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HomeShop at BookSurgeEducationPhilosophy & Social AspectsMountain Ranger: An oral history of the US Army Mountain Ranger Camp 1952-2008 |
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| Customer Reviews: | | Average Customer Review: ( 2 customer reviews )
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1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
 Great book about a (relatively) obscure Army training camp Jul 05, 2009
By John E. McKay
"FireTeacher"
Unless you have been through the Army Ranger school, chances are you've never heard of Camp Frank D. Merrill, aka the "Mountain Ranger Camp," home of the 5th Ranger Training Battalion, in the north Georgia mountains near Dahlonega. This is where the 2nd (really 3rd) phase of Ranger training is conducted, and where many Ranger dreams go to die. Ross Hall has written a superb oral-history based personal chronology of the camp, laced heavily with anecdotes from the many characters who served as instructors or camp cadre there. Mr. Hall is not a professional historian, and in this case I think this is a good thing, because he makes no attempt to present a central theme or weave the story of the camp and the men who served there into a smoothly flowing narrative intended to promote an axe that he may be grinding.
Instead, Mr. Hall leaves most of the text in the lightly edited words of the men themselves, and highlights his own editorial contributions. This makes the book have a very relaxed conversational feel, quite opposite of your average academic, serious work of history. He also made the wise choice to simply present what was said with few attempts to editorially fact check or correct what these men and women had to say. This worked particularly well when it came to the "Sasquatch" stories about the camp!
Full disclosure: I have "hung around" the MRC off and on since the early 1970s, and know quite a few of the people included in the book. That said, I think this is an insightful and well composed book, and a valuable addition to the underwritten history of the Rangers.
 Memories Nov 30, 2011
By Michael M. Keohane
As I was assigned to the MRC as an Instructor (jr) from October 1958 to October 1960, I brought the book to review old memories and, maybe, locate some friends. The book was worth reading and informative - even someone with no experience of the MRC will enjoy the read. I have already made some new friends through the book. RLTW
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