BYO Bananas US Army Ranger School.
Florida Phase 12 days from graduation.
FYI : 4 hours of sleep are given every night in Ranger school .
1 MRE for food is given a day in Ranger School.
The Four hours of sleep are less because of the Guard shift rotations. Each guard shift is one hour so you're lucky to get 2 continuous hours of
sleep a night combined with a complete lack of food . So you are always tired and hungry. A Lack of sleep and low blood sugar do not mix well.
When the human mind is suffering from sleep deprivation you begin to hallucinate.
Set and Scene : Two Ranger school candidates are walking a trail moving back to their respective teams from a forward patrol. Both Candidates are
extremely sleep deprived and extremely hungry .
The night is approaching quickly and the sun is just over the tree line. The Florida swamp is coming to life frogs, insects and all manner of
creatures croak to life.
-Brad, did you see that ? I ask
-It’s not real, just keep moving ? says Brad .
We had grown accustomed to hallucinations at this point.
-Those Bananas aren’t real ?? I ask
- Brad turns to me, his eyes wide, wait what you saw those bananas too ?
-Hell Yes ! Two Big bananas over there on that Tree stump . We both turn at the same time to witness the bananas on the Tree Stump. We Run towards
them in disbelief …
-What are Bananas doing in the middle of the Swamp ? Brad asks .
-I pondered this question for some time with my sleep deprived mind …. There are no banana Trees in the swamp and damn sure no banana markets so
what is this ??
-We look around waiting for someone to jump out and claim the bananas they never did so we decide they are ours and we snatch them up and run to the
tree line to hide . Food is an extreme luxury in Ranger School if other candidates caught us with these bananas they would want us to share.
-We can’t let them see, I say in a whisper as I clutch my banana to my chest.
-Yes , Brad exclaims they will want our bananas he says in a hush tone.
-We examine the bananas, smelling them and squeezing to make sure they are real .
-They seem real, Brad says in Whisper . He Frantically peels his banana and begins to eat it .
-Wait !! I yell . What if it’s poison ??
-Brad looks at me with a mouth full of banana his eyes wide , # it he exclaims and continues eating .
-I concurred and devoured my banana. It was the most delicious banana ever, like a gift from the banana Gods.
-We stood there in a daze high off of Bananas , What do we do with the peels ? I ask .
-We can’t just leave them anywhere. What if someone sees them ? They would know we ate them, Brad says nervously .
-We exchanged ideas for sometime as to the proper way to dispose of the Banana peels. In the end we agreed the banana peels had to be buried.
-I retrieved my Entrenching tool from my Rucksack and dug a shallow hole. We buried the banana peels and carefully camouflaged the hole with leaves
and twigs to ensure its secrecy .
-We took a brief moment of silence over the banana grave and then ran back to the trail to continue our patrol. We came around the next bend 100
yards from our team when a Ranger Instructor walked up behind us . “ Maybe you candidates should Bring your own Bananas Next time “ . Said
the Instructor.
The End.