Dalton Firefighter Completes US Army Ranger School
Wednesday, April 27th, 2022
After 148 days of the most challenging, grueling, and downright crushing training that the US Army has to offer, Andrew Osuch got his coveted Ranger tab.
Then he came right back to the Dalton to get back to his “day job” at the Dalton Fire Department.
Sergeant Andrew Osuch completed the Army’s Ranger School on April 1st. The Army’s website describes the school as “one of the toughest training courses for which a soldier can volunteer… for more than two months, Ranger students train to exhaustion, pushing the limits of their minds and bodies.”
A Soldier, Then A Firefighter
The son of missionaries, Osuch grew up moving “about once a year.” After his graduation from Faith Academy’s online high school, Osuch joined the Army in 2015. His active duty career took him to postings in Vicenza, Italy and Fort Stewart, Georgia and also three deployments. After his last deployment to Afghanistan ended in 2019, he left active duty and joined the National Guard. But he found his return to civilian life to be a difficult transition.
“A lot of times what happens is when you leave the military, it’s hard to readjust to civilian life,” Osuch said during a recent shift with the fire department. “When I first got out, I had about six months of experiencing civilian life and you do, you feel out of place.”
Osuch’s parents had since “settled down” from missionary life, with his father Dean serving as a pastor at Dalton First United Methodist Church. While on a visit with his parents, Andrew told his father that he wanted to become a firefighter. His dad told him that the Dalton Fire Department was hiring.
“So, I was really fortunate to get hired on here [at the Dalton Fire Department] where the atmosphere is really similar. This department fosters that drive towards excellence,” said Osuch. “It was great coming here and it was kind of the same kind of vibe [as the Army] where at a moment’s notice you can be called to do something high stress and it just felt natural to me, it felt comfortable. It felt like I was back to having a purpose.”
But while he was taking his first steps as a firefighter, Osuch still wanted to continue his growth as a soldier. Serving as a section sergeant for north Georgia in the National Guard, Osuch started to eye Ranger training as his next step.
“I just felt like I needed that step further in my leadership because I have a lot of guys under me and every soldier deserves outstanding leadership,” he explained. “The Ranger tab gives you an opportunity to become that leader for your soldiers and that’s what I wanted to be.”
Follow Me
Ranger training is divided into three phases: forest training at Ft. Benning, Georgia near Columbus, mountain training near Dahlonega, and swamp training near Pensacola, Florida. The course is set for 61 days, but many soldiers take longer to complete it. The program pushes volunteers to their mental and physical limits.
“I’ve been deployed three times, so going into Ranger school I had a lot of confidence in my abilities but I’ve never been put under that kind of stress before,” Osuch said. “The lack of food, the lack of sleep in a combat environment it just really pushes you to your limit. And then not only that, but you’re expected to lead 50 other soldiers who are also hungry and tired.
“We get about two MREs (prepackaged field rations) a day and you’ll eat everything from the main meal to the sugar packet to the salt packets,” Osuch explained. “You’d eat everything and there’s nothing left just because you’re so hungry and you’re burning so many calories. Our movements, we were moving probably 7 or 8 [kilometers] a day, a lot of time through swamps, across mountains, through thick vegetation, and you’re tired and trying to navigate all of that.”
Osuch’s training took place in the winter, so he and his fellow soldiers also had to face freezing temperatures and snowy days in Columbus and Dahlonega, not to mention frigid waters in the swamps and streams of north Florida.
“Honestly it really shows your character and how good a leader you can be,” Osuch said.
Leading At Home
Fire Chief Todd Pangle wasn’t surprised that Osuch was able to complete the training.
“From the first time we interviewed Andrew, you could tell he had a mission. He had a plan,” Pangle said. “One of the questions I asked him was what were his aspirations in the military. He obviously was going to maintain his status in the Guard because his answer to me was, ‘they’ve invested the money, and the training and the time in me, I owe it to them.’
“That just established with me the type of person he is and the type of commitment he has to anything that he sets out to do which was very impressive to me. And also indicated to me that once he sets his mind to something he is going to complete it, he’s going to finish what he starts. That’s one reason why we hired him here.”
Osuch hopes to put the leadership skills he’s developed in the military to work at the fire department, too. He’s only been with the agency for two years, but he’s already completed the challenging FLAMES (Firefighters Laboring and Mastering Essential Skills) program taught in Chatsworth, Georgia. He plans to keep adding to his training.
“I did a lot of stuff to help my military career there and just be the best platoon sergeant I can be there. Here [at the DFD] we’re getting a lot of new guys so I’d love to be able to have more knowledge. I went through the FLAMES program and it built a lot of confidence,” Osuch said. “I just want to help the new guys and I also want to progress my career here. We do have a lot of guys retiring so a lot of shoes to fill and I just hope I can fill those shoes and help the department keep its high reputation and high standards.”
“I think that he is even though he doesn’t hold the rank now, he’s become one of the informal leaders and he will continue to grow in that role as he continues to progress and complete his promotional task books and the things that we have here that are required here,” said Chief Pangle. “I do believe that everything that he’s been able to achieve in the military will lend itself to that as well.”
“I love it here,” Osuch says when asked if he’s happy with his new career. “I’m very grateful that this is where I ended up because… it really does feel like second nature, it gives you that sense of purpose.”
