Army Spc. James A. Requenez died Thursday during Ranger School training at Eglin Air Force Base. US Army Photo, public domain.
On Thursday, Spc. James A. Requenez died in an incident during training at Ranger School. While the Army has yet to release a full report, the incident occurred during the third and final phase of Ranger School, known as the “swamp phase.” That portion of the 60-day course is located at Camp Rudder, on Eglin Air Force Base, Florida. Requenez, 28, was transported to the base hospital, where he was pronounced dead. The incident is currently under investigation.
In a release officials said, “The Maneuver Center of Excellence, Fort Benning, and the Airborne and Ranger Training Brigade offers our heartfelt condolences to the family and friends of Spc. James A. Requenez.”
According to a release from the Airborne and Ranger Training Brigade, Requenez was assigned to A Company, 3rd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, Fort Benning, Georgia. Originally from San Antonio, Texas, Requenez enlisted in the Army in April 2018, graduating from Infantry one-station unit training in August 2018. A graduate of Airborne School and Ranger Assessment and Selection Program (RASP) 1, he served as an assistant machine gunner for A Company 3/75.
RASP is a selection course that screens soldiers who want to serve in the 75th Ranger Regiment, a special operations unit often used for direct action raids.
Ranger School is a leadership course open to the entire Army. It lasts roughly 60 days and is divided into three phases: Benning, Mountain, and Florida, or swamp phase.
Requenez’s awards and decorations include the Army Achievement Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Humanitarian Service Medal, Army Service Ribbon, and Parachutist Badge.
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James Webb served as a US Marine infantryman from 2005 to 2010, completing a combat tour in Iraq. He’s worked as a freelance writer and photojournalist covering US troops in Afghanistan, and Webb spent more than two years in the US Senate as a military legislative assistant and as the personal representative of a member on the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
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