Hooahs, the other day here in Erbil, Iraq I got into a pissing contest with some commo kid (31C) from the 194th Iowa LRS. He was giving out black 194th LRS t-shirts with red/white/black scrolls that read Ranger-Airborne to a bunch of REMFs from the 416th civil affairs battalion. Of course the f__king wannabe legs immediately started sporting their INE t-shirts off duty around the compound.
At chow I told the kid that giving out those t-shirts only encourages people who have not earned something to wear it. I also proceeded to ask him if he knew the history of the scroll in our army. He defiantly answered that all he knew is that it has always been in his words "a LRS thing" (I was fuming inside but I kept my composure). Since we were sitting down at the chow hall I took the time to explain to him a little bit about the history of the RANGER SCROLL in the US Army. He then said that he stood corrrected and got up and walked out a bit pissed.
I don't have time to write a lot here but here are two good links on the history of the scroll and on the history of LRP/LRRP/Ranger companies and their direct lineage with LRSUs of today:
http://www.suasponte.com/history/wwII/37.shtml
http://www.specwarnet.com/americas/lrsu.htm
RLTW!