Fifty years ago, I reported to Company B, 2nd Battalion (Ranger), 75th Infantry Regiment. Only a private then, the Rangers changed my life and launched a 33-year U.S. Army career. In October, I returned for the 50th anniversary of the 2nd Battalion’s activation at Fort Lewis, Washington, and reunited with my fellow original Bravo Company Rangers.

What is now known as the 2nd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, or the 2nd Ranger Battalion, hosted us and opened the battalion area to show how today’s Rangers live and train. I wanted to see if today’s Rangers are like we were back in 1974: trained, fit and disciplined. Would a Ranger private today have the same experience I had? What I learned offers a perspective of that leadership experience.

Legacy Reinforced

Unit reunions are an opportunity to reconnect and reflect with soldiers of a cohort in time. When unit reunions join with today’s soldiers, as the Rangers did for us, unit traditions, legacy and culture are reinforced and renewed. Our original activating members of Bravo Company who formed the 2nd Ranger Battalion have held several gatherings over the years. This reunion, however, returned us to the original ground where, in 1974, Bravo Company stood in formation for the first time. I’ve never been to any high school or college reunions, but I wasn’t going to miss reuniting with my fellow Rangers at Fort Lewis, now known as Joint Base Lewis-McChord.

At the reunion, I stood where Bravo Company’s commander and first sergeant met me on the day I reported in 1974. Although that orderly room is long gone, I remember they shook my hand, told me I was now part of a special unit and that they expected me to meet exacting standards. My NCO leaders and platoon officers modeled exceptional leadership. As a private, I observed them and wanted to be like them. We all did.

First Days

The vital first days in the unit shaped me. My Ranger leaders knew then that they were creating something unique in the Army and that how they formed the unit mattered. I would later embrace this leadership style as a Ranger leader myself.

A common trait runs through the experiences of my fellow Ranger “plank holders”—founding team members—when we reflect on 1974. I was not alone in wanting to live up to the exacting standards, discipline and esprit de corps of my Ranger unit. This part of the Ranger Creed—“I will always endeavor to uphold the prestige, honor, and high esprit de corps of the Rangers”—is still embodied by today’s Rangers, as it was by us then.

My Bravo Company commander would go on to serve as a three-star general, and my first sergeant as a command sergeant major. Many of our original group served splendid careers in the Army, while others went on to successful civilian careers. As I talked with other former Rangers, we attributed the standards, culture and climate of that 1974–75 Ranger experience to many of our later successes. Those strong, steady leaders provided me with living examples of the Army Values I carried with me after the Rangers.

During our reunion, the current 2nd Ranger Battalion command and staff conducted a ceremony featuring remarks by battalion commander Lt. Col. Peter Leszczynski and his father and former original Bravo Company Ranger, retired Brig. Gen. William “Bill” Leszczynski. The men acknowledged the sacrifice of 2nd Battalion Rangers lost in combat and training, and we memorialized the fallen next to the massive stone scroll adorning the battalion area. How fitting and appropriate to stand along with today’s Rangers and recognize those who gave the ultimate sacrifice. What better way to offer tribute and demonstrate to today’s Rangers, whose future is unknown, that they will never be forgotten.

In early 1975 at Bravo Company, a group of World War II Merrill’s Marauders visited us. The Rangers’ lineage then, as now, is directly tied to the Marauders’ official designation, the 5307th Composite Unit (Provisional), and our unit crest sported the Marauders’ patch design and colors. I remember at the time thinking how old those veterans seemed. In 1975, they would have been 30 years out of their war and only in their mid-50s in age.

At my reunion, I was 50 years past 1974 and in my late 60s. I am certain I seemed ancient to today’s Rangers, but every Ranger I met was professional, courteous and kind when I explained how it was back then.

Measuring Up

So, how do the Rangers measure up today? That splendid 1974 creation of the Ranger battalions could have diverged into an Army experiment imbued in 1970s popular culture and adopted a wide aperture of acceptance to boost its numbers. However, those Ranger leaders recognized that they were onto something larger than themselves—something that would outlast the ebb and flow of Army uniforms, small arms and cultural shifts—and created, from scratch, an enduring Army organization. By every measure, they succeeded.

While at the reunion, I asked to visit the current Ranger rifle squad I had served with in Bravo Company. Over three days, I got to know that squad, where they lived, how they trained, what Ranger life is like today. I wanted to see for myself if the reunion honored those who came before and whether these 50 years allowed the Rangers to retain that unique culture of leadership.

What I learned is the Ranger experience today is unlike mine, in that we could not have foreseen what the digital world would do to offer distraction as well as capability to soldiers. Nor could we have understood the post-9/11 era and the effects of multiple deployments, high training tempo and excellent equipment.

What has remained, however, is eternal, lasting and persistent as I looked into the eyes of today’s Rangers. Leadership still counts for everything. The Rangers embraced that disciplined, encouraging leadership style that showed me back then that they would not let me fail, and for that I am grateful and became a better soldier and leader. I was privileged to serve with those 1974 Bravo Company Rangers, and today’s Bravo Company Rangers are everything we were and more. They will change the Army, too.

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Col. Ron Buffkin, U.S. Army retired, served 33 years, retiring in 2007 as executive officer to the director, U.S. Army Capabilities Integration Center, U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command, Fort Monroe, Virginia. He commissioned in the infantry through Officer Candidate School after four years as an enlisted Ranger. He commanded an Army special operations unit in Afghanistan and also deployed to Iraq.