# Clip 044 | Army Ranger Reconnaissance Detachment and Snipers | Jack Murphy

An episode of [Former Action Guys Podcast](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1475060182), 25 Oct 2024, 11 min.

Audio: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/api.spreaker.com/download/episode/62494138/jack_murphy_green_beret_army_ranger.mp3

Jack Murphy is a former Green Beret and Army Ranger Sniper that has served on multiple combat deployments. He also hosts the Team House Podcast and has written multiple books. Support the show https://www.jcramergraphics.com https://www.ANGLICOshop.com https://www.patreon.com/formeractionguys The Team House Podcast https://www.youtube.com/@TheTeamHousePodcast

## Transcript

[0:00] Speaker 1: Hey, it was by Welcome to the Formers podcast. Before
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[0:40] Speaker 2: We had the Regimental Reconnaissance Attatchment today it's the Regimental
[0:45] Speaker 2: Reconnaissance Company and they their job was to do recon
[0:50] Speaker 2: for the range of regiment and they kind of work
[0:53] Speaker 2: themselves out of a job in the sense that they
[0:55] Speaker 2: got sucked up into JSOCK and started doing operations for them.
[0:59] Speaker 2: So that left the battalions without any sort of reconnaissance element,
[1:04] Speaker 2: and to rectify that, they created battalion reconnaissance platoons. So
[1:10] Speaker 2: this was a brand new capability for the battalions and
[1:15] Speaker 2: this was their first deployment. The pointing uh, you know,
[1:19] Speaker 2: like you said earlier that there was kind of a
[1:20] Speaker 2: throwback to works in the sense that these guys were
[1:23] Speaker 2: would work in five six man teams with maybe with
[1:28] Speaker 2: a JPAC, maybe with a sniper, and they would act
[1:32] Speaker 2: as scouts. They could go out and uh, you know,
[1:35] Speaker 2: low visibility vehicles disguised as Afghan people and or soldiers
[1:42] Speaker 2: or whatever the case may be, or do aerial reconnaissance
[1:46] Speaker 2: whatever whatever really needed to be done to get out
[1:48] Speaker 2: there and do recon on targets for rangers.
[1:52] Speaker 1: That's a that's I mean, that sounds like an awesome job,
[1:54] Speaker 1: to be honest. You know, that's like a lot of people,
[1:56] Speaker 1: I think when they think of recon or reconnaissance of
[1:59] Speaker 1: some do in a gilly suit laying in a bush,
[2:02] Speaker 1: you know, and it's way more than that, especially nowadays,
[2:04] Speaker 1: like you talked about in Afghanistan, where you got people
[2:07] Speaker 1: going out and intermingling with the local populace and stuff,
[2:11] Speaker 1: you know, unknown to them. Was that ever something you
[2:15] Speaker 1: considered doing or wanted to do, And is that an
[2:17] Speaker 1: extra like end doc or anything to get into that
[2:21] Speaker 1: or how does that work?
[2:23] Speaker 2: I'm pretty sure that they do now have their own
[2:25] Speaker 2: selection and their own training course and everything. I'm sure
[2:28] Speaker 2: it's much more advanced now that they've that they've matured
[2:31] Speaker 2: that capability since it was first stood up, you know,
[2:34] Speaker 2: a long time ago now, like we're talking like fifteen
[2:37] Speaker 2: years ago. Yeah, for sure, it wasn't something that I
[2:40] Speaker 2: necessarily thought about doing per se, just because I was
[2:44] Speaker 2: a new sniper at the time, so I was still
[2:46] Speaker 2: wearing the ropes at.
[2:47] Speaker 3: My own job.
[2:48] Speaker 1: Yeah, definitely, Now that you've gone and been to Afghanistan,
[2:53] Speaker 1: like you said, you joined you know, initially you were
[2:54] Speaker 1: going to join the French Foreign Legion because you just
[2:57] Speaker 1: wanted to get into a combat unit. Now you've had
[3:00] Speaker 1: that taste of it, you've been there, you've done that,
[3:03] Speaker 1: you've gone into the great unknown. You know, what was
[3:06] Speaker 1: your kind of thought process afterwards? Did it seem like
[3:09] Speaker 1: was it what you thought it would be? Was it
[3:10] Speaker 1: worth it to you? I mean, obviously you went back. Honestly,
[3:15] Speaker 1: it was a dream come true.
