Fort Benning, located near Columbus, Georgia is known as "The Home of the Infantry." This large training facility--over 182,000 acres--hosts the Army Infantry Training Brigade, Army Ranger School, Airborne School, and School of the Americas, now renamed the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation.

The 75th Ranger Regiment
In 1973, General Creighton Abrams, Army Chief of Staff directed formation of the first Ranger battalion since World War II. In the Ranger tradition, these highly trained elite units were to be used for fast response to any trouble spot. The personnel for this first unit were carefully chosen, and General Abrams himself selected the officers. They completed their training in June of 1974.

The Rangers have been where trouble was ever since. In 1980, they cooperated with Special Operations forces to rescue American hostages held in Iran. In 1983 they were deployed to Grenada to protect American citizens there. They conducted highly successful parachute assaults and air assaults on rebel troops. By 1986, there were more than 2,000 soldiers in Ranger units.

The entire Ranger Regiment participated in assaults on the Noriega government in Panama. In 1991, Rangers were deployed to Saudi Arabia for Operation Desert Storm, and in 1993, they conducted a daylight raid on Mogadishu in Somalia. When some of their helicopters were shot down, they were trapped in an 18-hour battle. Six Rangers died in that incident.