, 1993, the Rangers conducted a daring daylight raid in which several special operations helicopters were shot down. For nearly 18 hours, the Rangers delivered devastating firepower, killing an estimated 300 Somali's in what many have called the fiercest ground combat since Vietnam. Six Rangers paid the supreme sacrifice in accomplishing their mission. Their courage and selfless service epitomized the values espoused in the Ranger Creed, and are indicative of the Ranger spirit of yesterday, today, and tomorrow.