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The Wendover Air base will be attacked and captured by an elite commando unit probably more than once next week, but residents shouldn’t worry the commandos are the good guys.
From April 18 to the 21 Army Rangers of the 2nd Battalion 75th Regiment will descend on the Wendover Air base in a variety of ways and scenarios to hone their already impressive combat skills in taking an enemy held air field.
Built during World War II and since greatly modified, the Wendover Air base is quite similar to air bases in the Middle East and South East Asia as is the basic topography. That similarity has been used more than once not only by the United States Military but also by Hollywood. The most notable example was in the movie Independence Day when Wendover locations not only doubled for the top secret Area 51 located near Pahrump but also for Iraq and Saudi Arabia.
Slated to last under three days, the exercise will close the airport for that period of time. According to airport manager Richard Brown all commercial and private airport users have long since been notified that his facility will be closed.
“Every own who files a flight plan has been notified,” Brown said Tuesday. “We have been planning this for about a year.”
Brown however did not discount the possibility that some pilot might inadvertently fly into the mock war zone by accident.
While most private pilots are responsible flyers there are a few who wouldn’t know a flight plan from a menu and whose principal navigational tool is following roads from above. Those folks might be in for a bit of a shock if they attempt to land in Wendover while the exercise is going on.
The United States Army Rangers are elite members of the United States Army. Rangers have served in recognized U.S. Army Ranger units or have graduated from the U.S. Army’s Ranger School. The term “Ranger” was first used in North America in the early 17th century; however, the first ranger company was not officially commissioned until King Philip’s War (1676) and then they were used in the four French and Indian Wars. Rangers also fought in the American Revolution, the War of 1812, and the American Civil War.
It was not until World War II that the modern Rangers were born, authorized by General George C. Marshall in 1942. The six battalions of the modern Rangers have been deployed in wars in Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan, and Iraq, and saw action in several conflicts, such as those in Panama and Grenada. Of the current active Ranger battalions, two—the 1st and the 2nd—have been in service since reactivation in 1974. The 3rd Ranger Battalion and the headquarters of the 75th Ranger Regiment were reactivated in 1984.
The 75th Ranger Regiment is now a special operations combat formation within the U.S. Army Special Operation Command (USASOC). The Ranger Regiment traces its lineage to three of six battalions raised in WWII, and to the 5307th Composite Unit (Provisional)—known as “Merrill’s Marauders,” and then reflagged as the 475th Infantry, then later as the 75th Infantry.
The Ranger Training Brigade (RTB)—headquartered at Fort Benning, GA—is an organization under the U.S. Army’s Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) and is separate from the 75th Ranger Regiment. It has been in service under various names and Army departments since World War II. The Ranger Training Brigade administrates Ranger School. Successful completion of this 61-day course is required to become Ranger qualified and to wear the Ranger Tab.