[3:17] Speaker 2: I was exactly where I wanted to be, doing exactly
[3:21] Speaker 2: what I wanted to do, getting to roll out on
[3:24] Speaker 2: combat operations with a highly trained, motivated force like the Rangers.
[3:30] Speaker 3: It was absolutely amazing. You know. I had some great leaders.
[3:35] Speaker 2: I had, you know, with my sniper partner, you know,
[3:38] Speaker 2: some great training. I was under the wings of some
[3:41] Speaker 2: really good guys. We had the best equipment, we had
[3:43] Speaker 2: the best helicopters.
[3:47] Speaker 3: So, I mean, it was an amazing experience. It really was.
[3:50] Speaker 3: You can't really oh, go ahead, I was just gonna say.
[3:53] Speaker 2: And also just being in such a remote, austere location
[3:57] Speaker 2: like the Afghanistan, at times it feels like you're on
[4:01] Speaker 2: another planet.
[4:02] Speaker 1: Yeah, for sure. At times it definitely does. It is
[4:06] Speaker 1: an interesting place. I try to like convey some of
[4:10] Speaker 1: the some things you see in Afghanistan. It's like you
[4:12] Speaker 1: can't really understand it, some of the stuff unless you've
[4:14] Speaker 1: been there and you've seen you know, we always say
[4:16] Speaker 1: there's like when I was on the advisor team, there's
[4:19] Speaker 1: an Afghan solution to an Afghan problem. You know that
[4:21] Speaker 1: it doesn't matter if that's what was made or designed
[4:23] Speaker 1: to fix that issue. They will work it some way
[4:26] Speaker 1: to make it work.
[4:28] Speaker 3: It's just how.
[4:28] Speaker 1: It's just how the people are seeing the craziest looking
[4:31] Speaker 1: vehicles drive down the road that are pieced together from
[4:33] Speaker 1: probably thirty other vehicles. Yeah, Afghanistan is an interesting place
[4:37] Speaker 1: for sure. I'm sitting here thinking about that, and I
[4:42] Speaker 1: totally forgot the question I was gonna ask you. You know,
[4:45] Speaker 1: being at Ranger Battalion and other units like that, where
[4:49] Speaker 1: there's a high expectation of individual performance and there's a
[4:55] Speaker 1: sense of people that just want to be there, you know,
[4:58] Speaker 1: is a different world than being in like I'm assuming
[5:02] Speaker 1: the big Army, I know, in the big Marine Corps.
[5:03] Speaker 1: You know, being in these working in these small specialized
[5:06] Speaker 1: teams and doing those missions was way more fulfilling for me,
[5:11] Speaker 1: you know, when I was with Anglico doing stuff with
[5:13] Speaker 1: those guys than being at like I was a mechanic.
[5:16] Speaker 1: You know, when I first came in the Marine Corps,
[5:18] Speaker 1: there was two different levels of like this is really cool,
[5:20] Speaker 1: I'm in the Marine Corps and what was the Marine Corps?
[5:24] Speaker 1: You know, did you guys have that same kind of feeling,
[5:27] Speaker 1: like you can appreciate like, hey, everyone that's here wants
[5:30] Speaker 1: to be here. You know, everyone here is trying their
[5:33] Speaker 1: hardest to be good at their job.
[5:36] Speaker 2: Yeah yeah, And I hate to use like such a
[5:38] Speaker 2: kind of cliched metaphor, but it's kind of like you're
[5:41] Speaker 2: with modern day samurai, right, They're like they're making an
[5:44] Speaker 2: art form into what they do. They're trying to be
[5:47] Speaker 2: the best at every little, single task that they're given.
[5:51] Speaker 2: So it's just an incredible environment to be in. And
[5:54] Speaker 2: you know, I can safely say, you know, I was average.
[5:58] Speaker 2: I was an average guy. It's on a relative scale.
[6:02] Speaker 2: I guess I was in an elite unit, but I
[6:04] Speaker 2: was just an average guy in an elite unit. And
[6:07] Speaker 2: I was very fortunate to be able to work around
[6:11] Speaker 2: that kind of caliber of soldier for sure.
[6:14] Speaker 1: And you know, that was kind of my whole point
[6:16] Speaker 1: in starting this podcast was there's so many like normal dudes,
[6:20] Speaker 1: you know, you see walking down the street that you
[6:24] Speaker 1: would never know unless they told their story, the things
[6:27] Speaker 1: that they've seen or done. You know, one of the
[6:28] Speaker 1: first guys I interviewed, I bring this story up a
[6:30] Speaker 1: few times on here. His name's Jerry. My neighbor told
[6:34] Speaker 1: me about him and I'd seen this guy walking down
[6:36] Speaker 1: the street a few times, and I thought he was
[6:38] Speaker 1: just some beach bump because I lived in the ocean
[6:39] Speaker 1: side right next to the beach, and I thought this
[6:41] Speaker 1: was some old beach bump, you know. He'd always seen
[6:43] Speaker 1: him with the shades and a big hat on. And
[6:45] Speaker 1: he's like, yeah, he was in the Marines. He was
[6:47] Speaker 1: a fighter pilot. You should talk to him. He's like,
[6:49] Speaker 1: I know you got that podcast, you should hit him up.
[6:51] Speaker 1: And I was like, all right, man. So he introduces
[6:53] Speaker 1: me and turns out this dude is like ninety eight
[6:55] Speaker 1: percent blind. He's like walking to and from the beach
[6:58] Speaker 1: barely even able to see. And he went blind because
[7:01] Speaker 1: he was doing a bombing run in Vietnam and got
[7:04] Speaker 1: shot down and the canopy like busted through the windshield
[7:07] Speaker 1: and blinded him. As he ejected, and I'm like, dude,
[7:10] Speaker 1: like that's exactly what I'm talking about. No one would
[7:13] Speaker 1: ever know that story, like unless you told that. And
[7:16] Speaker 1: it's unfortunately he doesn't tell. He doesn't really talk about it.
[7:19] Speaker 1: He has a group of pilot friends and they're the
[7:22] Speaker 1: only ones that know their own stories because they have
[7:23] Speaker 1: like an email chain all these old Vietnam de pilot
[7:27] Speaker 1: dudes that stay in touch with each other, and I'm like, man,
[7:29] Speaker 1: you guys really need to get these stories out because
[7:31] Speaker 1: it's it's history.
[7:31] Speaker 3: It's very important, and.
[7:35] Speaker 1: Everyone has done more than somebody and less than somebody else,
[7:38] Speaker 1: you know, And I think too many people get wrapped
[7:39] Speaker 1: around like what did I do in the military compared
[7:41] Speaker 1: to what these other people did?
[7:43] Speaker 3: You know? Yeah?
[7:44] Speaker 2: Yeah, and you know, we all served like our own
[7:47] Speaker 2: little small part, you know, And I think it's good
[7:50] Speaker 2: to record all of those experiences. And a lot of
[7:52] Speaker 2: those guys who they have the most insane stories, they're
[7:55] Speaker 2: the least act to talk about them, and you kind
[7:58] Speaker 2: of have to pry them out of it, you know,
[8:00] Speaker 2: I do. You know, I'm maybe this is a self
[8:04] Speaker 2: serving statement to some extent, but I think that what
[8:06] Speaker 2: I do, what you do. There are a few others
[8:08] Speaker 2: out there as well who have similar podcasts, and it's
[8:12] Speaker 2: not really about like shooting my own horn. It's about
[8:15] Speaker 2: allowing other people to tell their stories and hopefully inform
[8:19] Speaker 2: and educate the next generation.
[8:21] Speaker 3: Yeah for sure.
[8:22] Speaker 1: And you know, in speaking of informing and educating, when
[8:25] Speaker 1: you came back from that first deployment, you probably had
[8:28] Speaker 1: a whole group of new guys, right, did you Was
[8:32] Speaker 1: it up to you to start training these guys or
[8:34] Speaker 1: were you still considered a new guy. I mean, the
[8:35] Speaker 1: deployments are a little bit shorter than what I'm used to,
[8:38] Speaker 1: so I don't know how the vibe is and the
[8:39] Speaker 1: range of battalion.
[8:41] Speaker 2: I was still relatively junior, but the way things worked out,
[8:45] Speaker 2: I did end up taking a fire theme in weapons
[8:50] Speaker 2: squad first platoon over an ACOW, And yes, I had
[8:56] Speaker 2: new guys assigned. Now it's my responsibility to show them
[8:59] Speaker 2: how things are supposed to work.
[9:01] Speaker 1: It's such a crazy concept because you were probably twenty
[9:04] Speaker 1: two or so at the time, and now you're in
[9:07] Speaker 1: charge of like teaching these these people how to survive
[9:11] Speaker 1: in a combat situation, or like, hey, this is the
[9:13] Speaker 1: most efficient way to kill a dude. You know, like
[9:16] Speaker 1: just to think. In the military, it's like whatever, that's
[9:19] Speaker 1: just you know, whatever, that's the job. But outside of
[9:21] Speaker 1: the military, it's hard for me to imagine like regular
[9:23] Speaker 1: people understanding that kind of thought process where you're like, hey,
[9:27] Speaker 1: if I get smoked in the face, I need you
[9:28] Speaker 1: to step up and grab the radio and take over.
[9:31] Speaker 3: You know.
[9:31] Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, twenty one year olds leading eighteen year olds,
[9:35] Speaker 2: and you know, it's a when you put it in
[9:40] Speaker 2: that context, it's kind of horrifying, right right, But it's
[9:43] Speaker 2: also it's also you know, best job in the army. Yeah,
[9:47] Speaker 2: I mean, best.
[9:49] Speaker 3: Job in the world.
[9:49] Speaker 2: And it's incredibly gratifying, as intimidating as it is at
[9:54] Speaker 2: times that but to have that much responsibility dumped on
[9:57] Speaker 2: you as a young person, it's a real important formative
[10:02] Speaker 2: experience to have, for sure.
[10:04] Speaker 1: And I honestly think that that level of responsibility given
[10:09] Speaker 1: to someone and I don't know, I think that is
[10:12] Speaker 1: why a lot of people have an issue when they
[10:14] Speaker 1: get out of the military, because everything else just kind
[10:18] Speaker 1: of seems like bullshit. Now, you know, after you've done
[10:20] Speaker 1: something that's like you're riding the edge constantly, you know,
[10:25] Speaker 1: and at any time you could be killed, something could happen.
[10:27] Speaker 1: It's dangerous, Like it's inherently dangerous. No matter how many
[10:30] Speaker 1: safeties you put into play, you're still dropping a live
[10:32] Speaker 1: bomb on something. You know, something bad could happen. And
[10:35] Speaker 1: then you get out. Now it's like, hey, I'm a
[10:38] Speaker 1: insurance salesman, you know, or whatever you choose to do.
[10:41] Speaker 1: It's like I understand why a lot of guys have
[10:44] Speaker 1: issues after they get out, and it's like they don't
[10:46] Speaker 1: feel like they're fulfilling the most that they could be,
[10:49] Speaker 1: you know.
[10:50] Speaker 2: Especially in war, where every single decision you make, everything
[10:54] Speaker 2: you do, is so important and there's so much riding
[10:57] Speaker 2: on it. And now, I mean today, the worst thing
[10:59] Speaker 2: that happened was we're in the middle of this interview
[11:01] Speaker 2: and my computer shut down to do an automatic update
[11:04] Speaker 2: and it interrupted our interview.
[11:06] Speaker 3: The worst thing that happened to me today.
[11:08] Speaker 2: I can't believe it, but I mean, really, just the
[11:10] Speaker 2: stakes are so much lower. Just reset the computer, get
[11:13] Speaker 2: it back up, and we're good to go. And yeah,
[11:16] Speaker 2: I think absolutely so many of us, incutting myself, you know,
[11:19] Speaker 2: struggle with those things. Not not so much anymore, but
[11:23] Speaker 2: in that transition out of the military, it was difficult

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